Birsay

What another beautiful day we’ve had; we can’t believe we’ve had such luck with the weather this week!
Today we went to the north-west of Mainland Orkney.
We went first to the Point of Buckquoy at Birsay (top centre photo in the collage Extra, with the bench) - stunning views over a dramatic landscape and out to the sea.
At low tide we walked over the causeway (main photo) to the the tidal island of Brough of Birsay; it is only accessible for a few hours a day, and is famed for the puffins nesting there, but because of the time of day we didn’t really expect to see any [we’d been told that puffins spend much of their day at sea and return to nest in the early evening]. 
We did not see any puffins!

We were however so pleased that we went over. Despite the remote exposed location there was barely a breath of wind (unlike at Yesnaby earlier in the week); it was such a beautiful place.
First we saw the ruins of a Norse settlement and St. Peter’s Chapel. We then climbed up to the lighthouse and the cliffs with their stunning views out to sea.
No puffins, but lots of other seabirds nesting on the cliffs, and we did see a lot of puffin burrows in the grass at the tops of the cliffs. Lots of lovely wee wildflowers covered much of the grass, including the pink sea-thrift that we had seen earlier in the week.
We were back over to the mainland in plenty of time to beat the incoming tide, and had a picnic lunch watching seals basking on the rocks in the sun.

We then drove along the north-west coast to the Broch of Gurness (centre photo in the collage Extra), followed by a walk along the nearby Aikerness beach. 
So many lovely beaches this week!

Then back to Kirkwall late in the afternoon, topped up the petrol in the hire car and a final meal out. (Quite a buzz in the town - indeed all over the island - as, unbeknownst to us when we booked this holiday, the Orkney Folk Festival is being held this weekend, so quite the influx of extra visitors this past couple of days.)

What a wonderful week we’ve had!