My First Time ......

- This is the first time I have been away from home for a full 2 weeks;

- This trip is also the first expedition of any sort I have done with the Scouts - apart from the Cotswold Marathon;

- Although I've been to Scotland before this is the first time I have visited Orkney. I like the islands a lot (apart from Sanday which we found practically uninhabited - except for cows! - and incredibly boring!);

- The first time I've seen close up the interior of a green wheelie bin;

- This is the first time I've ever had to unpack and use my survival bag!

- The first time I'm having to use midge repellent and my special anti-midge net hat (which makes me look like my head is being consumed by a big green ... thing);

- The first time I have climbed Ben Nevis.

I have really enjoyed the trip - everyone has been great and there have been some really good laughs; although I have to admit the number of false summits I saw on my first ascent of Ben Nevis would get anyone down! I really look forward to being part of future expeditions with the 44th!!

For the record .... Rob - I do not have an addiction to Coca-Cola and my sloth behaviour is due to a tendency to fall asleep on long tedious journeys ..... Daniel - please keep your nails short and out of the cutlery tray .... Adam G - where did you get your tent?

Article by Little Rich (Young)

'Ow Do' - The Words of a Wise Man

'Ow Do' - Orcadian weather is somewhat temperamental ....
..... however we were fortunate that the rain restricted itself to occasional drizzles and only one major downpour;

'Ow Do' - Sanday is a beautiful island ....
..... however the beauty was mostly as a result of the isolation and solitude that the island provides; it is ideal for day trips, longer stays are likely to prove tiresome as apart from coastal walking there aren't many activities ... and the tiny villages are all but deserted ... there are plenty of cows though ....

'Ow Do' - Hoy is ideal for Duke of Edinburgh expeditions ....
..... it affords beautiful scenery with pleasant hikes for all abilities; the free bothy at Rackwick Bay is an ideal base, it is warm and dry with adequate facilities and provides ready access to the 'Old Man' which is definitely worth the 2½ - 3 hour round trip;

'Ow Do' - Beware the Bonxies my son ....
..... they're more dangerous than any jabber can wok; the bonxy or artic skua is a bird of fearsome reputation that protects its 'patch' with loud wailing cries and savage swooping strikes with its bill; a blood-thirsty pirate of the skies who feeds off the live chicks of other seabirds, it is best well avoided;

'Ow Do' - Seek the Stromness Shopping Week Queen ....
..... in a Kirkwall bar! Tsk! Tsk! Laura Wilson what were you thinking .......;

'Ow Do' - Orcadian lasses love to wear royal blue ....
..... catch 'em if you can, lads! (See "Bonxies & Other Birds")

'Ow Do' - Three legs are better than one ....
..... the great three-legged races of Stromness Shopping Week - get to know your partner really well ... don't ask for 'heavy' at each stop ... remember where you put the harbour ... splash .....

'Ow Do' - Look out, look out, there's a gimper about ....
..... if you want your tent poles snapped, if you ever want to be evicted from a busy hostelry, if you want to be told that a night's camping will cost an arm and a leg, if you want to discover that the chickens have all gone, or that the Loch Ness monster resides in Loch Ness so what's it doing sat on the forecourt of a BP garage in Inverness???? ... then you need a gimper.

'Ow Do' - There's nowt as queer as folk ....
..... just ask that gimper over there....

Article based on entry by Adam Lewis

Northward Bound

The Journey Up ..... left STRS at 15.30hrs ... M5/M6 not too bad ... lots of honking truckers and a few flirty looks twixt passenger side look-out and slow-laner loverlies ... curses as the limiter cuts in (67mph max - what a bore!) ... Threfall Viaduct road works stop-start-stop ... stop .... oh bugger .... rolling on again, northwards bound, a-way toward the call of the heather clad hills and glens .....

We roll up at the Toll Bar Campsite, Gretna Green, pitch camp in the lush green grass and allow the first midges in Scotland to taste of our blood. A brew-up and egg, bacon, sausage rolls rounded off the day just right and we all tumbled into a peaceful slumber lulled by the rolling, rumbling growl of truckers' wheels as they sped past throughout the night.

Roll call: 5.30am ... or was it 6.30am ... or 7.30am????

There seemed to be some confusion over start time .... oh well, photocalls into England and Scotland extended leave time to approx 9.15am. Good progress through lowlands on to Perth.

Nice lunch stop in gardens over-looking River Tay - sun/rain/dodgeball/photocall - an hour or so included some shopping (for Coe-ee's 18th b'day - except he was only 17!!) before setting off - found ourselves on A939 through to Braemar. A long windy haul - no time make any serious attempt on Glas Maol so pushed right on to Inverness (McTesco shopping and wee comfort stop) and then Dingwall for expensive overnight in Caravan & Camping Club site right next to Ross County FC ground. (Note for future reference the paucity of suitable campsites in this region). Curried chicken - Balti sauce mix and fried chicken pieces, yum! - a good end to a long day's driving. Sshh - absolute quiet after 11pm.

Day three - we strike and clear by 9am; a mad dash ensues on good clear roads up to Thurso just in time for noon-day ferry. ESL negotiates bringing forward our passage by 24hours with the helpful reservations lady and we're on. Fish and chips lunch in cafe, then roll off into Stromness around 13.30hrs. Right into the last throes of .... Shopping Week?!