West Murkie CL on the northern coast of mainland Britain is another small 5 ‘van site. The pitches are in the garden of a little farmhouse, and it has it’s own beach! After pitching up we were straight down to the beach which has beautiful white sand and a stream running down the middle of it out to sea!
We had a surprise phone call from Roy and June who we met on
our first site of the trip in Broadway, it was lovely to hear from them, and how their year 
of travelling went!
Then we set off to John O Groats, it is much better than Lands end with no theme park present, but the hotel on the headland is looking very run down and derelict. We asked the photographer (who is based there at the famous signpost) what happened to it and he said it has been empty for 9 years but they are hoping to reopen it by 2012. We had a walk out to the end of the harbour and a look around the few shops that were there before going over to Duncansby Head, the headland just East of John O Groats. We parked by the lighthouse and then walked along the 2 mile path that took us to a viewpoint for the impressive Stacks of
Duncansby, two rocky turrets which stand pr
oud of the headland, and look like a series of rocks that have been piled on top of each other. On the way there while on the clifftop we spotted a fishing boat busily scooting around checking nets, it was followed by a group of 5 seals that kept popping their heads up to check out what was going on! It was much quieter on the headland by the stacks because most of the tourists didn’t bother with the walk out that far, so we had our picnic sat on a tuft of grass by the stacks before heading back to Tonks. Next stop was up the road to the Castle of Mey, which was the Queen Mothers summer retreat. Entry to the castle was £9.50 each, so we opted for the cheaper £4 o
ption of g
rounds and garden, (we’re on a budget dontcha know!) we needn’t have paid though as no-one checked our tickets! First we had to drive through the castle courtyard to park under the shade of some trees (for the dogs) and then we had a walk to the front of the castle and its small woodland area. On to the walled garden where we had a nice look around the roses, veggie patches, flower gardens and other plant-like things. Finally we headed down to the animal sanctuary wh
ere they were looking after a number of sheep, 2 goats, 
ducks and chickens, pigs, birds and a couple of chipmunks!
Back to Tonks and we drove found to Dunnet Head, an outcrop of headland that is the most northerly point of the British mainland, the view from the lighthouse was good and we could clearly see the Orkney Isles out to the north, but as we walked up to the viewpoint at the top of the hill the sea mist closed in and everything became very white!
The next day we began our adventure to Orkney! First we went into Thurso to look at the Caithness museum as recommended by Mrs Yeomans, our campsite owner. It was converted from the old Town Hall and was lovely inside, there were some very impressive exhibits and a Dounreay exhibition which explains about the advent of nuclear power in the area, how the power station grew and what is happening now with its decommissioning. The museum also has a café and a shop and is free to get in, highly recommended! We had a bit more time to kill before our ferry so we went for a walk down to the beach next to the campsite, we had a lovely time there and Linda collected a load of little multi coloured shells, so much so that we were a bit later than we wanted to be for the ferry so ended
up near the back of the queue! Luckily, they put you into rows before boarding, and our row was first on, so we walked to the top level of the boat and watched the staff squeezing everyone else’s cars in. We were due to sail at 4:30, and it took so long to ram everyone on (including some motorhomes and a caravan who had to reverse on) that we didn’t sail until 5:00! The dogs were fine in the car until near to the landing when one o
f the deck men stood next to the car and stared at Prince who went bonkers! Phil shouted down to him not to wind up the dog and the bloke wandered off. Off the ferry we set off for Kirkwall and found the posh new leisure centre where we sneaked in and had free showers! After we’d had our tea in a Kirkwall American style diner we headed back out to the Churchill barriers where Linda thought she spotted a possible sleeping spot. It was a nice quiet little track next to a car park with toilets, and it lead down to a nice little beach. We backed Tonks up behind some dunes and set up the bed as it was going dark. Just as we were settling in some Italian folk turned up in a car and 5 of them pitched 2 tents just behind us and chatted for hours, typical! We slept pretty badly because Prince hogged the bed and panted all night, but Smudge was fine in her bed in the front seat! (You spoil that dog!)
Our Italian neighbours left at 7:30am so up we got up and had a walk on the beach. Then the Italian Chapel was our first stop after taking some photos of the Churchill Barriers. The barriers were built in the 2nd World War in order to stop the German U boats getting into the British naval stronghold o
f Scapa Flow, and as well as the barriers you can still see the block ships which were deliberately sunk in the area as the first attempt to keep the Germans out. Italian prisoners of war were brought in to build the barriers and they stayed in a camp of Nissen huts on the small island of Lamb Holm, morale was pretty low and so to help raise it the British agreed that they could convert 2 of the huts into a chapel, and this is now the only remaining building of t
he camp after the Orcadians rescued it. The result is an amazing little chapel, which really provokes thoughts of what it must have been like here for the prisoners of war. Shortly after we had finished looking around the first coach party of the day arrived, full of French t
ourists, the men set off round the side of the chapel to relieve themselves, nice! We then went on to Mainland Orkney and headed for the Gloup on the Eastern side of the island, by Mull Head, there is a short walk to a very impressive collapsed sea cave with viewpoints built at the top so that you can have a good view of the cave below, and all the seabirds nesting in it.
Continuing our journey we stopped off at Kirkwall Airport for a coffee and a cake in their café and saw a Flybe plane arrive. The airport is tiny, and 2 minutes after the plane had let its passengers off their bags were coming off the baggage reclaim, it was the fastest luggage we’ve ever seen! The airport consists of just one main room, and arrivals and departures are nearly in the same place, so it was great to just sit and watch people saying their goodbyes and hello’s! We continued on to the Highland Park Distillery where Phil bought a bottle of 12yr old with a free minature of the 18yr old (voted the best spirit in the world, yippee!). On the way round to Stromness we stopped off at the port at Hou
ton to see if we could watch some boats as we had our lunch, no joy there though. Once we got to Stromness we saw the huge Northlink ferry coming in to dock, and watched as it opened up it’s bow to reveal its ramp where all the cars drove off. We got chatting to some blokes who had come off the ferry, and one said they had hired a sailing boat for the week and they were going diving every day to see the sunken German warships in Scapa Flow, it sounded very cool, and there was lots of beer going on board. (one of the blokes was so big we thought he wouldn’t have needed any ballast to get down!) Afterwa
rds we went into the Pier art gallery, which was a beautiful old building done up very nicely and had an interesting selection of arty stuff in there, it was free to get in but we only had 20mins before it closed so had to trot round a bit, still worth the visit though.
We continued round the island to Yesnaby which had WW2 batteries on a cliff on the West Mainland with views towards the Old Man of Hoy, while we were there we scoped it out as a possible camping spot as one camper was already parked up in the shelter of a building. Then onto Marwick Head nature reserve with a small beach, no camping spot here! Then back round towar
ds Stromness through Twatt, sto
pping at the Ring of Brodgar , a 3,000 yr old stone circle which we had a walk round. We scoped out the carpark for a camping spot and found one where other people had backed up from the car park to a spot overlooking Loch Harray – perfect! We were back to our camping spot at about 7.30pm (after tea in Stromness) where we got set up for the night and then sat on our bed in Tonks with the boot open looking at the view over the loch.
Bit better nights sleep, with Prince down by the front seats, but he still took up too much room and did a lot of panting! We got up and set off looking for coffee. First off we found th
e Earl’s Palace at Bursay, a 16th century ruined palace which is now in the hands of Heritage Scotland and is free to look round. There is a tea shop in the village that doesn’t open until 11am so we carried on down the 
lane to Brough Head where there is a lighthouse and a Viking settlement on an island connected by a causeway, we started walking and got across to the other side of the causeway just as the tide was coming up over the top, so we hot footed it back to the car. We spotted a couple who had been on the other side and left it a little late, they had to take off their shoes and paddle across bare foot! We went back through Birsay where the village shop was now open so we bought biccies and tea and coffee, and 2 bottles of 9% Orkney porter for later! We drove round West Mainland and called at Broch of Gurness (Historic Scotland) then stopped for lunch in Finstown. On to Kirkwall where we went back to the leisure centre for sneaky free showers! We then drove over the Churchill barriers where we stopped by the Italian Chapel a
t a wine outlet where we bought a coffee and tried some free wine! We carried on down to South Ronaldsay where we took a narrow B road to the tiny seaside village of Herston, where we sat in someones drive and watched the ferry go out. We could see a nice beach on the other side of Widewall Bay so next we headed there and played ball with Prince and watched some farmers kids practicing ploughing. (apparently the farmers kids have a ploughing competition in the sand every year.) Then it was time to head for the ferry so we joined the queue and waited, slightly less full this time, so not as entertaining watching the loading, and we were soon back on mainland Britain. Happy to be back at the ‘van with it’s (huge) comfy bed, in a strange sort of way our little trip over to Orkney without the ‘van felt like a little holiday, and we were glad to be home!
The next day we moved to a lovely caravan site on the edge of the beach at Durness, on the Western side of the North coast.
We had a surprise phone call from Roy and June who we met on
our first site of the trip in Broadway, it was lovely to hear from them, and how their year 
of travelling went!Then we set off to John O Groats, it is much better than Lands end with no theme park present, but the hotel on the headland is looking very run down and derelict. We asked the photographer (who is based there at the famous signpost) what happened to it and he said it has been empty for 9 years but they are hoping to reopen it by 2012. We had a walk out to the end of the harbour and a look around the few shops that were there before going over to Duncansby Head, the headland just East of John O Groats. We parked by the lighthouse and then walked along the 2 mile path that took us to a viewpoint for the impressive Stacks of
Duncansby, two rocky turrets which stand pr
oud of the headland, and look like a series of rocks that have been piled on top of each other. On the way there while on the clifftop we spotted a fishing boat busily scooting around checking nets, it was followed by a group of 5 seals that kept popping their heads up to check out what was going on! It was much quieter on the headland by the stacks because most of the tourists didn’t bother with the walk out that far, so we had our picnic sat on a tuft of grass by the stacks before heading back to Tonks. Next stop was up the road to the Castle of Mey, which was the Queen Mothers summer retreat. Entry to the castle was £9.50 each, so we opted for the cheaper £4 o
ption of g
rounds and garden, (we’re on a budget dontcha know!) we needn’t have paid though as no-one checked our tickets! First we had to drive through the castle courtyard to park under the shade of some trees (for the dogs) and then we had a walk to the front of the castle and its small woodland area. On to the walled garden where we had a nice look around the roses, veggie patches, flower gardens and other plant-like things. Finally we headed down to the animal sanctuary wh
ere they were looking after a number of sheep, 2 goats, 
ducks and chickens, pigs, birds and a couple of chipmunks!Back to Tonks and we drove found to Dunnet Head, an outcrop of headland that is the most northerly point of the British mainland, the view from the lighthouse was good and we could clearly see the Orkney Isles out to the north, but as we walked up to the viewpoint at the top of the hill the sea mist closed in and everything became very white!
The next day we began our adventure to Orkney! First we went into Thurso to look at the Caithness museum as recommended by Mrs Yeomans, our campsite owner. It was converted from the old Town Hall and was lovely inside, there were some very impressive exhibits and a Dounreay exhibition which explains about the advent of nuclear power in the area, how the power station grew and what is happening now with its decommissioning. The museum also has a café and a shop and is free to get in, highly recommended! We had a bit more time to kill before our ferry so we went for a walk down to the beach next to the campsite, we had a lovely time there and Linda collected a load of little multi coloured shells, so much so that we were a bit later than we wanted to be for the ferry so ended
up near the back of the queue! Luckily, they put you into rows before boarding, and our row was first on, so we walked to the top level of the boat and watched the staff squeezing everyone else’s cars in. We were due to sail at 4:30, and it took so long to ram everyone on (including some motorhomes and a caravan who had to reverse on) that we didn’t sail until 5:00! The dogs were fine in the car until near to the landing when one o
f the deck men stood next to the car and stared at Prince who went bonkers! Phil shouted down to him not to wind up the dog and the bloke wandered off. Off the ferry we set off for Kirkwall and found the posh new leisure centre where we sneaked in and had free showers! After we’d had our tea in a Kirkwall American style diner we headed back out to the Churchill barriers where Linda thought she spotted a possible sleeping spot. It was a nice quiet little track next to a car park with toilets, and it lead down to a nice little beach. We backed Tonks up behind some dunes and set up the bed as it was going dark. Just as we were settling in some Italian folk turned up in a car and 5 of them pitched 2 tents just behind us and chatted for hours, typical! We slept pretty badly because Prince hogged the bed and panted all night, but Smudge was fine in her bed in the front seat! (You spoil that dog!)Our Italian neighbours left at 7:30am so up we got up and had a walk on the beach. Then the Italian Chapel was our first stop after taking some photos of the Churchill Barriers. The barriers were built in the 2nd World War in order to stop the German U boats getting into the British naval stronghold o
f Scapa Flow, and as well as the barriers you can still see the block ships which were deliberately sunk in the area as the first attempt to keep the Germans out. Italian prisoners of war were brought in to build the barriers and they stayed in a camp of Nissen huts on the small island of Lamb Holm, morale was pretty low and so to help raise it the British agreed that they could convert 2 of the huts into a chapel, and this is now the only remaining building of t
he camp after the Orcadians rescued it. The result is an amazing little chapel, which really provokes thoughts of what it must have been like here for the prisoners of war. Shortly after we had finished looking around the first coach party of the day arrived, full of French t
ourists, the men set off round the side of the chapel to relieve themselves, nice! We then went on to Mainland Orkney and headed for the Gloup on the Eastern side of the island, by Mull Head, there is a short walk to a very impressive collapsed sea cave with viewpoints built at the top so that you can have a good view of the cave below, and all the seabirds nesting in it.Continuing our journey we stopped off at Kirkwall Airport for a coffee and a cake in their café and saw a Flybe plane arrive. The airport is tiny, and 2 minutes after the plane had let its passengers off their bags were coming off the baggage reclaim, it was the fastest luggage we’ve ever seen! The airport consists of just one main room, and arrivals and departures are nearly in the same place, so it was great to just sit and watch people saying their goodbyes and hello’s! We continued on to the Highland Park Distillery where Phil bought a bottle of 12yr old with a free minature of the 18yr old (voted the best spirit in the world, yippee!). On the way round to Stromness we stopped off at the port at Hou
ton to see if we could watch some boats as we had our lunch, no joy there though. Once we got to Stromness we saw the huge Northlink ferry coming in to dock, and watched as it opened up it’s bow to reveal its ramp where all the cars drove off. We got chatting to some blokes who had come off the ferry, and one said they had hired a sailing boat for the week and they were going diving every day to see the sunken German warships in Scapa Flow, it sounded very cool, and there was lots of beer going on board. (one of the blokes was so big we thought he wouldn’t have needed any ballast to get down!) Afterwa
rds we went into the Pier art gallery, which was a beautiful old building done up very nicely and had an interesting selection of arty stuff in there, it was free to get in but we only had 20mins before it closed so had to trot round a bit, still worth the visit though.We continued round the island to Yesnaby which had WW2 batteries on a cliff on the West Mainland with views towards the Old Man of Hoy, while we were there we scoped it out as a possible camping spot as one camper was already parked up in the shelter of a building. Then onto Marwick Head nature reserve with a small beach, no camping spot here! Then back round towar
ds Stromness through Twatt, sto
pping at the Ring of Brodgar , a 3,000 yr old stone circle which we had a walk round. We scoped out the carpark for a camping spot and found one where other people had backed up from the car park to a spot overlooking Loch Harray – perfect! We were back to our camping spot at about 7.30pm (after tea in Stromness) where we got set up for the night and then sat on our bed in Tonks with the boot open looking at the view over the loch.Bit better nights sleep, with Prince down by the front seats, but he still took up too much room and did a lot of panting! We got up and set off looking for coffee. First off we found th
e Earl’s Palace at Bursay, a 16th century ruined palace which is now in the hands of Heritage Scotland and is free to look round. There is a tea shop in the village that doesn’t open until 11am so we carried on down the 
lane to Brough Head where there is a lighthouse and a Viking settlement on an island connected by a causeway, we started walking and got across to the other side of the causeway just as the tide was coming up over the top, so we hot footed it back to the car. We spotted a couple who had been on the other side and left it a little late, they had to take off their shoes and paddle across bare foot! We went back through Birsay where the village shop was now open so we bought biccies and tea and coffee, and 2 bottles of 9% Orkney porter for later! We drove round West Mainland and called at Broch of Gurness (Historic Scotland) then stopped for lunch in Finstown. On to Kirkwall where we went back to the leisure centre for sneaky free showers! We then drove over the Churchill barriers where we stopped by the Italian Chapel a
t a wine outlet where we bought a coffee and tried some free wine! We carried on down to South Ronaldsay where we took a narrow B road to the tiny seaside village of Herston, where we sat in someones drive and watched the ferry go out. We could see a nice beach on the other side of Widewall Bay so next we headed there and played ball with Prince and watched some farmers kids practicing ploughing. (apparently the farmers kids have a ploughing competition in the sand every year.) Then it was time to head for the ferry so we joined the queue and waited, slightly less full this time, so not as entertaining watching the loading, and we were soon back on mainland Britain. Happy to be back at the ‘van with it’s (huge) comfy bed, in a strange sort of way our little trip over to Orkney without the ‘van felt like a little holiday, and we were glad to be home!
The next day we moved to a lovely caravan site on the edge of the beach at Durness, on the Western side of the North coast.
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