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Walking Group One 25th April 2024
Five hardy souls collected today at Happy Valley for the first Hill Walk of the year .The temperature was cool with a North Easterly wind blowing and a hint of rain on arrival.
Off we set heading towards Russadale Quarry, spotting a Buzzard on the way.Turning into the footpath we remained sheltered from the wind all the way to the top of the hill.
The sun was out at the Quarry and a Greenshank was feeding at the edge of the Lochan. Then it was up the Peat road to the summit with spectacular views across Stenness and Harray Lochs, plus a view of the Closed Road beyond the Watch Stone. On the other side we looked over the Flow and down towards the Oil Platform and South Ronaldsay
Then it was back down after a stop for a snack and finally a walk around Happy Valley itself. The Daffodils planted by James and others were looking lovely and the Bluebells are days away from opening. Then it was on to a well deserved lunch at the Pier Cafe, having walked 4 miles and gone up 800 feet (and down again )
The next walk will be on Friday 24th May and hopefully more hills and views.
Keep moving.
u3a Walking Group 2 - March 2024
by Ellie - 16:12 on 06 March 2024
The group welcomed three new folk to the walking group for our walk on Monday 4th March. We met at the Orphir Church car park for our third walk of the year. We were very lucky with the weather after the last few weeks of rain and high winds, a perfect day for a walk, a bright blue sky, and a very moderate wind. From the car park we made our way along the main road for ½ a mile before turning right to follow the track to Swanbister, the little glen at Swanbister House was full of snowdrops. We continued along the track to the Bay of Toy Ness. It was a little bit muddy but not quite as bad as expected, we followed the bay to the old pier, where we had a short break to admire the views. After a couple of interesting facts about the area via the very knowledgeable Tim, we retraced our steps back to the farm and turned left to make our way back to the cars, on our way passing the remains of a water mill. On arriving at the cars, it was time for a hot drink and a slice of cake. A great walk with great company, the walk was just over four miles.
Our next walk is on Monday 8th April, the second Monday of the month, a little later than usual.
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