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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 Botany Group - July 2015
by Margaret Rinder - 08:33 on 22 July 2015
U3A Botany Group - Hill of Dwarmo, Arwick 21.7.15
4 of us met in changeable weather, our 3 cars neatly parked in an old quarry, until a tractor with dumper truck drove in to dump a load of broken concrete ,with more loads to follow. We adjusted our parking!
The first hour was spent within 100 yards of the cars amongst a variety of plants, including white heather, at the base of not the Hill of Dwarmo! (Peter had a larger scale map, showing this to be a smaller hill nearby). So much for my recce!.
We then proceeded to the track below the Hill of Dwarmo lined with the large leaves of butterbur and luscious vegetation. One wet area was visited before we ran out of time. This was a new and delightful area for us and we could return here to carry on where we left off.
Wildflower books and John Crossley's list were consulted during and after the visit.
Can anyone inform me the meaning of "Dwarmo" and "Arwick" -presumably -wick is vik - bay ?
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