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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.
Photography Group One - 30 August 2017
by Tim Wright - 17:58 on 31 August 2017
Ten of us caught the 8 am ferry to Flotta on a sunny morning. It remained sunny all day but quite breezy. We set off on the track to the Z Battery on the Golta Penninsular via an unplanned excursion to the south shore. The battery was used for firing rockets en mass in the wartime defense of the Flow. What remained mostly were small concrete hemi shelters set in rows at right angles to each other plus circular mounts for the base of the rocket firing mechanism.
Subsequent to our visit, Rod passed on a series of historical photos showing the Battery in action and the loading of the firing mechanisms, so it all eventually made sense to those that were there. We then drove up to Stanger Head and had lunch before looking around the old wartime buildings and going down to the quarry and geo at the point.
A look around the church and Heritage Centre for some was followed by viewing of the wonderful Flotta Mural at the Community Centre. Very kindly we were treated to tea at the latter even though the cafe had closed the week before. A visit to the old cinema ruins plus a quick drive to see Orkney's only resident Penguins ended a wonderful day out.
The next meeting is Wednesday 27th September at 10.30 at HMS Tern in Sandwick for a conducted tour followed by lunch nearby and a viewing of photos from Flotta, Papa Westray and the Summertime project. The weather was so good on Flotta that we never got time to view our efforts from previous meetings.
Keep clicking, Tim
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