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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 2023
by Ellie - 09:09 on 16 March 2023
On Monday 13th March 2023 seven of us very brave folk put on our waterproof gear and layered up to meet on a very windy day at the Palace at Birsay for the planned linear walk to the causeway and the whalebone, unfortunately we did not succeed. At our first attempt we linked arms and tried to walk up the North Road in 40 mile an hour winds and a shower of sleet and snow, after deciding it wasn’t possible to put one foot in front of the other we walked back to the Palace. On our second attempt we tried to see if we could walk to the causeway, which we did, with the wind gusting in our faces. We had plenty of stops to catch our breath and regain our balance. We managed to see a few swans and seals, but most of all we laughed a lot at the idea of trying to walk in such horrible weather conditions. After an hour we had to admitted defeat and retreated to Anne’s for lunch. Anne’s husband, Robin, had made soup for us, which went down very well. We spent the next two hours having our lunch, firstly by a roaring fire in Anne and Robin’s winter room, we then moved into Anne and Robin’s summer room, where we had the most beautiful views over the sea, for our tea and cake. The company was great and many thanks to Anne and Robin for the hospitality.
Our next planned walk is Monday 27th March 2023 when hopefully it will be a calmer day. I will send out information on the walk a couple of days before.
If you would like to more information regarding Walking Group Two please contact me via the U3A email address.
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