Sun, sleet and a near miss

On Saturday we set off for the Isle of Hoy on a 25-minute ferry ride across the Hoy Sound from Stromness. And the sun came out. Only one other passenger was on the boat: a young zoologist with two skis looking for a slope to whizz down. Because of him, we have a photo of ourselves, taken before riding up a hill and freewheeling down the road towards Rackwick while marvelling at the snowy peaks and feeling the joy of being ‘on the road’. At low tide we picked huge mussels, then steamed and ate them while warming up at our friend’s wood-fire. There we baked wholemeal bread, made hemp-seed milk, stoked the fire again and again and again, and nearly missed the last ferry back to Stromness fighting fierce hail, sleet and wind. We made it to the pier without a minute to spare and shared notes with the skiier who also only just made it in time.