Kirkwall, Scotland, United Kingdom
For my second day in Orkney today was going to be a heavy rain day. I had already done all my biking to the ancient sites yesterday in steady drizzle. Today I could sleep in for the first time as I had nowhere to be. Breakfast started at 7.30am. It was quite nice, a mixed of cooked items, and more baked beans. I was able to go back to sleep after eating. Check out was at 11am.
After all the issues with my room I was able to look inside the other rooms when people had checked out. The rooms were actually quite nice with better views but with limited accommodation at high prices my room was already the most expensive of the trip
With the heavy rains started and nothing to do the the entire day I decided to take the bus to Kirkwall. My hotel does not really have any reception area where you could kill a few hours.
The bus to Kirkwall the main town was 4.20 pounds. At the bus station was the tourist information office. They told me the ferry terminal tonight will be open from 7pm for my 11pm overnight ferry
The bus station was also my backup option to sit for a few hours but the hard metal seats were not very comfortable so I went out walking
It was a different feel from Stromness. The streets were much more crowded with tourists from the rotating cruise ships.
Heading to the docks at the waterfront it even had a bit of a feel of Reykjavik aside from the crowds of tourists
I wanted to get out of the rain as I still had the entire day before my sleeper ferry and nowhere really to sit inside.
St Magnus Cathedral is a block or two away from the bus station. It was built in the 12th century by the Viking settlers
This was maybe the largest indoor space to sit as the rains were coming down heavy. It was free entry but I could only stay here for so long and I was hoping the rains would clear
The rain seemed to settle a bit so I went out to explore the nearby Bishops and Earls Palaces.
First was the Bishops Palace. You are supposed to get a combined ticket to both for 7.50 pounds but I was already here, did not want to walk back/forth in the rain, nobody was on duty checking
Facing across the road is the Earls Palace also in ruins. Again nobody was checking for tickets, the attendants must have all run away from the rains
My backpack has a rain cover so I had to ask people to put it on behind my back for me. The rains were not letting up and I did not want everything soaked thru again, but this time they were wrapped in large plastic bags inside just in case
Back by St Magnus Cathedral is the Town Hall were they were having a crafts fair. Again I could not really stay here for the day
The only other place was the Orkney Museum. Entrance is free but it a small building and was crowded with all the visitors also trying to keep out of the rains
It has archaeological items but also some period rooms with stately furnishings
Again the museum was too small and nowhere to sit with luggage to keep out of the rain
I ended up back inside the town hall which had seating in the lobby facing the Cathedral. There was also a cafe and a radio station playing music.
After an hour I left and starting going into every souvenir shop to kill more time. There was lots of time to 7pm for the ferry terminal to open for my 11pm sleeper ferry. Then I went into a pizza restaurant as I knew it would be warm and would kill more time as they made my pizza which was 9 pounds. Kirkwall would have been a nice place to explore had the rain not been so bad today.
2025-05-23