The View from Orkney
The land of no wi-fi was misty and unending. I looked to the left side of the road, keeping a sharp eye on the edge where the dusty trail shifted into grass, dirt or… nothing at all. My assigned job was, if necessary, to yell with “controlled alarm.” This meant that, if we were in danger of careening into a nearby loch, I had to let Jess know without freaking her out. I became practiced in exclaiming calmly and clearly when we needed to course correct as fast as possible. Not quite as scary as actually driving a manual in a foreign country, but certainly not without a few moments of stark, raving terror.
As we barreled down a seemingly infinite number of winding one-lane Scottish roads, my job probably sounds alarming as all hell. Yet, at this point in our trip, we’d been driving through Scotland for weeks and Jess had become a seasoned veteran. My services were rarely needed. She could spare herself to look around as we went. And her half-sentry, half-cheerleader could finally rest easy, able to sit back and take in some of the most breathtaking scenery on earth.
Hello, dear readers. It’s been a while. As to why, well… look again to the start of this post. The forbidding “land of no wi-fi” loomed around us like a cloak. To grasp the slightest whisper of 3G became a legendary trial. To update this chronicle: since Mull we’ve stood in awe of the peaks of Glencoe and poked around the Isle of Skye. We’ve snapped shots of the castle of Eilean Donan and marveled at the stark landscape of what used to be the Caledonian Forest. We’ve sipped coffee in Applecross, devoured steak & ale pies in Polbain, inhaled chocolate in Durness and, for Jess, had tea & crumpets just about everywhere.
Now we sit in the Orkney Islands. The place of Neolithic, Pict and Viking remains galore. Not gonna lie; this place is far more pastoral than I thought it would be. It’s as if, in order to acquire and keep their many ruins, the Orcadians had to promise the rest of the land to half the cows and sheeps in all of Scotland. Not a single broch or tomb has failed to impress, yet navigating around the dung becomes a tiresome game pretty damn fast, let me tell you.
Yet our time here has been special in its own right. One of my favorite spots has been the Maeshowe Cairn, where a cheerful guide pointed out to us the spots where snarky vikings left ridiculous graffiti signatures. Another has been the organic moment in which another traveler called to our attention a pod of wild orcas gently cresting up and down amongst the waves. We stood watching them quietly for a while, marveling at the rare sight. It has been a great trip.
Now we prepare to leave the Orkneys and move on down to Inverness, where a quick drive to the Urquhart Castle ruins and the infamous Loch Ness await. My fingers are crossed that our access to wi-fi will remain strong but, then again, many of the best moments in our travels have been when we haven’t had an outside thought or care in the world. I’ll have to raise a glass of whiskey to that.
