Silence…that’s what greeted us this morning. Not a sound from anywhere, even the main road was empty!! We woke up at 6.30am, showered, dressed and ready for breakfast. Were we hungry…yes…were we ready for breakfast…hell yes!!! I had authentic Scottish porridge followed by authentic smoked salmon on toast with coffee and orange juice…Nisha had scrambled egg with smoked salmon on toast, with tea and orange juice…only have a photo of the porridge…we were too hungry to take a photo and then eat!!! (Secret to porridge making…add half teaspoon of salt to the soaked porridge when making it!!! Rating for breakfast was an easy 9.5 / 10

Breakfast completed, both of us put on our layers…thermal base layer, polo shirt, fleece, wind blocker and finally a rain jacket, not forgetting a woolly hat!!! car loaded, sat nav programmed, our destination was Sandwood Bay. Travel time would be approx 45 minutes along bendy roads, a majority single track with passing areas. Our depart time was approx 9.15am with the expectation that the roads would be busy. The roads were nearly empty and the drive was a joy!!! The educated camper van driver usually indicated left at a passing point and slowed down which meant I could overtake. On the other hand, the odd Aston Martin driver had to absorb the rear view mirror image before they indicated left at a passing point!!! Eventually we pulled into the car park. Only two other cars and a camper van. Walking boots on, we followed the sign for Sandwood Bay. According to another sign, the distance was approx 4.5 miles, which translated to approx 2 hours along rocky, uneven and wet terrain, with a few stepping stones along the way. We’ve covered this distance before…no problem for us!!! Let’s go…!!! From the moment we set off…the views were fab!!!

As we gingerly made our way over the stepping stones, our audience of two cows were watching to see who would step into the water. It was as if they were about to give us a stepping score!!!

Our score would have been 10 / 10 🤣🤣🤣

On we continued and after a few minutes I turned around to see Sherpa Nisha…

I always thought a Sherpa shows you to route!!! 😜😜😜

As mile 4 approached, the distant skyline was changing…

We kept walking…down a sand dune and boom…what a beach!!!

A look left…pure white sand…a look right…pure white sand…are we really in Scotland??? Totally gobsmacked, we just stared straight ahead, totally mesmerised by the turquoise coloured sea and white sand!!!

Shades were needed, it was sunny and getting warm!!!

According to our temperature sensitive fingers, the sea temperature was approx 5c-7c. If it wasn’t for the dangerous undercurrent, Nisha and myself would have ran into the sea!!! Instead, we climbed the nearby rocks to find a comfy seat to eat some lunch. In our bag, we had packed thepla and our favourite, chocolate corn cakes!!! With each bite, we looked out to sea and contemplated life and how lucky we were with the sunny weather (thanks dad!!).

Lunch finished, Nisha decided to venture across the rocks to look at the water pools and water life. A barnacle here, a sea urchin there, she was in her element, although not totally convinced that the urchin was an urchin 🤣🤣🤣.

Slowly we made our way to the edge where rhe waves were crashing up against the rocks…such a lovely feeling and noise!!!

Quick break…while I’m writing this blog, I’m listening to a cuckoo!!!

Budding water biologist Nisha had completed her investigations and it was time for a walk to the end of the beach…still not many people…!!

Towards the end of the beach, we noticed that a small Loch was flowing into the sea…this is where my my inner biologist came to the fore…was the flow from a fresh water Loch???

My conclusions were that it wasn’t fresh water, my assistant Nisha informed me, after spitting out a drop of water, that there was salt in it!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Faced with a two hour trek back to our car, we slowly retraced our steps up and down the sand dunes until we reached the grass, boggy path. I swear the way back was harder!!! Slowly but surely we made our way back, achieving another 10 / 10 over the stepping stones, but on this occasion we stopped!!! After walking for about 9 miles, we came across a photo opportunity. Vikki, you owe us a few single malts!!!

As we rounded the last corner, the landscape looked exquisite…

Back at the car park, which was now totally full with cars also parked on the grass verges, while sheep and baby lambs freely roamed around us, we made our way to our car, our boots were replaced with comfy shoes and we melted into our seats. After 5 minutes we made our way to the exit. Do we turn right to go back to our B&B or left to Droman Pier. Left it was, just waiting for the sheep to let us through. Now this was a winding single track road!!! The pier is small but beautiful!!!

It was now time to head back and feed ourselves. Only one, or rather 9 problems…

Eventually they cleared a path for us to continue. The time was about 3.40pm and the hotel we wanted to visit for a drink and meal was closed, again due to lack of staff. Food wouldn’t be available until after 5.30pm with no guarantee of reserving a table. We decided to head back to Smoo Cave Hotel…

On arrival to the car park, there were only 2 other cars there so I pulled onto the same parking spot as last night. We retraced our footsteps from the night before and entered the bar. Ordered the same drinks and wangled the same table (reserved only for locals). Nisha fancied a veg lasagne but it was still cooking and wouldn’t be ready for at least another hour so we both opted for haddock and chips. No starter today as we fancied dessert. For Nisha, dessert was homemade apple crumble with custard, while I opted for Orkney Fudge Cheesecake. As you can see, both dishes were lovely 🤣🤣🤣

Food eaten, we returned to our room to now unwind, Nisha is as usual having a ‘quick kip’ while I’m writing this blog with intermittent contributions from the cuckoo.