Maggies to Gills

Saint Maggie’s Hope in rah sooth

Arriving at the Murray arms at St Margaret’s hope (fi noo oan kent tae me as Maggie’s lol), or am I getting too familiar? The Orcadians shorten the town name to the hoap, which is more about the geography than the maid, she (Margaret) was also known as the Maid of Norway, she was the queen-designate of Scotland from 1286 until her death. As she was never inaugurated, her status as monarch is uncertain and has been debated by historians. Margaret was the daughter of King Eric II of Norway and Margaret of Scotland. By the end of the reign of her maternal grandfather, King Alexander III of Scotland, she was his only surviving descendant and recognized heir presumptive. Alexander III died in 1286, his posthumous child was stillborn, and Margaret inherited the crown. (oh, tae feck) Owing to her young age, she remained in Norway rather than going to Scotland. Her father and the Scottish leaders negotiated her marriage to Edward of Caernarfon, son of King Edward I of England. (shit chess move) She was finally sent home in September 1290, but died in Orkney, sparking off the succession dispute between thirteen competitors for the crown of Scotland! In short A proper shit storm! her death started a lovely wee town, but I cant help thinking it should change its name as her death kicked of the wars of independence, it also lost Orkney and Shetland their Norse roots and they became part of Scotland, personally that is the only part of her death I am glad of I like Orkney and Shetland being part of Scotland pictish again nae norse! The rest of that power struggle is heart breaking

But back to me, the hotel owner said will I book you in for dinner? oh yeh music to my ears seven PM is good? Can I have another beer to the beer garden? once I’ve got my bike in your shed, no problem she says do you have any dietary requirement? I just said I was dairy free, some folk shouldn’t play poker as their faces canny tell a lie, she was thinking I had an allergy and the whole kitchen is filled with dairy, I had to lighten the issue saying not to stress I will eat anything and won’t be ill, I didn’t tell her I didn’t eat mammals just saying I liked fish and eggs as in all fairness to her it was a seafood restaurant, which was great I ate well over my stay. Gina the owner stresses about stuff like that as most restauranteurs do, I told her I viewed it as my problem not hers and she shouldn’t stress. All the staff were magic it was a great stay for me I loved it

What a fantastic wee town it is, the people have a great sense of community in such a short space/area there is so many quirky homes monuments sites things to see and do, it was supposed to be horrendous weather the day after my arrival (it wasn’t) I cycled out to hoxa battery, this was a huge military base once and now extensive abandoned ruins, I had a great walk/cycle around but it wasn’t until I passed in the ferry that I realised I had also missed a lot, the beach area alone on the way out was beautiful, but also just there at extreme low tide you can see fossilised trees

Once back at murray arms the staff were now more informed than me as to what had dairy in it or not, they had obviously had a group chat about the dairy free nut lol my menu was explained as you can have this or that but why don’t you have that! And they were right I had a fantastic seafood dinner langoustine’s starter mussel for main it was absolutely wonderfuel

The next day after a long great chat at breakfast, I got the story about the grandparents days when they had the bakery which was the only place open at 06:00 and Churchill asked if he could come in and sit down for breakfast? He was told yes of course and got some tea and a scone the bakery was obviously up early in those days with fresh bakes, but he left without paying! Nearly one hundred years later the locals will remember he left without paying his bill! I love it, of course in fairness to Churchill upper classes like him probably didn’t even carry money he wouldn’t be used to paying for anything

The bike was fully laden I was booked out the hotel and ready to hit the road again, the plan? Head south hopefully the ferry will be going from the very bottom of south Ronaldsay to john o groats, I had previously taken this ferry south to north twenty year ago! At that time Leaving the super sierra with a skunk super glued on its bonnet at john o groats. me Sean and Chris had got off the ferry here to go to the rugby sevens what an adventure that was! On this occasion it was just me on the daunder, I was considering a camp for a night or two if the ferry was going,

I had enjoyed the cycle down from Maggie’s but was disappointed that the tomb of the eagles was shut everything down there was shut, I went into the ferry waiting room toilets used the loo and phoned the ferry company? they would not be starting again until the first of June! Far too late for me I wizny camping there for two weeks! But I could camp the one night? I cracked open a beer and got out some snacks, while snacking I A white van approached a chappy got out and locked the loos! I went over to speak to the toilets man, yes, he would reopen them tomorrow at nine, he was alright and actually ended up bringing me a tomb of the eagle’s leaflet, BUT that was it for me I decided i would head back to Maggie’s, I stopped to speak to a young couple travelling in a billing, swapping tips for the road

the other big deal for me was the fact that having cycled down to the southern most point of orkney only six miles over the water to the scottish mainland! i had then completed the orkney section of NCN1 another section completed all of the orkney section now cycled,

On the cycle back I got to thinking about what and where I should spend the next night? There’s a cracking beach spot with loo`s out towards Hoxa? Then again I could book another night at Murray’s? my thinking? Maybe I should check the ferry times then make a decision! I cycled right up the pier the ferry was in, I asked in the booking office if I could book me and the daunder on that ferry yes, she said ok said I! easy and quick as that I was leaving Orkney and hadn’t planned to! it was quick and easy and I was sad at how easy it was, another chapter of my adventure closed

There is three main ferry routes to the mainland from Orkney I was now doing the last one I hadn’t done, Maggie’s to gills bay it’s a cool big boat, I had bought some beer from the old trading post in Maggie’s (the excellent post office) my intention to have a beer up deck and watch Orkney slide away into the horizon, this is sort of what happened with a also a roll on egg and a plate of chips from the ship shop snack shop chip shop thingy! There was nobody around for me to say oh look there’s Flotta and oh there’s Hoy and over there that’s Hoxa battery, I watched it all disappear alone vowing to myself to return