From our June 26th edition
The walk from Yesnaby along the Orkney coast towards Stromness is amazing.
The coastline is dramatically high and the sight of the rock stacks rising out of the water is stunning. It is not a walk for those, like me, who are not good on heights. The cliff edges are frighteningly steep and walking with those who don’t share my fear meant my heart was in my mouth several times.
I preferred the walk across Hoy. It was coast to coast but through a valley with no cliff faces to negotiate. The ferry was out from Stromness and took several attempts to dock at Hoy.
The weather was a little rough but it was because the usual boat is off for repairs just now and they have a bigger beastie on loan, not really built for the waters and piers around Orkney, that led to the crew having trouble getting alongside.
Once there, we set off for Rackwick on the opposite coast carrying all we needed since there are no shops or hotels at this end of the island. To get back in time for the ferry our hosts had arranged for us to be met at Rackwick by a man with a minibus.
This man, Mr Thomson, turned out to be full of stories. He told us of the famous people he had driven in his minibus. Then he told us of a family whom he’d picked up from the ferry with suitcases by the ton. Like us, they too wanted to go to Rackwick.
Mr Thomson warned them that there was nothing there, but they insisted. He took them. As they were nearing their destination, dad asked Mr Thomson to drop the children off at the cinema and to take them, the parents, to a good restaurant. Rackwick is made up of a few scattered crofts, a bothy and not much else.
Again, their driver tried to tell them there was nothing much there but the man of the family insisted that he had read the books and knew all about Rackwick. The journey ended. The family got out the car, mouths open.
Apparently they thought they were going to Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital city.
The moral of the story is do your homework… and listen to the local!
I can hardly scoff at the mistake given that a daughter, heading for Tailinn in Estonia, ended up in Turin in Italy.
Mistakes happen. It’s how you deal with them that matters. Our offspring ended up having a ball in Turin.
The family in Hoy, so we were told, were not quite so able or willing to turn the situation around.
Every one of us gets things wrong. When we do, it’s important to admit our mistake because in admitting it, we can then start to do something to put things right again. Standing amongst crofts blaming everyone else for your plight helps no one. Least of all yourself.
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It is also true that mistakes can be more than simply learning experiences. Mistakes can also take us to places we have never thought of and they can see us doing things we never imagined we could. In other words, mistakes are not all bad.
But for the record, Rackwick is definitely on Hoy and Reykjavik is definitely in Iceland! –
Susan Brown.
