St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay in the Orkney Islands Scotland

Hello Hello Hivians

It's Wednesday and that means that it's time to document and post another walk I took in Scotland.

Today though we are going to go back a couple of weeks to when we were on holiday in the Orkney Isles off the northern coast of Scotland.

More specifically, our walk is around the village of St Margaret's Hope which is the capital of the southernmost island South Ronaldsay in the Orkney Islands.

We had been visiting the amazing fossil museum on Burray in the morning or to give it its full title The Orkney Fossil and Heritage Centre.

The place was fantastic and there was so much more to it than just fossils!

Allegedly they have a fantastic Tea Room last year, so I decided we would have our lunch there and did not pack anything to eat. I had even been eyeing up what I wanted to eat from the menu.

Do you see the wee (or peedie as the Orcadians say little) sign on the door frame ....

Sorry Cafe Closed.

I did ask why and was told that they could not get any staff... This was to be a common theme we found on holiday!

So plan B came into my head, and we decided to go to St Margaret's Hope the next island.

So outside we went.

I should have twigged about the Cafe I read the sign ... Do you see it?

They have blocked out the Cafe between Museum and Shop!

One good thing about island life is that you just flag down a bus.

That is South Ronaldsay in the background, you get there crossing the last Churchill Barrier.

The Hope as the locals call St Margaret's Hope was just over that hill, but fluffed if we were walking in the heat!

Whilst we waited for the bus, we got to see some horses who were enjoying the high life.

If this was your view would you not be looking it at it too?

This now reminds me of @ifarmgirl who always want to try horse riding but so far as not managed it. Do read her answer post Ride a Horse and Gallop Away For an Adventure in response to the Silver Bloggers community current Silver Prompt - New Theme for Saturday July, 8

In fact now I think of it, you love wee CJ so here is a Shetland pony for you!

For those of you who don't know Shetland is a group of Scottish islands even further north than Orkney!

There are numerous ferry routes into Orkney.

St Margaret's Hope is one of the shortest crossings to the Scottish mainland.

Earlier in the year, one of the ferries on this route ran aground. Actually the Captain beached it as the ferry had mechanical problems, rather than drift and cause problems he beached it to be safe.

Can you guess the name of the ferry?

Yes it was PENTALINA

I think I will pass on sailing on her...

Mrs T then wondered if that propellor was the reason for the troubles 🤣

We were starving and decided to take one more shot then go find food!

I think sea food was in order!

All these fishing rods, I was itching to do some fishing!

What a fluffing quaint shop...

The Old Trading Post

That seemed to sell groceries, fine thought I, in we pop and I will make us a packed lunch ...

Remember I said the locals called the village Hope just look at all the posters with Hope this or Hope that...

Actually it was great, you could tell this was a real community, and this was a hub and Hive of activity!

I loved the Explorer feel, as many Orcadians were explorers especially in the Americas.

Don't you love the Post Box set in the wall!

Well it was no good, there was nothing in there to make a decent sandwich!

So it was time to trade the Trading Post for the Pub next door...

The Murray Arms ....

The fish was out of this world, done in Orkney beer batter!

It turns out the Trading Post is owned by the same family that own The Murray Arms hotel, so it would not matter where we went, the same family got out money...

When we got back to the AirBnb, out host said oh it is dear! Turns out the proprietors are her nieces...

"I usually go to Roberton's .. you should have gone there Edward!"

The bus does a circular route into St Margaret's Hope, and Roberton's is at the top of the hill on the way out, so we never knew about it!

Ah well, it's on our list for our return!

This concludes St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay in the Orkney Islands Scotland and is my post for this week's #wednesdaywalk challenge hosted by @tattoodjay in collaboration with #makemesmile hosted by @elizacheng.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day!