The Diversion--a change in plans

As noted, a car hire is essential to get around in Mainland Orkney efficiently.  It is a large island.  To its credit, Mainland Orkney has fairly complete bus coverage.  Most places are reachable by bus, sort of.  The real problem is efficiency of time.  

Bus stop in Oban--March 30, 2018

Waiting bus transportation for a remote location with a thin bus schedule (say an hour or two hours between buses) can entail significant waits.  Taken collectively, bus stop waits can consume a large chunk of one's visit...as we discovered in the trip to Oban in 2018 by not boarding the bus that we should have boarded.  That is not something I can unilaterally let go.  She'll never hear the end of it, as I will explain.  

An opposite side to the car hire coin is also true.  In some instances, a car hire is unwieldy; say in urbanized Glasgow.  Searching for a parking space is time consumptive too.  And that assumes one ignores the hassle and the risks in crowded areas.  Many streets there are narrow and retrofitted to cars; not the other way around where cars are first and everything else second.  Besides, most busier urban stops in Scotland have trains, trams or buses, often operating every 10 or 15 minutes; so a car hire is redundant.  We certainly had no problem getting around Glasgow on public transport when visiting a distant Dumbarton Rock, or Kelvingrove.  Nor did we endure any significant waits.  

For Mainland Orkney though, a car hire permits a more relaxed scheduling.  The ideal is to control the schedule, not have the schedule control you.  It doesn't always work out that way, of course.  But a car hire does allow for ad lib travel, a carpe diem kind of deal.  A good thing, as it turned out.

Our Orkney tour began at Wideford Hill Cairn--April 11, 2022

Personally, we do not normally arrange our travel loosely.  Know before you go is wise.  A travel agenda ("regimented" as the Mrs. might dismissively style it) is often the key to efficient travel management.  It can avoid leaving one stranded.  

For example, we wanted to walk out to a couple tidal islands--to Brough of Birsay on Mainland, and on Sanday to the Holms of Ire and Start Point Light.  Obviously, timing one's hikes upon tide tables is necessary.  The North Atlantic is not something to be cavalier about.  "Mind the tides" was how a young gentleman put it as we inquired about parking near the Holms on Sanday.

In another example, we planned to visit the Isle of Eday.  Attention to the Orkney Ferries daily schedule was required.  It is not "uniform".  

Gray Head, Calf of Eday from Vinquoy Hill--April 14, 2022

The early Thursday Kirkwall-Eday ferry maximized our available time on Eday; whereas Wednesday, Friday and Saturday sailings afforded abbreviated visits.  Our plan was to hike Vinquoy Hill plus a couple other places on Eday.  So we needed all the extra time  we could get.  That meant taking the Thursday morning ferry to Eday.  In turn, that fixed our sailing days over to Egilsay/Wyre and Rousay on Friday and Saturday, respectively.  Incidentally, we pre-booked the Orkney Ferries (five total) in person at their harbor office in Kirkwall.  It was just easier to "git 'er done" so to speak.   

But that car hire can add a more relaxed "ish" to the schedule--e.g. visit it noon-ish, see it evening-ish, around Broch of Gurness-ish, etc.  Because we would tour Mainland Orkney over four days, that meant if we did not get to one site we may have penciled in the itinerary for one day, with a car rental we could pick that site up the following day...so the thinking went.

Cairn trail on flank of Wideford Hill--April 11, 2022

For the sake of domestic tranquility alone, especially while on vacation, Hesiod's approach may be prudent..."make arrangements in moderation" Works and Days, 305.  

An aside:  Hesiod (c. 750 BC), a Greek poet/philosopher, was more or less a contemporary of Homer.  He was also a contemporary to the building of several of Scotland's first unique brochs, which will be discussed in subsequent posts. 

Prior to his fame as a rhapsodist and writer, Hesiod apparently was a shepherd.  He lived at the beginning of the Iron Age, as the modern world began to be formed and history created.  Extant writings by Hesiod, known as the father of didactic poetry (i.e. instructive and moralizing), are:  Theogony (a "genealogy" of the Gods) and Works and Days (in which he exults justice and depreciates arrogance and corruption). 

"Make arrangements in moderation"...Hesiod's axiom certainly applied to the agenda for our first day touring Mainland Orkney. With the Kirkwall flight delayed, our intinerary started in some disarray.  We decided to push the planned Birsay tidal walk to the next day, especially given the weather...near gale force winds driving mists at times.  After consideration, we set out for the Stenness Stones and Brodgar Circle instead, figuring we would take on the easiest sites (near the road with parking close by), and if the weather got worse, we could just head back to our accomodations in Kirkwall and go to the pub. 

But even the Stenness and Brodgar substitution would be slightly altered due to "the diversion"...a construction project with which we would become familiar several times during our Mainland stay.

A diversion doubletake on Mull 2018

I did not occur to me to take a picture of "the diversion" on A965.  Nor could I since I was driving. So in lieu, is the curious 2018 photo from our "Mull Meander"--an orienteering debacle about which I will never hear the end of.

Forest cover blowdowns Mingary Burn on Mull 2018

The Mull Meander was a hike from Glengorm to Dervaig, a rather lengthy walk with some of it over open country, and at times boggy and densely wooded.  We began the walk from Glengorm Castle to Dun Ara.  From there to An Sean Dun, and then to the Highland Clearances settlement of Ballimeanoch.  So far so good.  We located these remote features despite misgivings from the Mrs. when we got to a stout wire fence we needed to get over.  We took our lunch at the somber ruins of  Ballimeanoch.  

From there, our aim (through thick forest cover on Mingary Burn) was to the Maol Mor Standing Stones above nearby Dervaig...we missed them.  Or rather, I missed them, as I have been reminded more than once ever since.  

Mingary Burn woods 2018

A Scotland travel site said of the Maol Mor standing stones, "These stones can be difficult to find as the path is very indistinct in places."  An understatement if ever one was.  So too was the forest sign and map of the affected area that was posted...albeit it at the opposite end from where we started from Ballimeanoch. 

In my defence, the forest road we needed had been oliterated.  A new junction and entirely new road was laid on the opposite side of Mingary Burn.  Neither was shown on the Ordnance Survey (OS) map.  Our OS map, though purchased new, did not show any of these "diversions" or new roads.

Worse, we could easily see directly across the burn (it was clearcut and replanted) precisely where we needed to go to get to the Maol Mor stones.  We just couldn't.  A brand new and very stout deer fence some 8 feet in height had been sunk to protect the forest plantation.  

The option of going back did not exist.  We were closer to where we were going than turning back.  So, we went forward uncertain at the upper end of Mingary Glen exactly where the new road led.  We discovered it skirted Loch Tor,  eventually showing up on the OS map near its intersection with the paved B8073. 

On Mull 2018

We hoofed the B road pavement down to Dervaig and the bus stop returning to Tobermory very foot sore.  Never mind the successful remote finds of An Sean Dun and Ballimeanoch, it's now...Dervaig.

With this in mind, regarding "the diverson" on Mainland Orkney's A965 (Kirkwall to Stomness Road), once we missed it (okay I missed it since I was driving--theoretically with a navigator I must add) a comment from the passenger side of the car sounded suspiciously like "Dervaig".

Well, okay.  But the diversion signage was not exactly clear as to what was being diverted.  Nor was it easy to see quickly enough, having been set literally on the ground after the intersection.  Anticipatory signage it ain't. And sometimes, it's a quick decision needing to be made.  Their white signs with small black lettering are difficult to absorb particularly when they list three different towns with mileages after a road intersection.

The walk down to Dervaig, Mull on B8073--on Mull 2018

Anyhow, a couple vehicles in the line in front of us did not take "the diversion," continuing instead toward Finstown on A965, so I trailed them.  They must have been locals versus through-drivers.  When we got to Finstown where the construction was, we found no cross sreets that would allow getting around the construction.  That part of Finstown is comprised of a row of detached houses on each side of the road. Finstown is something of a "y" intersection where the road has been pulled up and reworked.

Despite taking the hit to masculinity, it was necessary to turn around and take "the diversion," a short road called Zion's Loan.  It led to Old Finstown Road which parallels the newer A965 and gets you through the Finstown road work by way of a temporary traffic light in the construction.  

Once we got back to "the diversion," we changed plans.  A more modern (anticipatory) informational sign pointed the direction to Wideford Hill and Cuween Hill.  Since we were there and with a car hire, and had some "ish" in the schedule, we decided to take it. 

Never hear the end of it--Dervaig 2018

And that is how we began our Mainland Orkney tour.  Next up, the Wideford leaning wind.

BTW, I have little doubt that this new diversion "disinformation" will be heard in the future without end too.  So, not for nothing I keep hold of that "should've boarded" Oban bus and keep it in play, even if it is only a mere shred of self respect.