In June this year were off up to Orkney again. We used the same ferry company, Pentland Ferries, but the boat was a newer one, the MV Alfred. (A couple of weeks after we got home the M S Alfred managed to ground itself on Swona island in the Firth. Lucky we missed that voyage.)

MV Alfred: Ferry from Gills Bay, Caithness, to St Margaret’s Hope in Orkney:-

Lighthouse on the island of Stroma in the Pentland Firth:-

Views at St Margaret’s Hope:-

We made the crossing to Orkney from Gills Bay in Caithness via the Pentland Ferries’ catamaran the Pentalina. It skelped along at a fair pace:-

Landfall was at St Margaret’s Hope, South Ronaldsay, the third largest settlement in Orkney:

Closer view of the town:-

This is the Northlink Ferries’ ship Hamnavoe in Hoy Sound on its way from Stromness to Scrabster:-

This video (click on picture to get to my flickr to play it) shows the Hamnavoe steaming through Hoy sound with Hoy in background. Unfortunately I zoomed in and as a result the focus went awry:-