Today we drove from Aberdeen to a place called Scrabster, which I think sounds like a skin condition. One the way we stopped at another castle. This one, called Dunrobin Castle, was easily the most beautiful we had seen yet. We pulled into the carpark and I took a couple of photos when a lady happened by and mentioned that the view was even better if we walked around the castle and down the road to the beach. We took her advice and were very thankful for it. The views from the beach were spectacular. While we were on the beach another lady walked past with her dog and we got to chatting. We said we were on our way to Scrabster and she recommended we stop at a café along the way called the River Bothy Café.

We took off towards Scrabster, driving along the dramatic coast, where a green carpet of undulating hills stops abruptly at the black, vertical cliffs leading down to the crashing ocean. We found the River Bothy Café and took the lady's advice, stopping for a cup of tea and yet another scone.

Then it was off the Scrabster to catch our ferry over to the Orkney Islands. We stayed at a wonderful B & B called Button Ben for the next two nights while we explored the Orkney Islands. The accommodation was great. May and Tony, the owners were lovely and May baked us treats every day. The had a dog called Toby, who I thought Tony had called Droopy, so I called the dog Droopy for the time we were there until Lidia read the compendium as we were leaving and found his correct name. Anyway, he looked like a droopy. He was a Kings Charles Cavalier and was so affectionate. He loved to drop and roll over in front of you for a belly scratch, which we happily obliged.

Orkney was surreal, flat, green and covered in lakes. There was plenty of light to enjoy the scenery, because the sun sets there at midnight and then rises at 4:00am. We found it hard to get used to this. The curtains didn't do an adequate job of keeping out the light, so there were only essentially four hours of darkness.

Despite this, Orkney was beautiful. The lime green fields were dissected by ancient stacked-stone walls and contained many different types of sheep, long-haired cows and even long-haired pigs. There are a couple of henges similar to Stonehenge there, which were used in the series Outlander to transport Claire back to medieval Scotland and her hot Scottish boyfriend. Lidia tried desperately to push the stones in all sorts of ways, but unfortunately for her she was stuck with a hot Scott, not a hot Scot.

Orkney also contains a small village that was discovered in about 1850 that dates back 5,000 years, but one of the most interesting sights on the island is a giant green mound which has a passageway in it leading inside the hill to a 5,000 year old stone tomb. Apparently in around 1150 a group of Vikings broke into it and their graffiti is all over the walls. There are messages carved in Viking runes that say such enlightening things as "Olaf carved these runes very high up", "Inga is a good lady who likes the boys" (translation: Call Inga for a good time) and also a message from a lady Viking who carved a message about her manly sons. We found this fascinating that Vikings could read and write in 1150. Also, obviously the women were also educated.

Another fascinating structure on Orkney Island is the Italian chapel. In the second world war, there was an Italian POW camp on Orkney. The prisoners built a chapel from one of the barrack buildings and it is beautiful.

After a couple of days on Orkney, we said goodbye to Droopy and took the ferry back to the mainland, where we travelled to a place called Ullapool. On the way we stopped for some pictures of a ruined castle on a lake called Ardvreck Castle. Then it was on to Ullapool for the night, a picturesque town set on a lake with surrounding mountains.

The next day we travelled to the Isle of Skye. Although it is an island, a bridge links it to the mainland. First stop: Talisker distillery for a wee dram. Then onto our hotel in a tiny place called Portree.

The next day, we went for breakfast. The waitress gave me a plunger coffee pot, with the plunger still up. I pushed the plunger down a little hard and coffee spurted out of the pot all over the table and onto my polo shirt.

We then spent the day exploring Skye. What a magnificent place. So beautiful with it's dramatic coast and magical green mountains. The beauty of this place can't be overestimated. We went to a place called Fairy Glen and wandered around the green hills amongst the sheep, with panoramic views of the surrounding countryside for miles in all directions. Then we hit a soup café for lunch. Lidia had c0ck-a-leekie, which I thought was something an incontinent Chinaman says, and I had Cullen Skink, which thankfully contained no lizards.