We were very grateful for solid walls around us not only on Monday when the snow covered the landscape but also on Tuesday, when extremely high winds of 40 knots blew all day. Our only outing was brief trip to Tesco's in Kirkwall, for supplies. To our amazement planes took off and landed as normal at Kirkwall Airport nearby, these island pilots - and passengers - are made of strong stuff!

On Wednesday with some reluctance we left the comfort of James' lovely warm house and headed off across mainland in better weather. We stopped at Dounby at the Coop to refuel at the cheapest filling station we have seen in a month. Apparently fuel prices here are subsidised to some extent. Then onwards toward the north west tip of mainland, and Birsay. Ju had spotted a campsite based at an outdoor centre, and we found that quite easily. There were no other motorhomes campervans or tents in evidence, but someone was strimming the grass and someone else came to meet us, then disappeared to reappear with two large plastic grids for us to place our drive wheels on, as she felt the grass was a bit spongy.

We decided to stay for two nights, and for the first night we were the only people in the place. There was no imternet and no mobile phone signal in this location, but otherwise it was terrific. The view down to the Brough of Birsay was spectacular. We walked down to the village and looked around the Earl's palace, a huge building, of which the outer walls survive, but the inner parts are all in a state of ruin. Beside the palace is a church founded in 1064, yes that is two years before the Battle of Hastings!!! There is also a little shop called the Palace Stores, selling crab sandwiches to die for, and a very lumpy thick vegetable soup. So we sat outside and had lunch, then walked back to the campsite along the extensive rocky strand, saw some seals basking on a spit of shingle, avoided harassing some black cattle, and got back to base. We had dinner then watched Masterchef on the tv in the lounge of the hostel.

The wind was very gusty, so we decided for the meantime to take down the roof of the van, until better weather came along. We only decided this after we had got into bed, however, so it involved a lot of upheaval, relocating all the stuff we normally pop up in the roof space. We even put the dog crate in the ladies, to keep it dry overnight.

The next morning the weather was not much better, so we explained to the warden about the dog crate, which she was fine about, and headed off down to Stromness, leaving our reserved marker and electric cable to discourage anyone else to take up our prime spot, right next to the toilet facilities. On the way we stopped at the car park for the Kitchener Memorial, and walked up the very windy path to see the new additions to the building. They comprised a crescent shaped low wall with the names of all of the people who died in the wreck of the HMS Hampshire, and some other ships too. Hundreds of names. The ship struck a mine, laid by a German U boat which was designed to lay mines while submerged. It was a moving sight, but the wind was so powerful up on Marwick Head that we had to bend double into it to regain the path down to the car park!

We went by Skara Brae and Skaill house, and Ju bought a rather nice t-shirt. Skaill House has some amazing stuff in it, not least of which was crockery from Captain Cook's ship which made landfall here after his last voyage, during which he himself died.

In Stromness we walked about for a bit, found the new Coop and bought some Ecover laundry liquid, which we planned to use to do some laundry. We noticed a new statue of John Rae, Orkey's famous Arctic explorer. Good to see him honoured in this way.

We were just preparing to turn in much later when a car pulled into the campsite, around 10.30, and after a bit a young man saw our lights and came over to ask if we were the warden. We put him right on that score, and told him just to go ahead and go in to the hostel and talk to the warden in the morning.

Next morning we did our laundry, and while it was drying took another walk down the road this time down to the village for some more crab sandwiches for lunch. Then later in the afternoon we went for,a walk and visited the Antique Centre, a strange emporium just 100 metres from the hostel, containing an incredible amount of old stuff. Reminded me of the kind of china ornaments my mum and her sisters used to love sticking round shelves in their sitting rooms. No room for such stuff in the van, so we walked on. Our walks in Orkney tend to be rectilinear, and the roads and paths follow the shape ofmthe fields, which are all big rectangles.

We finally solved the problem we had since flattening the battery on the ferry, that the interior lights were stuck on standby, and wouldn't switch off or on. I got the spanner out of the toolkit and disconnected the leisure battery completely for an extended time. After a minute or so Ju reported that they had switched off. So I tightened up the leisure battery terminals and we tested their switching operation, and it was good as new. Fantastic.

The plan was after staying a third night, to go to Tingwall via Dounby for shopping, and cross over to Rousay for a few days.

We packed up on Saturday morning and headed off as planned. But the best laid plans of mice and men were definitely ganging agley today, as the ferry man finally told us the ferry would not be sailing until an official inspection had been completed, and he could not say when that might be. So we went off to kill some time and visited the Broch of Gurness, and had a terrific conversation about broch archaeology with the Historic Scotland guide on duty. A brief visit to the broch itself followed, much bigger in diameter than Mousa Broch in Shetland, and surrounded by a considerable settlement. Promising ourselves to come back when we had more time, we headed back to the ferry terminal, only to be told that they really did not know when the ferry would sail. Hopefully this afternoon, th man said.

We decided that hanging about wasn't too good an option in a really cold wind, so it was back to Kirkwall, minus the snow this time, to the campsite at Pickaquoy. Our walk into town was productive, I bought Cathy's birthday present and card, and we saw a performance theatre company doing a strange music and dance piece based on horses.

Back to the campsite, and dinner.