• Papay

    Papay Day 18 – Papay’s Roads

    It’s close to impossible to get lost on Papay. There’s one main road that begins at the New Quay where the ferry docks. It winds round a few bends and then passes the Farm of Holland, the cenotaph and the…

  • Papay

    Papay Day 17 – The Milky Way

    At around 11.30pm, Anjanette and I sat on the bench in the garden for a while, looking for the elusive Perseids. We saw a handful of meteors and Anj was ready to sleep. I stayed awake and at 1 in…

  • Papay

    Papay Day 16 – Day Trip to Town

    I took the 15 minute flight to Kirkwall this morning in this plane. After doing the family shop at Tesco, I drove to Stromness and back (by different routes). I called in at a small bistro (I’d say “fish and…

  • Papay

    Papay Day 15 – Bothican

    This is Bothican Beach. It’s a stone’s throw from Papy’s “new” pier where the Kirkwall ferry docks twice a week (in good weather!). We’ve has some nice sunny days this week although it’s still a bit chilly in the wind.…

  • Papay

    Papay Day 14 – Knapp of Howar

    I love this shot that Anjanette took of my youngest granddaughter when they visited the Knap of Howar which is said to be the oldest standing stone house in North West Europe dating from 5000 years ago – the Knap…

  • Papay

    Papay Day 12 – St Boniface

    Yesterday we explored St Boniface church. It’s a really small church perched on the west coast with views over to Westray. Another nice example of an Orkney stone building.

  • Papay

    Papay Day 11 – The Kelp Store

    Yesterday we went to explore The Kelp Store which is Papay’s Heritage Centre. It has books, art, family history and more. It’s also a lovely peaceful space set on the eastern shoreline by the old pier and it quickly became…

  • Papay

    Papay Day 10 – Cows

    Today there was a traffic jam on the main road. I decided that the cows were bigger than us so we waited quietly while they ate grass, sniffed the car and generally ran amok. One of my Facebook friends suggested…

  • Genealogy

    Genealogy Cafe – whatever next?

    I’ve been hosting a website called Genealogy Cafe for just over a year now. The idea is to create and sustain an online community where people interested in family history can share their genealogy successes and challenges. In a sentence,…