A Peedie Adventure: Part 1

Ahoy! …    I’m never saying that again…   anyway, this time you’re in for a nautical treat as I take you on the high seas to the Orkney mainland. You’ll hear about ruins, stone circles, and a tremendous amount of walking in this magnificent three part adventure. I do hope you enjoy.

Thursday 14 March 2013

9:13 AM

South Street Bus Stop, Dalkeith

Amber and I stood at the bus stop, laden with our bags anxiously waiting for the next # 3 bus. According to the monitor it was due in 13 minutes. Not a bad wait and we still had a fair bit of time before our train departed for Aberdeen. As we waited, I was double checking my mental the list of all the things I’d needed to bring, when it hit me. I was missing my Journal…   I thought about it for a moment or two…   Could I run to the house and back in 13 minutes? Aww hell, I was going to try.

Dropping my stuff by Amber’s feet, I began to sprint – dashing through the somewhat busy streets of Dalkeith, through the county park, up the stairs in Dalkeith House, and all the way back, with about 30 seconds to spare. Needless to say I was quite winded, but the half hour bus ride into Edinburgh was more than enough for me to catch my breath.

The bus dropped us of on North Bridge, and we then made our way down to Waverly Station. Several escalators later, we were at the ground level and found the board which listed the departure times and platforms. 10:27 to Aberdeen Platform: Bus

What did that mean? This was a train station after all, it had to be referring to some kind of train departure right? I mean, as far as weird platform names, I thought 9¾ was as weird as it got. So we went up to the service counter, and they pleasantly informed us that the train that would have taken us to Aberdeen had broken down, and that we would instead have to go to Market Street where a coach bus would be provided as substitute transport.

As you all know from my magnificently flawed journey to the United Kingdom, I’m no stranger to changes in the plan. As we walked up to Market Street, all I could think was that this was only the beginning…   great.

When the busses arrived, we were informed that there were busses that would be headed straight to Aberdeen, and not stopping at the many wee towns on the way. This was rather good news, because these buses were due to arrive at about 1:30. Our ferry wouldn’t depart from Aberdeen until 5:00, and so there was nothing to worry about.

Perhaps this is some common ground with the disparate people of the UK or perhaps this is simply a universal trait of humanity. When travel plans go a rye, there really is a sense of group communality that forms. I suppose it’s a side effect of now you have two things in common. 1) you happen to be headed to the same place, and 2) you have now been inconvenienced. Because these new commonalities, people tend to be more willing to talk. It’s a wonderful way to meet people. For the first few minutes I found myself chatting away with two women sitting across the aisle from me, swapping stories of travel misfortunes.

After a while, I fell asleep, listening to the music on my MP3 player as a light flurry of snow floated through the air outside the bus. When I awoke, we were at a short stop for people to use the toilet. I asked the woman sitting next to me if she needed to get up, but she didn’t. She instead began to inquire me of my trip, and given my non local accent, where I was from. I then learned that she was originally from Germany, but was now living in Oxford. She was on holiday and meeting some friends who lived up in Aberdeen. After a while, we began to discuss the various differences between German, British, and American laws and culture. The two of us happily chatted along until we arrived at the Aberdeen Rail station, right on time, at half past 1.

Amber and I grabbed our bags, and headed into the rail station, which for some reason was attached to a shopping centre. Once we were through the shopping centre, we continued on outside in search of the NorthLink Ferries reception desk. The weather had vastly improved during the latter part of the bus ride, and it was now a balmy 15º C and sunny.

After a little bit, we happened upon the reception desk. Here we were able to drop off our bags. We were told to report back sometime between half three and half four, which gave us about two and a half hours to wander about Aberdeen. Our first objective, having only had a very small breakfast that morning, was to get a decent lunch. So we returned to the shopping centre, and found a Baguette Express, a fast food chain which has become somewhat of a favourite of Amber’s and mine.

After a filling baguette and a fruit smoothie at a different stand, we decided to wander into the city. As for the proper cities I’ve been to (Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen), Aberdeen would probably be my second favorite. Glasgow as you remember didn’t leave me with a very good impression. Edinburgh I love. Aberdeen is well…   different. It’s probably the smallest of the three cities, and it certainly has the worst traffic. However, it has the same rustic feeling that one gets when walking down the streets of Edinburgh. I would certainly go back.

We arrived back at NorthLink Ferries at about half three, we were very early, but they let us on board regardless. As I had mentioned earlier, our ferry wasn’t due to depart until 5:00, and it wasn’t scheduled to arrive in Kirkwall until 11:00PM. Arriving an hour and a half early, equated to a grand total of 7.5 hours aboard the ferry. We had realized this before hand, but our excitement to be on the boat and our paranoia of being late had certainly prevailed.

Before I describe the ferry to you, take a moment to ponder what you might think it looks like. Please take into consideration that this ticket only cost £20. If you were imagining a relatively low cost dingy, then your expectations would have equalled mine. However, we were not on a low budget dingy. As far as I was concerned, this was more curse ship than ferry.

Amber and I had great fun, wandering about the beautiful boat. There were a few bars, a cinema, lounge, a restaurant, and an arcade. They all cost money, but still the fact that there were so many amenities was really surprising. It took us a while to find the upper deck, which was outside. This is when the trip began to get especially cool.

The ship had just begun to head out to sea, but we were still largely in the harbour when we made it to the top. I took off my jacket, and pulled out my 200 year old nautical telescope. It had easily been a hundred and fifty years since this thing had been used properly, but it worked like a charm. I could make out the details of city clear as day. As we continued on we, hugging the coast line for the duration of the peninsula which Aberdeen is a part of.

As we left the top deck, we ran into a man who I offered a gander through my telescope. We would end up spending the better part of an hour talking to him. Andrew was born in Lerwick, up in Shetland, and was on his way home to visit his parents. However, most of the time he lives in Edinburgh, and he is planning on taking us out for coffee some time after we got back.

Andrew then went up top to have a look for himself and Amber and I decided to head down to the restaurant to get a bite to eat. As for prices, I suppose they were relatively reasonable, or at least they were comparable to most restaurants back in Edinburgh. I ended up getting an Orkney Burger and chips, spending a little more than I had wanted, but feeling plenty full all the same.

When we were done eating, we found that there was still a full four hours before our arrival in Kirkwall. This was a little disheartening. The initial awesomeness of the ferry had dissolved into a place to kill time. Amber ended up taking a nap, while I journaled, and watched a movie on my laptop.

All and all, the ferry ended up being 15 minutes ahead of schedule arriving in Kirkwall at 10:45PM. It was a fair wait for our luggage, and so we easily lost that extra 15 minutes.

We walked outside into what is best described as a heavy drizzle. There really weren’t any puddles on the ground, but I could feel my feet getting wet. This wasn’t good. The waterproofing on my old work shoes had clearly broken. I had walking directions from here to the Orcades hostel, where we would be staying. However, that would be a pain to walk with wet feet and 45LBs of luggage strapped to my back.

There did seem to be a bus, but we had no idea where it would drop us off. It was night, and as an added bonus I had never been to Kirkwall before. So we did what all travelers should do in this scenario, asked for directions.

The first guy we ran into, despite working for NorthLink Ferries, had apparently never been here before, and so he referred us to a local guy who was waiting for a few cars to come off the boat.

His name was Norman, and he thought it was a bad night for a walk to Orcades. So he offered us a lift with his friend Bygn. As it would just so happen Bygn’s best friend owned the Orcades Hostel. Although to some it might have seemed risky to take a ride with two total strangers, my thought was, worst case scenario: where could they take us? Orkney mainland is a Peedie island.

Note: Peedie is an Orcadian word which is used as Scots would use the word wee. Norman and Bygn were quite proud to teach us this right off the bat, saying: It’s a peedie bit wheat oot t’night. Translation: It is slightly damp this evening.

Second Note: Orcadian is the noun that refers to someone who is from the Orkney Islands. I wish there was a comparable noun for people from the United States. Unfortunately, there is no such word in English as United-Statesian, because of this while abroad I usually have to refer to myself as “American” which could mean I’m from Canada, Mexico, Peru, Belize, Brazil…   you get the picture. Everyone knows what I mean, but I still don’t like saying it.

It was a short ride through Kirkwall to the Orcades hostel. Although the trip lasted all of two minutes, I’m very glad I didn’t have to walk it. However, I must say I would have enjoyed the trip a bit more if I wasn’t so paranoid. All mental justifications aside, I was hitch hiking. Something I’d never done before, and had been raised to believe wasn’t by any means the safest form of travel. Sometimes it’s hard to break from American preconceptions, for me this was one of those times.

I had absolutely no reason to worry. They dropped us off right at the door, and even waited to make sure we’d get in just fine. I would later find out that this kind of kindness towards strangers is simply one of the defining qualities of Orcadians. As had been arranged before hand, the key to our room was waiting on the inside of the door in a small envelope.

Our room, which we quickly found was really quite nice, although I had to admit I was exhausted. Amber went out to explore the hostel, but I was done for the night. I gleefully took of my wet shoes and socks and was asleep by the time Amber returned to the room.