We aborted all other plans and had a day in the van doing school, baking empire biscuits and taking advantage of the swimming pool next door.

Another busy day..... We cycled down to catch the 11.30 ferry to Shapinsay - the island closest to Mainland in the hope of seeing a little more of the Orkneys but the island was a lot bigger, hillier, wetter and windier than expected and so we didn't get nearly as far as we had hoped - it turns out Orkney is bigger than we thought! Headed back to the Bubble Show at the Orkney International Science Festival in the beautiful Kirkwall School theatre. After drying...

After school in the morning we headed to see the Ring of Brodgar which was fairly awesome and much easier to imagine being used as a place of worship than Stonehenge (set beside the A303). Then on to the Peatfire tales - Orkney history and folklore - where we were once again complimented on how well M&D behaved during a very late night.

Settling in day - getting our bearings around Kirkwall and do the first official bit of homeschooling - that's Daniel doing some messy science!

Beautiful day and stunning setting for a picnic on the beach below Dunnotar castle before catching a surprisingly smooth ferry to Orkney later in the afternoon.