Over the Hill to Boloquoy Mill

Finally! A brief report on last week’s walk with our Ranger…

A party of ten set off from Villafield and walked down the track to the NW.  Dominique gave us instruction to have our cameras out and use them – and we did!  Beginning with the cows immediately to hand,

Coos
Coos

and snapping wild flowers as we went,

orchid
orchid

we came shortly to a ruinous cottage at Mires

Mires
Mires

– with a rotting wooden post just before the cottage attracting much attention.

Rotting wood always attracts photographers...
Rotting wood always attracts photographers...

We spent some time around Mires, variously snapping Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Marsh Marigolds, Bog-cotton, orchids, timid rabbits and the odd ruin (like each other). Then we moved on to the cliff top, to photograph more wild flowers, the seascape, abundant fulmars, boulder beaches, old rotting carcases. . .  It is truly amazing just what will draw the photographic eye!

Rotting wood AND rusty nails? Oh, photographic Joy!
Rotting wood AND rusty nails? Oh, photographic Joy!

We plodded on, to Boloquoy – pausing to look at and photograph lichens, and to take many and various shots of an abandoned ladder in a field.

That ubiquitous ladder
That ubiquitous ladder

At Boloquoy we were treated to a little talk on the history and function of the mill from Mr O Driver. We also ate our lunch, leaving a disappointingly short time for shooting the actual mill, which sports a water wheel that remains in astonishingly good shape.

mill and wheel
mill and wheel

While we dawdled at the Mill I was persuaded to whip out both my zoom lens and my polarising filter – to good effect.

Iris
Iris - zoomed
Orkney sky - polarised
Orkney sky - polarised

With the promise of a cup of tea waiting for us at Lonnie, we made our way up the slight rise from Boloquoy – finding a few photographic subjects on the way. There included another ruinous cottage (with a strikingly well tended garden for contrast) and a delightfully aged red tractor.

Contrasts
Contrasts
Rusty Tractor
Rusty Tractor

After a lovely cup of tea and tasty cake from the equally lovely M.at Lonnie, we dawdled the last few yards back to the cars – deeply content after a simply smashing outing. The weather was kind and the company was  delightful.

Here is the route – just under 2 miles but it took us 3 hours due to all the shutter action.

Route map . Pins at start and end, and at Mires and Boloquoy
Route map . Pins at start and end, and at Mires and Boloquoy

I took a whopping 239 exposures and a set of 87 images made it as far as Flickr. The group of walkers are sharing their favourite shots via the gallery on the Sanday web site. Not all images are up yet but you can view the ones that are in the album here.

Here is my Flickr set, as a slideshow (if you have the stamina!)