Left at 6:15 to get to the airport around 7 for a 9pm flight. 3 hour layover in London, then 30 minute layover in Aberdeen - just barely made it to the plane (Saab 340 turbo-prop, parked out on the tarmac).

Even with a certain amount of dicking around, figuring things out, it took about an hour and a half to take apart the bike, then another hour and a half to get everything else in the bike case, then the rest of the afternoon load-balancing so that the bike case would be under the 70lb limit. Consider that the case is about 25lb empty, and the bike is probably another 25lb naked, so that leaves 20lb, which is not as much as it ought to be; in the end, it was the racks, shoes, helmet, bike clothes, and not much else. I put one of the (empty) front panniers inside one of the rear panniers, filled the other with maps, tools, clothes, and other shit, and strapped them together. (Then TSA lost/destroyed/stole the strap, so they arrived attached by the luggage routing tape at the top only. Bastards.) The other pannier I took as carry-on, with the laptop, a few clothing items, a few scooby snacks, and a few critical papers. But even that felt like a heavy load after carrying it through 4 airports.

Got into KOI about 2:45, got started on the bike right around 3:00. Again, it was about an hour and a half to put it together, then another while to figure out what goes in which pannier. I still don't have a system, but I've got a start. Shipped the bike box onward to Heathrow (£32.90), so I can have the airport bike mechanic experience all over again. Didn't leave the airport until 5:20.

Rough order of magnitude is that the bike and everything on it (less me) weighs in at 75lb. It handled like a slug, and the trip from the airport into town (less than 4 miles) took about half an hour. Granted most of that was uphill, but it was a gentle slope, and I had to pedal on the downhills too.

Orkney is treeless and windswept, and very far north. I had somehow forgotten this. This was a problem while biking, and it was cold and blowy walking around town. I had dinner at the hotel next door, because it was good enough and close enough, and I didn't have to freeze to get to it. Then I went walking around town, and got thoroughly turned around. It's one of these british towns where all the streets look the same, and none goes in a straight line long enough for you to see where it's going, and it's all a mix of residential and office/retail/dining. And I couldn't make out which way to the waterfront, and I couldn't even see the cathedral for a lot of it. In the end, I probably passed within a couple blocks of the hostel any number of times.

The hostel is not ostentatiously marked, and I ended up asking directions at the hotel/pub next door. I can't really say how it rates as a hostel, since I don't have anthing to compare it to.

Apparently I just missed the Orkney Folk Festival (this past weekend).

Tomorrow, go to tourist info (which I found on my walkabout), verify the sailing time of the ferry, find out where and when the bus leaves (if I don't feel like biking down), and get a phone sim card, or at least a calling card. Then I can go touring - Skara Brae and the like.