Day 2 – Monday 23rd March – Biggar to Sanday.
It was becoming clear a lockdown was imminent, so we set the alarm for 5am, had a quick breakfast and headed north. The roads were eerily quiet, we were making good progress, only stopping once off the beaten track for fuel. I was driving a 3m tall, 9m long champagne gold coloured motorhome, not the best vehicle to be in, especially when all I had read on Facebook the night before was locals blocking roads and causing hassle for people heading to the highlands to self-isolate in motorhomes away from the large towns and cities! All was well until the area around the Cromarty bridge on the A9, where numerous cars and vans started shouting and waving at me in a rather unfriendly way, it was starting to get a little scary. Whilst passing through Glospie, whilst stopped at a red traffic light, an old man with a walking stick shouted go home, you shouldn’t be here and spat at me! Things like this really do bring out the worst in people! We continued north and made it to Pentland Ferries at the Gills Bay terminal in time to catch the earlier lunch time ferry. Overnight in Scotland all ferry crossings were limited to Islanders only, so we had to show ID to prove our address and a letter from the solicitor to show we had sold our down south home. All this was done at a great distance from the staff who were all wearing gloves. Just over an hour later, we were in Orkney and I felt a huge sense of relief that my little family was safe. We drove the 16 miles to Kirkwall for the next ferry over to Sanday. Again we were asked for ID and proof of residency in Sanday before we were allowed to travel. The motorhome was on, but the car was 1st reserve so didn’t come over, so we quickly had to move the cat and a load of stuff from the car to the motorhome and we were off. We kept out of everyone’s way and found an empty passageway on the ferry for the 90 minute crossing. We’d made it, Sandhurst, Berkshire to Sanday, Orkney, 745 miles in 31 hours. We only had contact with 4 other people in that time and that was at a safe distance, so I’m happy that we haven’t passed anything on! We are now self-isolating for 14 days to protect the island community as there are no reported cases in Orkney.
