Author Interview: Trip Galey

I already know what my first question is going to be. You are both an established author in your own right yet just as A Market of Dreams and Destiny was being published (and you were presumably writing new material) you somehow managed to find time to start your own press. How do you manage to be so productive?

So, the thing with Bona Books is it’s not just me. It’s also my partner Robert, and our friends Chris and Lyam. It’s a lot easier to be productive when you have a team helping you! And the great thing about Bona is that we each have different areas of expertise that we can bring to the table. It takes a lot less energy to do things you’re already skilled at. Chris can edit things in a third the time it takes me, and Robert can do more with social needs in ten minutes than I can do in two hours.

Otherwise, a lot of my productivity is knowing myself and my patterns. I write best in the morning before other people are awake. So the trick becomes ensuring that I make the best use of that time (this does not always happen in the cold, dark times of the year). Similarly, batching and bordering tasks is something I find helpful. For example, doing a chunk of posts for social media once a week, and/or making sure you only check email twice a day (for set periods of time).

 

 

What was it that inspired you to start your own press?

It was literally a joke that began it all, a meme around the kitchen table. Robert and I were living with Chris at the time, and we all worked from home most days. So we’d often have tea breaks and sit together and just chat for a bit before going back to work. Someone sent Robert an “I Want That Twink Obliterated!” meme; we joked that it would be a good SFF anthology title; we did some “fan casting” of the kinds of stories we’d like to see for it; then we went back to work.

Five minutes later though, I saw Chris looming in the doorway out the corner of my eye. He was like, “You know, we could actually do this. We have enough skills between us. So…should we do this? Are we doing this?”

Dear Reader, the reply was obvious. I said “Yeah, I think we’re fucking doing this!”

And we did. And of course it only made sense to then create a small press to put out the book. And then we wanted to do another book, so of course the press began to grow, etc. etc.

But the inspiration was that meme, at that tea break, while we were all living in what we affectionately called “The Writer Flat.”

 

 

Bona Books seemed to become successful very quickly with its launch of I Want That Twink Obliterated! I remember a lot of the promotion being very memorable in its inventiveness. Where did you and your team get all of your ideas from?

Being too queer and too online, basically. Haha. Robert was keyed in to which memes were being shared, and I have a knowledge of science fiction and fantasy that runs far deeper than is good for me. Chris is almost as bad as I am, and by later on, in terms of promo, Chris had begun dating Lyam, who has a history in marketing and promotions. So it was a gestalt of everything, really.

Also, it was about having fun. Making the kinds of jokes queer people make with one another, and turning those into memes or adverts or what have you. And I suppose if we’re clearly having fun, it encourages other people to join in! (Read the book. It’s got great stuff inside!)

 

 

I am very intrigued by The Fall of The House of Valenziaga. Can you tell me some things about it? How does it compare to A Market of Dreams and Destiny?

The Fall of the House of Valenziaga is a story for all those kids with toxic parents who never had the power to fight back against the abuses of power they had to suffer.

It is, to date, the queerest thing I have ever written. The world sprang from the idea that as queer people we routinely have our world(s) destroyed. Being outed in front of queerphobic parents, being disowned, cast out onto the streets, or in the past losing friends and lovers to AIDS—there are so many ways our world(s) can shatter. But we go on. Because we’re beautiful and strong and amazing. Yes, there are scars, edges where things grate or don’t quite fit, but that also makes us us.

Twixt is like that. It’s a city composed of surviving pieces of countless worlds that have been destroyed, each which brings with them a little bit of their sky, a touch of the magic they used to hold, some of their forgotten secrets and disheveled beauty. It is ruled by an amorphous set of Legendary Houses which were inspired by a melange of ball culture and queer culture and fantasy noble houses.

And both the setting and the story are positively rife with references to various aspects of queer culture from throughout history. There are worldmotes (pieces of the city) inspired by Chappell Roan and Jake Shears, Legendary Houses that take inspiration from figures like William Dorsey Swann and Tom of Finland, and more.

But at the core of it, it’s about a broken-hearted boy whose world is shattering around him, and what he does to fight (and possibly destroy) those who abuse the power they hold over him. I suppose in that case, it’s got a strong thematic resonance with A Market of Dreams and Destiny.

 

 

What is next for you, both with Bona Books and you as an author?

Bona Books is in the late stages of editing our second anthology, Wrath Month, which is SFF tales of queer rage. We have also begun the process of launching Fantabulosa! which is a quarterly magazine dedicated to queer science fiction and fantasy (prose, poetry, and non-fiction). After that, we have plans for a feminine-focused companion volume to I Want That Twink Obliterated! and a queer winter-solstice-themed anthology. Novellas are something we’d like to branch into, but we don’t yet have the time or the funds to truly dedicate in that direction.

As for me, I have the Kickstarter for The Fall of the House of Valenziaga. And I am in deep in edits on the next Untermarkt book for Titan (it’s not quite a sequel to A Market of Dreams and Destiny, but it’s not not that either). Then I owe my agent a draft of a book I’m working on that plays around with faery, the magical school trope, and kids from abusive homes. And I’m collaborating with an unspecified number of authors on a variety of unnamed novellas.

Honestly, if you want to see more of my work, please support the Kickstarter for Valenziaga! The more money that makes, the more queer fiction I can attempt to usher into the world (because I will have to spend less time looking for non-fiction freelancing)!

 

 

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently rereading Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber. It’s a classic of SFF, but I’m not sure how popular or well known it is these days, unlike Tolkien or Le Guin (who remain perennially read and relevant). It has a lost prince, infinite worlds, the occasional merging of science and sorcery, and lots of intrigue, swordplay, and shenanigans. (I love it.)

Amber (with its infinity of strange worlds, and intense intrigue at the upper levels of society) is very much an influence on The Fall of the House of Valenziaga. Of course, Amber was also written in the late 70s by a cishet white dude, so it does fall prey to some of the expected stereotypes. There is, however, the occasional strong, empowered female character, and the voice and writing style make for an easy, enjoyable read with moments of true poetic beauty.

It is, so far as I have found, the best example of science-fantasy in fiction. That’s not to say I won’t eventually find something that meets or exceeds it—my TBR does have some modern examples I am very excited to get to. Someday. If I ever have enough free time again…

 

 

And finally, would you like to give a shout-out for three books which you feel more people should read, and tell us why?

Happily!

Kid Wolf and Kraken Boy by Sam J Miller. This urban fantasy novella is set in the 1920s, features gay Jewish boxers, a lesbian mob boss, tattoo magic, and is one of the best-crafted (and just amazingly fun) reads I can think of. It deserves so many more eyes on it.

The Shadow Glass by Josh Winning. This is very much a love letter to Jim Henson and The Dark Crystal. The son of a famous puppeteer and movie maker discovers that his estranged father’s most famous work might be a bit more…real…than anyone suspected. Def check it out.

The Fell of Dark by Caleb Roehrig. Imagine Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but gay male teen. It’s a really fun, dark, funny book, and it has the sexiest not-sex scene I have ever encountered. It’s not a threesome, but it’s also not not a threesome? Anyway, I highly recommend it.

 

 

Please click here if you want to find out more about Trip Galey, follow him on social media or find out more about his books and Bona Books!

Travelblog CO#2: Orkney Part 1 (Neolithic Hearth of Orkney, Birsay Island, Skara Brae & Broch of Gurness) – Scotland

16th – 17th August, 2024

 

I arrived at the Ring of Brodgar in the early morning.

And, for the first half an hour or so, I had the place completely to myself. I managed to beat the crowds by walking from the junction at Stenness and arriving before the first buses came.

I am not sure if it is just because I got to see this place alone for a while, but it made a big impression on me. One of the reasons I visit so many neolithic sites – and find them so fascinating – is that I often feel energy when I visit them, and this place is very much still very ‘alive’ in that regard.

Historically, this has been dated to around 2500 BCE, which makes it one of the later Neolithic sites on Orkney. It has also been discovered that its rocks are not from one single place of origin but sourced from all different parts of Orkney; yet another factor that makes it so fascinating. There can be no doubt it must have served some form of ceremonial purpose, and that its creation would have taken a lot of careful coordination from many people over several generations working in cohesion.

I left the place an hour or so later and made my way further down into this UNESCO World Heritage site. The Ring of Brodgar is just one part of an ancient complex commonly known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, all spread across a narrow isthmus straddled between two of Orkney’s land masses and the locks of Stennes and Horray. The setting is truly eerie and one can easily see how this became a spiritual nexus for prehistoric people.

The next place of interest in my walking tour of this place was the Ness of Brodgar.

If you have not heard of this place then I will give a very brief introduction (but also advise you to look it up as it is truly fascinating); the Ness of Brodgar is an archaeological excavation that has wielded some exciting results and completely changed our understanding about the timeline of neolithic Britain. Since they started digging the first pits, twenty years ago, the evidence has mounted and proven that this place was part of a vast ceremonial centre where people from all over Britain – and possibly beyond – gathered.

And, what made my visit to this place even more special, was that this was the final day they were allowing visitors before they buried it again.

It seems a shame to bury such a significant treasure – particularly after all these years they have spent painstakingly excavating it – but it is being done for a very good reason. The type of stone the Neolithic people used to make the site does not cope well with being exposed to the elements. There are even theories that this might be one of the reasons the site was eventually abandoned because archaeologists have found evidence that the builders were forced to make many repairs over the hundreds of years this place was in use, and over time these fixes became increasingly haphazard until they finally gave up. Burying this place will ensure its longevity. Perhaps one-day future archaeologists will be able to excavate it again (hopefully with updated technology that can not only investigate it further but also better preserve it).

Even though it was the very last day, there were still people working in the pits till the very end. The mood was generally joyful, but there was also a melancholy in the air. The guide who took me and several dozen other people around for a tour even got a little bit teary at the end of the tour. It was at Structure 27, and he told us that it is the one that he – and many others – will miss the most.

Most of the foundations they have unearthed so far have revealed buildings of a similar design but Structure 27 is as enigmatic as it is beautiful. It is believed that all the buildings of the Ness of Brodgar were not domestic in purpose, as they are larger than the structures found at places like Skara Brae, and they have found little to no evidence of people living here. The evidence all points to these being communal places for the gathering of many disparate people.

Also, most archaeologists agree that – even though this entire place was primarily ceremonial in its function – Structure 27 was special in some way. It is separated from the others, is much larger, and has a different layout. The stonework is also much more elaborate. So far, they have not been able to find anything within it that they can use to accurately date its construction, but during our tour, he revealed that just a few days ago they found something that does hold potential for this and will be sent to a laboratory; a cattle scapula. Sometime in the near future, they will possibly make an announcement.

Overall, this place was very rewarding to visit, and I am very pleased that I got to see it. I can now say that I was one of the last people to ever visit and see the Ness of Brodgar before they buried it again.

One fact that really astounded me during the tour is that out of eighteen test pits that they initially dug in this area – to gauge how much there is to explore – seventeen discovered structures, and since then they have only performed excavations for around twenty percent of the total surface area of the Ness of Brodgar. It is a complex on a massive scale and they have so far only tapped the surface of it. This is quite literal for even most of the areas they have excavated because they are also aware that there are older structures below the newer ones, but they currently have no way of unearthing them without damaging the site. Once again, hopefully, future archaeologists will have more tools at their disposal.

After the Ness, I continued along the isthmus until I crossed to the other side and reached the Standing Stones of Stenness.

Despite its name – and appearance – this was originally another stone circle; one believed to be much older than the Ring of Brodgar.

But out of a total of twelve stones, only these have stood the test of time. Frustratingly many of them were destroyed by a nineteenth-century farmer who found them an inconvenience whilst tilling his fields and this caused some of the other villagers to intervene by attempting to burn down his house. One of the stones he destroyed was the Odin Stone which had a hole in the middle of it that people used to hold hands through as part of local marriage ceremonies.

Visitors to this site should also not miss the nearby Barnhouse Village, which also appears to be another ceremonial centre close to and contemporary with The Standing Stones of Stenness. It seems that archaeologists keep being surprised at every turn by the depth of historical interest this area possesses.

In the afternoon, I made my way back to Stenness village and visited to chambered cairns nearby. The first is Maeshowe.

This monument is one of such scale and significance that Historical Scotland has decided to lock it up and only let people inside by guided tour. Places are limited so I had to book this several weeks in advance to secure a spot. I was also not allowed to take photos of the interior (a rule I respected).

In its structure, this is similar to many of the other tombs in Orkney and the Caithness region. Entry is through a narrow passage that leads to a large open chamber with a pyramidal ceiling, and openings in the walls for where the bones of ancestors were stored.

There are, however, some things that make this place special. First of all, is the size of it. It is huge. There were around thirty people on this tour and it wasn’t at all cramped when we were all inside. The drystone walls are made from stabs that were picked for their almost perfect flatness and many of them are huge and must have been a burden to not only bring here but also lift as they constructed the pyramidal curvature of the walls and its roof. This site is also surrounded by a henge – which is unusual for a burial cairn – and the four megaliths in the corners of the inner chamber are thought to predate the monument in its current form; hinting that this place served another ceremonial purpose before they converted it into a tomb.

Like many such neolithic sites, it also has astronomical alignments; on the morning of the winter solstice, the sun shines through the passageway and hits the wall on the far side. It slowly grows until it eventually resembles a door. Perhaps one that the Neolithic people saw as a gateway to another world.

On a slightly more mundane note, this place is also home to the world’s largest collection of Viking graffiti. When the Norsemen came and inhabited the island, they rediscovered this place and created a hole in the roof that people would climb through to explore it. This resulted in many men and women feeling a need to leave their mark on the site, and many of these inscriptions have been translated and are rather amusing. They vary from statements such as ‘Harmond of the Hard Axe carved these runes’ to more explicit brags about the various deeds men and women have enacted both inside and outside the chamber.

The second burial cairn Unstan, is not quite as well known or visited as Maeshowe so it only receives a trickle of visitors and is open to the public. It is perched on the shore of Loch Stenness and overlooks the Neolithic Heart of Orkney. Interestingly, even though it is a smaller and less-known site it has a style of local pottery named after it because some of the first examples of it were found in its chambers.

After this first day of sightseeing, I made my way back to the campsite I was staying at; the Point of Ness, which is perched on a peninsular on the south-western tip of the main island. Originally, I was planning to camp at a few different campsites throughout my time at Orkney but after a closer look at the transport system, I realised that it was possible to simply stay at Stromness which seemed to be within striking distance of everything I wanted to do anyway. It is run by the Council – rather than being a profit-driven venture – and the facilities were overall good for the price. One of the things I liked most about it is that it has a small living room for campers to use where they can charge their phones and eat meals. I spent most of my evenings here sheltering from the wind and chatting with other campers.

Despite being the location of Orkney’s busiest ferry port, Stromness still has a bucolic charm. It does not have as many amenities as Kirkwall – so you are a little more limited when it comes to things such as shops and restaurants – but I am overall glad I stayed here for the duration of my time at Orkney.

On my second day exploring the island I began by catching the bus to Skara Brae.

This is another site that I would advise those visiting Orkney to reserve in advance, as it is world-famous and often gets booked out by tour companies and cruises. I came here just after the end of the high season and almost missed out until someone advised me to do this a week before.

This is one of the better-known sites at Orkney so I won’t go into too much detail about its history and instead focus on explaining to you what it was like to see as a visitor.

I will admit that it was somewhat smaller than I expected it to be. The entire settlement is just a dozen or so structures that were clustered together fairly tightly; although it is believed that it was likely once bigger and some of it has been lost to the sea. But, despite its size I still found myself spending over an hour here. There is something special about Skara Brae that one does not quite understand until one sees it in person.

I originally had plans to spend the rest of that day going for a long hike back to Stromness, but that is something that I ended up doing the next day (and will cover in the next instalment of this blog). I ended up changing my plans because I happened to meet another lone traveller at Skara Brae called Chris; he just so happened to have a van and invited me to go on a little tour that day with him so I hopped on.

Our first stop that day was Birsay, which was just a little up the coast from Skara Brae. It is a little island just off the coast that is connected to the rest of Orkney by a narrow walkway only accessible during the low tide.

Despite its somewhat inconvenient setting, this place has a long history of settlement. It is said in the Orkneyinga Saga that this was once the permanent residence of Thorfinn the Mighty, an eleventh-century Earl of Orkney; meaning that this cut-off little island was potentially the seat of power for all of Orkney.

There are also the remains of a Norse settlement here that has the potential to have been Thorfinn’s stronghold. Archaeologists have also found the foundations of an earlier Pictish remains beneath it.

As well as being rich with history Birsay is also home to some amazing geological formations. The island is under constant barrage from the tides of the North Sea which only makes the setting even more dramatic.

After we walked around Birsay, Chris and I returned to the mainland and then visited the nearby home of another Earl of Orkney but one from a much later time; Robert Stewart, a half-brother to Mary Queen of Scots.

After which, we hopped back into his van and continued along the northern coast. This road is known as the St Magnus Way as it roughly follows the route of the saint’s body to his burial place. They have recently made a more coastal option that people can complete by foot as a pilgrimage route.

After making our way across the northern coast of the peninsular we eventually reached the other main site for that way: the Broch of Gurness.

This is thought by many to be one of Scotland’s finest examples of Iron Age Brochs, yet it doesn’t receive too many visitors as a lot of the short-term visitors to Orkney only make time for the world-famous sites such as Skara Brae.

This place is very impressive and I think one of the things that made it rewarding to me is not just how quiet it was but also its setting; perched on the coast overlooking the island of Rousay.

The ending of my second day exploring Orkney ended up being similar to my first; visiting two chambered cairns; Cuween Hill Chambered Cairn and Wideford Hill Chambered Cairn.

These were quite similar in their structures, and they also happened to be set upon hills overlooking each other.

The thing that makes them slightly different experiences as a visitor is that Cuween is a cairn you get to enter as the people of the time did; through a narrow passage tunnel.

Whereas at Wideford Hill the original passage is not useable for some reason, so Historic Scotland has created a shaft in the roof that one enters through a ladder.

These are not only rewarding sites to visit for their history but also their settings. As I mentioned they are both situated on opposite hills that are not only overlooking each other but also the bay at Kirkwall. There is probably a reason for this alignment that will probably remain a mystery.

Interestingly, Cuween’s chambers were discovered to not only have human bones but also that of dogs, including twenty-four skulls. Wideford Hill, on the other hand, was found to have been emptied they blocked it up by filling it with rubble. Ritual closing of such sites was something that was commonly done by Neolithic people after they came out of use, but the removal of bones is a little more mysterious. Some archaeologists theorise that they were moved to a new location.

After this busy day of sightseeing, Chris was kind enough to drop me off at Stromness and we parted ways. He was heading to the island of Hoy the next day whereas I was planning to embark upon that hike I originally intended. It was a great stroke of luck that we met because we both had the same list of sites that we wanted to see but having the convenience of his van meant that I got to see what would have taken me two days to navigate the island – through public transport and my own two feet – in just one. We also both had intentions to visit Rousay Island at some point over the following week so we swapped details in case our schedules align again once he returns from Hoy.

My next blog will cover my hike along some of Orkney’s western coast from Skara Brae to Stromness. If you would like to see more photos from my time on this trip, click here.

 

Travelblog CO#1: Caithness – Scotland

13th – 15th August, 2024

 

Those of you who follow my blog regularly will be aware that I have previously only used this platform to give accounts of long adventures to far-flung parts of the world, so some of you might be a little surprised to see my name suddenly appear in your inbox after months of silence, and with a blog that has ‘Scotland’ – of all places – in the title.

I have decided to try something a little different. Scotland is an amazing place, and although this excursion is somewhat shorter, I will travel in the same fashion as I do when backpacking abroad. I have all of my gear with me, including my tent, stove, and water filtration system, along with other things, and I will be mostly relying upon public transport. I also have a list of amazing places I want to see and I am excited to share them with you.

This is a new experiment for me and I may even – if these entries prove popular enough – start blogging more of my shorter trips. But don’t worry; this does not mean I am going to try and regale you with stories about me going for pub-crawl weekends in Stroud. Only when it is interesting.

I started this journey by catching the bus up to Wick. I had just spent the last five days at a convention in Glasgow and its proximity to somewhere I had always wanted to see helped to inspire me to go on this trip. My foremost destination is Orkney but whilst plotting my route I noticed that another area along the way also seemed to have lots of interesting places so added it to my itinerary.

The Caithness peninsula. One of Scotland’s northernmost regions. A remote, wind-swept place with rugged coastlines jutting out into the North Sea and untamed moorland.

I arrived at Wick River Campsite in the early afternoon. The people there were very helpful and keen to give me advice about the area and answer any questions I had. When I mentioned that I was mostly interested in seeing the area’s historic sites they informed me about the Caithness Broch Project and gave me a leaflet.

This is a local charity that is working to help promote the history and heritage of this region, which often gets overlooked by visitors to Scotland despite its wealth of outstanding scenery and sites of historical interest. One of its goals is to recreate an Iron Age Broch to serve as an archaeological experiment and tourist attraction. The leaflet has an interpretative map which can also be found online by clicking here.

Shortly after setting up my tent, I realised I needed to go to the supermarket, which is on the other side of the river. I was advised to walk along a short trail and cross a footbridge. This route was not only shorter but also a more picturesque option. In my opinion, this campsite is in the best part of Wick. It is a sleepy town. The imposing nineteenth-century bridge is the heart of the settlement and some of the architecture around it is quite charming, but the seafront area isn’t much to write home about.

I rose early the next morning to begin my long day of sightseeing. The public transport in this area is quite irregular so it was important to ensure I did not miss the first bus heading south that morning or I would risk having to wait three hours later for the next and waste half the day. I headed to a village called Mid Clyth which was just a short walk away from my first site that day. The Hill O’ Many Stanes.

I was glad I got to see it early in the morning, as I got to explore it whilst hearing the end of the dawn chorus and the light gave the place an ethereal quality.

This place is believed to be around 5000 years old and is somewhat unique. The only site that it is really comparable to is Carnac in France (which has a similar layout but is made out of stones that are much larger). There are over two hundred of them and they are placed in around twenty-two rows. Archaeologists believe this to be connected by some form of ancestor worship or astronomical observatory (which accounts for most neolithic ceremonial sites, so I think that it is just their way of saying they don’t really know).

I haven’t mentioned this yet but Caithness is home to many wind farms. I saw hundreds of them just off of the shore when I got off the bus and there were many more just in land. I usually dislike the presence of industrial sites so close to historical ones but there is something elegant about wind turbines so I didn’t mind. Their presence was not jarring for me at all but if anything added to the ambience seamlessly.

After spending some time at the Hill O’ Many Stanes I then began my hike to Camster. This involved passing through one of the wind farms.

Besides that, the terrain was mostly moorland, which at this time of the year was dotted with colourful flowers and very beautiful.

I reached Camster Cairns just under a couple of hours later, and at the time of my arrival, it was completely empty.

These were my first glimpses of chambered cairns in this area, but it is a style that I would become accustomed to in the following days. The opening passages are long and usually very narrow. For the first one I had to get on my hands and knees and it did test my claustrophobia a little.

All three of the tombs one could enter at this site had a similar layout; two megaliths at the end of the passageway, through which one passes to enter a spherical – surprisingly spacious – chamber with another three megaliths.

The chamber that is in the lone mound was the most rewarding. It was the most intact – still having its original ceiling – and after climbing inside I sat within the chamber, closed my eyes and drifted off for a while, losing sense of time. I emerged sometime later and walked over to the others who were all clustered together in a group.

There were a couple of other sites I wanted to see that day in a place called Whaligoe, but I still wasn’t quite sure how I was going to reach them. This place is quite remote. There is a one-track road but it is mostly used for commercial logging. There were no direct footpath paths to my next destination, and some of the locals the warned me against trying to cut across the moors because a lot of them were boggy. Luckily another pair of visitors showed up – one of whom was an archaeologist – and they offered to give me a lift to Latheron.

This was still a bit away from where I wanted to go but it was a little closer and – more importantly – had more passing traffic. I started walking. It was only a couple of hours away but I stuck my thumb out to some of the cars that passed by and eventually, a Swiss woman picked me up and saved me an hour of my life.

When I reached Whaligoe, my first point of call was to another burial cairn called Cairn O’ Get. This one was not as well preserved as the two I had seen earlier that day, as it was missing its roof, but this gave me an opportunity to see this style of chambered from above.

The walk to Cairn O’ Get was something that also made the visit worth it as it passed through more of this area’s scenic moorland. This stretch of it was particularly eye-catching and almost dreamlike with its bright colours.

And another reason to visit Cairn O’ Get is that it is just a stone’s throw away from my final spot for the day; the Whaligoe Steps.

This is a place that could be easily missed – as it is not signposted – but it is certainly worth a stop if one is passing by the area. The climb is not too exhausting, and I honestly can’t think of many places in the world where one can be rewarded with such fine views with such little effort.

There are ruins of an old building at the bottom, as well as some old machinery, and this piqued my interest so I did some research when I got back to the campsite. Apparently, these steps were originally built so that local fisherwomen to haul up creels of herring to sell at the markets in Wick.

After my day of sightseeing, I caught the bus back to Wick and prepared to move on the next day. As I was packing my bags the following morning one of the other campers offered to give me a lift to the ferry terminal as he was driving in that direction anyway and I had helped him figure out how to pitch his tent when he first arrived two days ago. This saved me a lot of hassle with having to hop between different buses so I was very thankful. I arrived at Scrabster a few hours early so I claimed a table at a café and spent the time drinking tea and writing this blog.

 

For more photos from my time in Caithness, click here.