Ten of us caught the 8 am ferry to Flotta on a sunny morning. It remained sunny all day but quite breezy. We set off on the track to the Z Battery on the Golta Penninsular via an unplanned excursion to the south shore. The battery was used for firing rockets en mass in the wartime defense of the Flow. What remained mostly were small concrete hemi shelters set in rows at right angles to each other plus circular mounts for the base of the rocket firing mechanism.

Subsequent to our visit, Rod passed on a series of historical photos showing the Battery in action and the loading of the firing mechanisms, so it all eventually made sense to those that were there. We then drove up to Stanger Head and had lunch before looking around the old wartime buildings and going down to the quarry and geo at the point.

A look around the church and Heritage Centre for some was followed by viewing of the wonderful Flotta Mural at the Community Centre. Very kindly we were treated to tea at the latter even though the cafe had closed the week before. A visit to the old cinema ruins plus a quick drive to see Orkney's only resident Penguins ended a wonderful day out.

The next meeting is Wednesday 27th September at 10.30 at HMS Tern in Sandwick for a conducted tour followed by lunch nearby and a viewing of photos from Flotta, Papa Westray and the Summertime project. The weather was so good on Flotta that we never got time to view our efforts from previous meetings.

Keep clicking, Tim