Pentland Firth

Transport Scotland's official statistics show that Northlink achieves a punctual and reliable figure of 99.7% on the Aberdeen routes.

But Pentland Firth operations sit at 93.7% for 2023-24.

And do not expect a payout when the weather alters the schedule.

Northlink's passenger rights notice is crystal clear.

And it features massive sea stacks of its own.

Dunnet Head, which is mainland Britain's most northerly point, scores 4.5 on over 900 reviews.

You would literally stand on the edge of the Pentland Firth and look out at Orkney instead of paying to cross it.

It's fascinating that Caithness is essentially the Orkney experience at a 100% discount on transport.

The response was swift and decisive, and proved disastrous for the slow and cumbersome Spanish Armada, which was no match for the small and maneuverable English ships.

Moreover, a vicious storm drove the Spanish into the dangerous waters of the Pentland Firth in Scotland, where looming cliffs and rocks awaited them.

It's thought that up to 20,000 Spanish sailors and soldiers died and the failed invasion has gone down in history as one of the worst ever naval disasters.

However, it was a celebrated victory for Elizabeth and one that defined England as one of the most powerful nations of the Tudor Age.

We have to get up at 4.45 in the morning to load the sheep.

We catch the early morning ferry across the Pentland Firth to Scrabster.

And we then have to drive them over 100 miles to an abattoir that Munro is in Dingwall that is excellent.

But the journey is enormously expensive.