3 -8 September: Shetland Adventure
I’m writing this as our time in Shetland comes to an end, and while we are happy to be moving on to our next adventure, there is a sense that we are leaving a very special place, and not just because of the high quality of the murder mysteries that are set here! We felt it in the landscapes, in the Victorian architecture mingled with far humbler housing stock, the business of the harbour with its fishing vessels both tiny and gargantuan, the number birds, and the crystalline waters even in the middle of Lerwick. We did quite a lot but there was more to see: it would take a couple of hours to drive from south to north, with ferries needed to explore the furthest reaches, but we can leave some to the imagination or perhaps a future visit. Next time, however, we will come in puffin season, as we missed them by three weeks. They have headed off into the North Sea with their breeding season over.
Travelling on the island ferries is a different experience. Aberdeen had been rather chaotic as long-term roadworks turned the bus trip into a crowded purgatory, and there was an almost total lack of signage at the station. Thankfully we did not wait for the train as recommended by both Google and Apple as it was on the other side of the airport and scuttline across the tarmac seemed rather risky. We walked the twenty minutes between the ferry terminal and were instantly in a more civilised world. While the Helsinki-Stockholm ferry was a bit of a circus (and a recent Herald article confirms that those vessels degenerate into a combination party boat and floating duty free outlet), the island ferries seem to be far more down-to-earth, with locals travelling to and from the mainland, and tourists who are mainly on the grey side, like us. Australians seem to be well-represented among the passengers.
It is a much smaller vessel, but we can’t complain about the cabins. We could have checked everything into a bag room but there was more useable room than in the much larger Baltic ferry. The food was very UK: wholesome, predictable and cheap, much like you would get in a local, so we really felt like we had left Scandinavia behind!
Our crossing to Shetland was very calm, and we arrived to the promise of a lovely day. Of course, as soon as we had dragged our bags a kilometre to our guest house, and dropped everything of so we could wander around the town, it poured! But it was only for ten minutes and we were undaunted, so we wandered down the hill to the shops. Naturally there were some distinctly familiar sites.
While we were not picking our rental car until the Friday, and our birdwatching cruise to Noss Head had been cancelled because of the high wind, we still found lots to do within walking distance. We enjoyed the fresh air and started to understand the unique culture of Shetland, a mix of its Pictish, Nordic and Scottish origins. The Town Hall’s windows celebrate the connections with Demmark/Norway, and there is still a sense that the islands are not quite Scotland, although there are plenty of saltire’s flying to tell you otherwise.
Worth mentioning for follow-up are the five Shetlander migrants who died as members of the AIF, and the Diana fountain on Victoria Pier commemorating the return of the shaker Diana from a disaster in the Arctic
We had a really decent meal at one of the many little restaurants in town (avoiding the Kung Fu Chinese takeaway that looked like you could go three rounds with Mongolian Lamb and lose every time). The plaice at Number 88 — and that’s exactly what I mean — was excellent and the lamb perfect, so we were well pleased as the ferry had been good value but very pub grub. The next day we picked up the car and headed for the archeological site at Jarshof and the lighthouse af Sumburgh at the very southern tip of the islands.
We’ve never driven across an airport before, except for the emergency sections of the Stuart Highway, so to consider the possibility of waiting at the lights for a jet to land, either in a car or as a pedestrian, was rather different. But preforce, we had to adventure the runway and try not to stop in the middle of the stripes to take photos! In any case, the other side held the fascination of the bronze and iron age relics at Jarlshof, the remains of brochs and wheelhouses, and pictish and Viking ruins which seemed somehow to be of less interest!
The history of the islands seems to fix upon a few critical intrusions: the arrival of the Picts, the Viking raids, settlement and incorporation into Denmark, the marriage alliance with Scotland in the 14th century and appropriation to the Scottish crown, the explosive development in the fish trade and arrival of the European merchants, and economic integration with Britain in the 18th century and later, until oil arrived in the 1970s. Not even the Reformation seems to have been as influential. The archeology at Jarlshof and a later visit to the Museum was an insight into a fascinating history, but we were really here to walk the Cliffs to the lighthouse, so off we went! Enough of the pseudo-historian waffle.
The walk to the lighthouse gave us a taste of Cliffs, something that would be a theme in all our walks in Shetland. One is never more than five kilometres from the sea, and the beaches are rather seldom. Nothing in the rest of the stay, however, could compare with the trip we took in the late afternoon aboard a rigid inflatable to Noss Head, or more accurately, the Holm of Noss. It is the southern tip of Noss, which sticks out from Bressay to the east. We left Lerwick, traveled north around Bressay, and then south down its eastern shore with uninhabited Noss to port (they were shearing the island’s sheep, for reasons never explained). Out into the North Sea, we turned east and were under the Cliffs where the gannets were in the last weeks of brooding, and some of the fledglings had already been kicked over the edge to parachute into the sea, where they had to lose weight before they could fly into the North Sea for the winter. The photos only give a glimpse of how extraordinary the trip was; the video is better but I’m having trouble uploading it at the moment. We were very lucky as the trip had been put off or postponed for ten days because if the wind.
Saturday was Esha Ness, or Eshaness, as it is usually written here. It was nearly an hours drive but its still part of Mainland. The Cliffs often feature on the show (I think Ciaran Hinds jumped in one episode) and the scenery is extraordinary. I’m sure wiser heads can discourse about the geomorphology of the islands, but we were just revelling in the weather, which was perfect, and the views, which were entirely memorable. Our 13 km circular hike was no real effort and a good hit-out for boots, joints and muscles.
The weather turned a bit on Sunday, so our walk around St Ninian’s Isle with its dramatic tombola was a bit more challenging, in the teeth of 35 knots of south-easterly gale, but the dramatic scenery and the sense of isolation were amazing and we could see why the novels worked so well. I’m now convinced that the series deliberately waits for gloomy days to shoot so the islands take on that noirish feel, because in any kind of sun they are just beautiful.
That was about it for the Shetlands. Monday was washing day, with strange meetings with other Australians at the only laundry in town, a sandwich lunch in the sun overlooking the town, and the museum, which was very well done. After that it was taking a last look of this unique place, returning the car, and getting on board the ferry for Aberdeen. It has been a quite magical few days.
