Wednesday June 12th - Today we'd planned another longish walk from Scallaway to Burwick Head but after yesterday's long and strenuous yomp (see previous blog) we didn't quite feel like it! So instead we nipped down into Scalloway for lunch at The Da Haaf restaurant which had come highly recommended. I had smoked fish fishcakes 😋 and John had the Cullen Skink soup with a homemade bannock which he had been looking forward to very eagerly! Only trouble was that when it arrived at the table the dish the soup was served in wasn't much bigger than an eggcup😥 and his bannock was about the size of a postage stamp 😒 - we almost had to go and get chips afterwards to fill him up 😂.
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| Lin's version of Cullen Skink! Now that's what I call a bowl full. |
Scalloway sits on the west central Mainland and was once the ancient capital of Shetland but these days that accolade belongs to Lerwick. As we'd approached Scalloway we'd had great views of the harbour with its bobbing fishing vessels along with the castle which at the moment is covered in scaffold and also a scattering of smaller isles in the distance. Then while we were there we learnt about 'The Shetland Bus Boats' which was the name given to a clandestine special operations group that made a permanent link between Shetland and German occupied Norway. That part of the war history was really interesting and not well known about but worth reading if you've got a spare few mins!
So after that 'little' meal we didn't really need much exercise but we did take ourselves for a short walk up over the headland to the Point of the Pund, and then just made it back to the car before another almighty downpour 🌂.
Then, because lunch had been a bit of a disappointment we nipped into the Scalloway general store and brought lots of goodies for tea and that included 2 Shetland ribeye steaks along with a nice drop of 19 Crimes vino🍷🍷 and although that wont be quite cordon-bleu I'm sure we'll enjoy😋
Thursday June 13th - For today's outing we'd booked a Noss Boat Tour on a catamaran called Seabird for what was to be an amazing wildlife spectacular. We boarded at 1pm along with 10 other people and left from Lerwick harbour. We were given audio devices through which we could hear our excellent tour guide and we were very quickly underway with a stop at the island of Bressay to admire the Light House Arch and then below the islands towering cliffs to see puffins dabbling in the water.
Here there were also some stunning rock formations that included the Orkneyman's cave (were a man from Orkney is said to have hidden from The Press Gangs) and also the huge Giants leg 🦵arch which we sailed through! Apparently from here there is a cave that stretches 120 metres into the cliffs.
We didn't go into that one but our skipper did back the boat into another cave nearby to let us see the nesting shags.
We then headed towards the uninhabited island of Noss which is separated from Bressay by the narrow Noss Sound and is now a National Nature Reserve. There the boat took us right into the heart of the seabird colony and we were literally only a few metres away from many thousands of mostly guillemots and gannets! We thought there were a lot at RSPB Bempton but there were many times more here on the cliffs that towered above us.
After we'd all taken our fill of photos the boat backed away from the cliffs and then our guide threw fish into the sea which resulted in a gannet feeding frenzy and they were also joined by huge skuas who wanted to claim there share!
Next it was our turn to feed as we were supplied with hot beverages and biscuits before we started our return journey to Lerwick. The whole trip from start to finish was magical ✨️ and we quite lucky to go because its going to be cancelled for at least the next 2 days because of strong south easterly winds - up to 45mph gusts so if we go out at all tomorrow we'll need to hold onto our 👒 🎩 😂.
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| Giant's Leg arch in the background. |
Friday 14th June- and we've been attacked by absolutely atrocious weather- the winds have gusted and howled and the rain has been horizontal at times! We did eventually venture out but it really was just a drive round to see what we could see. We left the park and headed south, crossed a couple of bridges and arrived on the island of West Burra for a quick look at the pretty Hamnavoe harbour and a lovely symmetrically decorated shell house.
Next we headed for Duncansclett where we'd hopped to have a walk on Banna Minn beach but the weather didn't let us! Forwards and onwards we found ourselves on Mosa Sound viewpoint were we partook of our lunch and there the mist and rain 🌧 almost completely obscured our view.
Sandwick and Hoswick came next but there was nothing very interesting there so we headed for Easter and Wester Quarff which lie at opposite ends of one of Shetland's rare east-west valley's. Here many millions of years ago the ice burst through the grain of the landscape and carved a classic glacial valley where the Atlantic ocean and the North Sea are less than 2 miles apart. The whole area would be beautiful in better light but on this gloomy day we didn't stop for pics!
Next came The Loch of Brindister which is said to be one of the best places to see Shetland ponies and there were a few mostly trying to shelter by the peat hags! Peat hags are overhanging mounds of vegetated peat often left by erosion from water and they can be seen in huge numbers here on Shetland. And even though the ponies were wet and looked a bit miserable they certainly have a better life than there ancestors
In the early 1800s women and children used to work in the coal mines and would be made to haul coal for up to 18 hours a day. However in 1842 the Miners Act was established which prohibited this so Shetland ponies quickly took their place. The ponies could haul up to 140lbs and for saying they only stand about 36 - 40 inches tall that seems a huge load. The ponies were set to work all over the UK and some were even sent to America so ensure a good supply of a Stud was set up in 1870 on the Shetland island of Bressay. The new borns lived there for their first 4 years and then they were sent to the pits where they would be lowered underground sometimes for the rest of their 30 year life expectancy.
Saturday 15th June - and this was another day that started with heavy rain 🌧 and mist but at least the wind had abated a bit! We delayed going out until 12ish but even then it was into misty murk, but by the time we got to our destination which was the car park to go over to St Ninian's Isle it improved slightly. From the car park we only had a short walk down to the stunning white sandy tombola which is said to be the most spectacular shell/sand tombola in the British Isles.
A tombola is a sandy bar that links two islands or joins an island to a larger land mass.
We crossed over to St Ninian's with gentle waves lapping on each side of the tombola but apparently it can be breached by strong wind driven tides but there was no fear of that today
St Ninian's is also famous for the discovery of Pictish Treasure. In 1958 a schoolboy who was helping on an archaeological dig at the islands tiny Celtic Chapel discovered a hoard of silver bowls and ornaments which were believed to have dated from 800 AD.
Our walk took us along the convoluted craggy edge of the island and we hadn't gone far when we spotted the 'icing on the cake' in the form of at least 4 Orca whales 🐋 about 100 metres off shore! As we watched we could see their fins and sometimes there backs as they lazily moved along the coast. I tried hard to get a pic but the ones below is the best that I could do!
Once we'd lost sight of the whales 🐋 we continued on our way to complete the 3.5 mile circuit of the island, but after all of yesterday's rain sometimes it was more like a paddle than a walk! Once we'd crossed back over the tombola we sat and watched the bird life while munching our cake but when the rain started to spit spot again we headed through more murky mist as we made our way 'home'
Sunday 16th June - Today dawned calm! Just a gentle breeze and some sunshine at last so our picnic was soon packed and we headed to the most southerly tip of Shetland to see Sumburgh Head Lighthouse and the nature reserve that surrounds it.
There has been a Lighthouse there sine 1821 and it stands on a high rocky promontory that required a steep climb to get up to it, but once there we spent some time looking out to sea because regular sightings of orca and minky whales 🐋 along with dolphins and harbour porpoises are often made here. Unfortunately we didn't have any luck with that today but the huge colonies of sea birds kept us entertained.
After we'd had our fill of the lighthouse area we had lunch while gazing out to sea and then we set off on a walk that made a full circumnavigation of the Sumburgh headland. This took in lots more coastal views, Sumburgh airport where the runway finishes on the sea edge and also the posh Sumburgh hotel.
Next we took ourselves off to Spiggie Loch which is an RSPB reserve with a purpose built hide. We'd read that this would be the stronghold of Whooper Swans, Greylag Geese, Arctic Terns and Great Skuas but once again our luck was out cos all we saw were a couple of swans and Arctic Terns along with these 2 strange waders
Monday 17th June - And now it's time to move on! Our ferry from Shetland will take us to Aberdeen and it leaves here at 5pm with a journey length of about 14 hours. We've book a cabin at quite an extortionate cost but hopefully that will aid our ability to catch at least 40 winks 😉 - or maybe not if our crossing is as rough as it was coming !
So for now it's goodbye 👋 from us and Shetland we'll see you again when we get to our next destination which will be Braemar back on the Scottish mainland xx
Oh, and PS. Our caravans waterworks problem is still PISSisting and for the last 20 odd days we've had to manage with our taps just spitting out small amounts of water at a slow rate! However, we've ordered a new pump and that should be waiting for us when we arrive at Braemar and therefore fixing the problem will be John's first job on arrival. We've just got to keep everything crossed that we've diagnosed the problem correctly!
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