Tag: Shetland

A Tale of Two Castles

Did you know that Shetland used to be part of Norway? And that a lot of the Norse ways survived even after the islands became Scottish? Visiting the two castles is a good way of learning about the history of Shetland during the time of the Earls. This tale of two castles gives a brief outline of the history and helps you to plan your visit to the castles.

Shetland has two castles both of which date back to the time when the Isles were ruled by Earls. Even though both castles are in ruins, there’s enough left of each one to make them fun to explore.

I’ve been to them both several times now and each time I go back I feel surprised by how much of them there is left once you get inside. With both castles, but especially Scalloway Castle, I always get the feeling that they’re bigger on the inside. Now where have I heard that before? Continue reading “A Tale of Two Castles”

Lerwick vs Kirkwall? How does Lerwick compare to Kirkwall?

I love visiting Shetland and Orkney and spending time in Lerwick and Kirkwall. If you’re planning to visit and are wondering what to expect or if you have to choose just one to visit, my Top Trumps style guide is here to help you out.

I’ve been to Shetland six times and Orkney four times. Each time I’ve travelled a lot round the islands and during those travels have popped in and out of their respective capitals numerous times. So I feel like I know Shetland’s Lerwick and Orkney’s Kirkwall pretty well. Well enough, anyway, to have formed opinions on them.

People expect them to be similar, but they’re not. They each have their own distinctive look and particular vibe. I like both for different reasons and when asked which was my favourite was a bit stumped. Of course, my instinct was to say Lerwick seeing as how I feel Shetland is my soul home and all, but with only a second’s thought I started to come up with lots of wonderful things about Kirkwall too.

How to choose? How to compare Lerwick with Kirkwall? I decided to come up with my own Lerwick vs Kirkwall version of Top Trumps and give them both a score on lots of different aspects. Continue reading “Lerwick vs Kirkwall? How does Lerwick compare to Kirkwall?”

Shopping and Eating in Lerwick

There are lots of wonderful places for shopping and eating in Lerwick and the good news is that they’re all close together. So even if you only have a few hours you’ll still be able to explore them.

Is Lerwick a good destination for shopping and lunching? You may be wondering this if you are travelling around Shetland or if you are just visiting for a few hours on one of the many cruise ships that now make a stop in Shetland each summer.

You won’t find many high-street names in Lerwick – no Starbucks or Costa, no M&S or WHSmiths and no Top Shop or Primark. There’s not even a McDonald’s.

This is a good thing. Continue reading “Shopping and Eating in Lerwick”

Cute Houses of Scalloway

Scalloway in Shetland is on many people’s must-see list because of the castle, museum and interesting WWII history. But it’s worth spending a couple of extra hours and exploring more of the village. When I did, I found all these cute houses and wanted to move straight in.

The first couple of times I went to Scalloway I liked it, but felt it was somewhere to quickly see and move on. There’s a castle and there was a small cluttered museum in one of the terraced houses, but that was about it. Continue reading “Cute Houses of Scalloway”

Walking to Fethaland

A sunny day provided the perfect opportunity for walking to Fethaland – the remote northern point of Shetland Mainland.

Fethaland is one of those ends of the earth places.

It’s at the northernmost tip of Mainland in Shetland (Mainland is the name of the main island in the archipelago), miles from anywhere. You drive (there’s no public transport) along narrow single-track roads, winding along the coast until you come to Isbister. Then you walk. Continue reading “Walking to Fethaland”

Why I’m Going to Shetland and Not Walking the Camino

I’d planned to spend the summer in the sun walking the Camino de Santiago. Instead I’m sitting on a ferry taking me to Shetland and all the weather the North Atlantic can throw at me.

Note: I wrote this post on my way to Shetland several weeks ago, but due to dodgy internet haven’t been able to post it until now. I haven’t changed the wording – this is what I was thinking as I sat on the ferry sailing out of Aberdeen on the eve of my birthday.

I’m typing this sitting in the cafeteria of the Hjaltland peering out at a grey sea and a grey sea mist. On the drive here hailstones battered my van; small ones, but lumps of ice none the less.

I should be on a plane flying to the Pyrenees and preparing to spend a summer in the sun. Yet once again I’ve packed my fleeces and my waterproofs and headed north. Continue reading “Why I’m Going to Shetland and Not Walking the Camino”

A Reading List for Shetland

The first in a series of posts collating books about a particular place.

I decided a while ago to start a series of posts where I collate all the books I know of that are associated with a particular place. Finally, I’ve got round to putting together the first of these posts. It took a lot longer than I thought! Continue reading “A Reading List for Shetland”

Friday Flickr – Puffins Galore

Puffins have got to be cutest birds ever. I can spend hours sitting and watching them.

For this week’s Friday Flickr I’ve decided to go with a theme rather than a place.

And for my first theme, I’ve chosen puffins.

Puffins have got to be the cutest birds. With their colourful beaks and soulful eyes, to say nothing of their clumsy gaits and comical crash landings, how can anyone not love a puffin?

The best place I’ve found to see puffins is Shetland. There are two huge colonies; one right at the bottom of the islands at Sumburgh and the other right at the top at Hermaness on Unst (my favourite island).

Sumburgh is the easiest to get to as it’s on the Shetland Mainland (main island) and is easily drivable from Lerwick. You can even get a bus if you don’t have a car. I say easiest to get to, but it still involves getting to Aberdeen and then a 12-14 hour ferry journey before you even get to Lerwick.

Unst is a little trickier (but so worth it), as from Lerwick you have to drive to the top of the Mainland, get a 20-30 minute ferry over to the island of Yell, drive for 30-40 minutes to the top of Yell, get another ferry for 10-15 minutes over to Unst, drive as far as you can to Hermaness at the top of Unst (half an hour or so), then walk across the boggy moorland for around an hour (dodging skua attacks) to get to the most northerly bit of coast in Britain.

Looking out from cliffs there are a couple of bits of rock that belong to Britain (Muckle Flugga and Out Stack), but that’s it. No more land. You’d have to keep going until you reached Antarctica before you  hit land again.

Hermaness is well worth the effort of getting there. Not only do you get to see Muckle Flugga lighthouse (of Shipping Forecast fame), have the overwhelming sense of being on top of the world and sit among hundreds of puffins, but you get to experience a ginormous gannetry.

Puffins might be the cutest birds, but gannets are my all time favourites. They’re just so sleek and skillful as well as stunningly beautiful to look at.

The gannetry is a massive assault on the senses – the sheer number of birds, the sound, the smell – about the only sense not being assaulted is taste, though I’m sure that could be fixed just by breathing in through your mouth.

But back to puffins. Sit on the grass on the cliffs at either Sumburgh or Hermaness and you will have puffins pop up out of their burrows and crash land on the grass all around you.

They spend most of the year at sea and only come back to land when they breed. This means there’s quite a limited season to see them. They start arriving around April and have pretty much disappeared by early August.

I can sit for hours just watching them or snapping away trying to get the perfect photo. The photograph I really want to take is of a puffin with a mouth full of sandeels, but so far I’ve never managed this.

So I have a reason to keep going back. Not that I need one.

Click on the image below to access the Flickr album.

Puffins

 

Friday Flickr – Fair Isle

For this week’s Friday Flickr I’ve taken myself back to Fair Isle.

This tiny island was only known to me from the Shipping Forecast and the jumpers of my childhood. I’d also heard that visitors could stay at a bird observatory and I’d never stayed at a bird observatory before, so of course that appealed.

I drove for around 6hrs to Aberdeen, then took the overnight ferry to Shetland. Fair Isle lies in the North Sea between Orkney and Shetland and we passed it on the 12 hour ferry journey. Once in Lerwick, I had to backtrack by driving to the south of the Shetland mainland and taking the small mailboat, ‘The Good Shepherd’ 4hrs to Fair Isle.

It was worth it.

I stayed in the newly rebuilt bird observatory and spent my days wandering the length and breadth of the island in glorious sunshine.

Click on the image below to access the album.

Fair Isle

 

A year ago I was at Up Helly Aa

Up Helly Aa has been and gone again. It’s always on the last Tuesday of January and brightens some of the darkest days in the British winter. Shetland being so far north, it gets even gloomier than Manchester. Something hard to believe with the gloomy, drizzly weather we’ve been having lately.

Last year I was fortunate to be able to spend a week in Shetland and attend the festivities. I got to have one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life (and there have been a few!) and to cross a challenge off my 60 things to do before I’m 60 list.

I’ve been following it closely online this year and wishing I was there. I’ve just been reminiscing with my photos. The low light, rain and fast moving Vikings made it difficult to get good photos, but even the worst photos have good memories behind them and I love looking back at them. I’ve selected a few of the better ones and have put together a Flickr album.

Up Helly Aa

I’ve written a few other posts on Up Helly Aa and they can be found by clicking on the links below.

After my trip last year, I wrote about the day and the night parts of the festival.

I’ve also written an overview of what Up Helly Aa is.

My potted history of the festival can be found here.

The Up Helly Aa website can be found here.