It's been a while since we've blogged and having just spent two weeks on the Shetland Isles thought it would be good to share it with you via the medium of the "blog" !!!!
Journey to Shetland.
Our first stop off on the long drive from Peebles to Aberdeen was the Loch Leven Parkrun in Fife. It was a nice sunny day and we enjoyed a very scenic 2 lap parkrun (close to) the shores of Loch Leven. Better still was the opportunity to have a cake and coffee at the
Loch Leven Larder. Well worth a visit if you are a parkrunner or a cake eater !!!!!!
From Loch Leven we then continued up to Aberdeen to get the Ferry to Lerwick on Shetland. We found it strange that there are no parking facilities for ferry travellers in the city (that we know off). However we found a spot which looked safe enough got the bikes loaded with their panniers and cycled the short distance down to the ferry terminal.
Once checked in, we boarded our ferry for the next 14.5 hours on the
MV Hjaltland. As it was a long voyage we decided to book an overnight cabin which I recommend as it was very comfortable, and had tea/coffee making facilities & shortbread! In fact the whole ship was very comfortable, with a lovely lounge, bar, restaurant and even a small cinema.
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| Our Cabin |
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| Getting ready to board |
Leaving sunny Aberdeen
Although there was a storm warning we found the crossing fine and woke in the morning approaching Lerwick Harbour feeling good and ready to take on the Simmer Dim Half Marathon.
Simmer Dim Half Marathon.
One of main reason for travelling to Shetland was to do the Simmer Dim Half Marathon. Simmer Dim is what Shetlanders call the Solstice (longest day) although it was actually a few days before the Solstice. From the ferry we met some members from Shetland AC with whom we had arranged to leave our bikes and kit in their club hut. We then headed to catch the local bus to the start at Cunningsburgh Hall.
It was tough half marathon, starting with a short loop on some quiet roads before joining the main road and a very hilly run all the way back to Lerwick. Just to make things a bit more challenging we had a headwind all the way and some nasty north Atlantic squalls to deal with !!!! The final descent into Lerwick was welcome, what was not was a final lap of the 400M running track at the end of the race.
Despite the race being tough it was great fun and a good sense of achievement finishing! A warm welcome from the host club (Shetland Athletics club), a really nice medal and a fantastic roast dinner in town afterwards made for a great first day in Shetland. Gillian and I both did well in the race I was 6th (3rd male Vet) and Gillian was 13th (2nd Female).
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| A bit chilly at the start of the race. |
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The spoils !!!
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After the race we treated ourself to a Sunday Roast at
No88 very tasty.
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Sunday Roast !!
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Scalloway.
After the race we spent a couple of days in the small town of Scalloway just 7 miles from Lerwick. We were staying in a lovely B&B called the
Cornerstone, the breakfasts were first class !!!!!. We did a lovely coastal walk around Scalloway looking over a myriad of Island with plenty Shetland ponies for company.
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| Gillians new friend |
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| Lighthouse at Scalloway |
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| Washed up garbage. |
We visited the Scalloway museum which was very interesting. I was intrigued by the story of the Shetland bus. In the second world war many Norwegians fled their country when it was invaded by Nazi Germany. They set up a resistance group here in Shetland and sailed back and forth to Norway helping the resistance over there. More information click the link :
Shetland Bus. In the evening we had dinner at the Kiln bar. I had my first taste of a Shetland delicacy :
Sassermaet which is a bit like a lorne sausage - very tasty. So good I bought some from the local butcher for our trip up to Brae !!!!
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| Sassermaet |
Cycle to Brae.
After our wee rest in Scalloway it was time for us to get the bike tour started. The first part of the trip we had planned was up to the north west part of Shetland to a town called Brae where we would spend a few days exploring the area.
We cycled a lovely route on some quiet roads on the west side past the airport at Tingwall, on to Bixter and Twatt !!!! before heading to Aith where the famous cake fridge is located. After fuelling up on cake we followed a quite hilly road round the coast to Brae. Click the link to see our route:
Scalloway to Brae Route.
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| Loch Tingwall |
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| What a Twatt !!!! |
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| Cake fridge at Aith |
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| Frankie's Chippy in Brae, well worth a visit. |
Mavis Grind.
On the evening of the Simmer Dim (Solstice) we took a walk along
Mavis Grind to visit a chambered cairn. Mavis Grind is where the North Sea meets the North Atlantic and Fishermen used to carry their boats overland here rather than sail all the way round the Island.
Hillswick.
Next day we took a cycle north to walk around the Ness of Hillswick. It was pretty grim cycle - windy, wet and foggy. However we enjoyed a lovely coastal walk around the Ness with some stunning sea stacks. We enjoyed a warm up coffee and cake at
St Magnus Bay Hotel before cycling back to Brae.
Muckle Roe.
On our final day in Brae we went for another walk around Muckle Roe, which was similar to Hillswick but not as far away (and the weather was a bit better).
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| Muckle Roe Hall |
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| Peat bank |
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| Bird spotting !!! |
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| The hill out of Muckle Roe. |
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| Gillian and the chooks at our campsite. |
Weekend in Lerwick.
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| (Another) Pie stop at Skellister Post Office on the cycle back to Lerwick. |
After Brae we headed back to the Lerwick for the weekend. We took the Saturday morning ferry over to Bressay to run their Parkrun, tour of the Island and its lovely
Speldiburn Cafe. We had hoped to get to the Isle of Noss for some further exploration and birding but alas the Ferry wasn't running, so we'll have to come back for that.
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| Bressay Parkrun, the most Northerly in the UK |
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| Looking over to Noss |
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| Looking over to Noss |
In Lerwick we stayed at the
Islesburgh House Hostel which was a grand old building with great facilities and reasonably priced.
Storm Petrels on Mousa.
On Saturday night we went on a midnight birdwatching experience. We took a boat over to the Island of Mousa to watch the Storm Petrels return from sea to roost in the Mousa Broch. It was fantastic experience watching these tiny birds return in their thousands to nest in the Broch, it was mid summer so it never got dark the sun never really dipped below the horizon.
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| The Mousa boat |
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Welcome to Mousa !!!!
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| Approaching the Broch at Midnight |
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| Mousa broch, the best example of a Broch in the UK |
Click here to see details of the tour we went on.
Puffins in Sumburgh.
After the Storm Petrels we were in the mood for more birding so we decided to take a rest from the bikes and catch the bus down to Sumburgh Head. We did a lovely walk along the coast to the Sumburgh lighthouse. Lots of birds to be spotted Puffins, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Guillemots and Razorbills. Gillian even got attacked by Artic Terns.
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| Gillian under attack |
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| Sumburgh Airport |
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| Puffins on the cliffs. |
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| Tammie Norries (as they are known in Shetland) |
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| Looking to the lighthouse |
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| The Foghorn |
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| Look down Sumburgh head to the Lighthouse. |
We visited
Jarlshof which was amazing. Numerous ancient settlements have been uncovered from Neolithic, Bronze age, Viking. Centuturies of history in one place !!!
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| Wheel house at Jarlshof |
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| Gillian goes back in time. |
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| Viking Longhouse |
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| Neolithic settlement. |
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| Neolithic settlement. |
Unst as far North as you can go !!!!!
Following our weekend in Lerwick we had planned our longest cycle of the trip, 60 miles all the way from Lerwick - north through the main island to catch a ferry to Yell. Then cycle up the scenic east coast of Yell to catch another ferry onto the island of Unst. Then finally a cycle to the very top of the Island to our lovely shepherds hut accomodation the Peerie Neuk in Haroldswick.
We set off early at 5am to beat the morning traffic and we were also very lucky to have a tailwind all the way which certainly sped things up and made our journey more enjoyable.
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| Arrival on Yell |
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| Cycling through Yell |
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| Lunch stop (pie) at Aywick |
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| All the bus stops had been painted by local school children. |
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| Crossing to Unst |
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| Welcome to Unst |
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| Gillian arrives in Haroldswick |
Around Unst.
We stayed for 3 days on Unst but could have stayed longer. We did a lovely walk around the Hermaness Nature reserve. We have never seen so many birds. There was lots of Viking stuff to see and of course we cycled the furthest road north in the country to see the most northerly beach and house at Scaw.
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| Hermaness |
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Wheres the burds !!!
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| Hermaness |
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| Hermaness |
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| Muckle Flugga lighthouse |
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| Gillian is not as big as a Gannet !!!!! |
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| Hermaness |
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| God save the Queen !!! |
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| Longship at Haroldswick |
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| Prepare to be pillaged !!! |
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| Postcards from the UK's most northerly postbox !!! |
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| Norwick beach |
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| Norwick beach |
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| Scaw beach |
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| The most northery beach in the UK, Scaw beach |
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| No more road left !!! |
And home ...
We didn't want to leave Unst (or Shetland), but we had to. We cycled all the way back to Lerwick. Luckily the Northerly wind died down a bit so the cycle back wasn't too bad. We did get a bit wet and it was quite foggy as we arrived back in Lerwick. We rewarded ourselves with a slap up meal at the restuarant
Dowry.
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| Foggy back in Lerwick |
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| Ferry home ? |
We got the ferry home to Aberdeen but still managed to sneak in the Aberdeen parkrun before heading back to the Scottish Borders.
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Aberdeen Parkrun
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Hope you enjoyed our wee adventure 60 degrees North !!!!
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