Safe Return Doubtful

Though there are a few campervans around during the day, they disperse at night. Many of them are rentals, and the facilities in them are less appealing than in one’s own van, also the people who rent them are often on their first trip in such a vehicle, and take…

  Though the title for today may sound like a crime novel, it is actually the name of the northwestern part of the Esha Ness peninsula, and it’s many rocky outcrops. Esha Ness’s lighthouse is a Stevenson build (by David, one of the ‘lightthouse’ Stevensons that included, if only briefly,…

Tough going on Muckle Roe Friday 7th July Rain delay this morning. Fronts tend to come through very quickly up here. I heard the first drops on the roof about 5 am, and by 10 it was fizzling out. I had a second coffee and read more than usual, and…

Muckle Roe Island Thursday 6th July Aside from the sports complex and high school, which were built and opened in 2017, the rest of the town of Lerwick is rather grey. Many have given up on applying paint to the outside of buildings, as with the weather blowing so fiercely,…

From an island population of 6 to the 7,000 of Lerwick Wednesday 5th July The morning ferry arrived on time at 9:45 and stimulated the only human movement I had detected since it left on Monday afternoon. On board was one vehicle and twelve hikers from Fife. The vehicle and…

Papa Stour – westside Tuesday 4th July The trail today took Roja and I across the island on an old track to its high point, a5 89 metres. This is the north east corner. The cliffs are much higher, more like 50 metres, and too high for me to approach…

Papa Stour Island I Monday 3rd July At 9 this morning I took the 40 minute ferry crossing to Papa Stour. There was just one other vehicle on the boat which can take six vehicles. Like many of Shetland’s islands, Papa Stour shows signs of life dating back centuries. Missionary…

As ridges go… Sunday 2nd July 2023 To get a bit of perspective, and for some variety from the coastline, I took to the hills of the Walls peninsula this morning. There’s a wide ridge running for about 3 kilometres from northeast to southwest with only a maximum height of…

Melby Beach Friday 30th June This planet. How many lives would you need to live all the places that appeal? I could certainly spend one of them on Shetland. It has a coastline of more than 1700 miles, varying from extremes of boulder-strewn wild-storm beaches to barely touched stretches of…