Leaving Shetland

Hi everyone. Thanks for all your comments. Johnson Crew - apparently they are plenty of dolphins around but I've haven't seen one :( I haven't seen seals or otters either. Still, check out my picture of puffins below.

Today I'm getting a ferry across from the Shetlands to the Orkney Islands (the next lot down). They're about 70 miles south of here, and are supposed to be a bit more lush. I'll get some pictures soon.

So what did I think of the Shetlands? Well, I feel like I've been here forever, even though it's just been five days. I already feel at home. They say that people are very welcoming here, and I can vouch that it is true. And there's plenty going on once you start to look. I spent the last two days on the remote island of Unst, and saw about 10% of what was on offer.

Shetland has lots of Shetlanders, but there are loads of people from elsewhere too. I've met people from France, Australia, Japan, Germany and Ireland, not to mention the Brits. I haven't travelled on my own before, but it's dead easy to meet people once you all pile into the hostel in the evening, and discover that everyone is doing exactly the same as you! On Unst, there were only two of us in the hostel, but we discovered that we are taking the same ferry to Orkney, so I'm sure we'll meet again.

Keep leaving your comments. I enjoy reading them, although I can only see them when I can get to a computer (I do my blogging from my phone - although it looks as though a couple of my blogs didn't make it). I've tried to reply to a few here.

At the edge of the world

At the edge of the world, originally uploaded by British Traveller.

This picture shows you Britain's most northerly lighthouse, Muckle Flugga, Britain's most northerly rock, Out Stack (on the right), and, if you look closely enough, Britain's most northerly person.

Hermaness

Hermaness, originally uploaded by British Traveller.

I tantalised you earlier with my sighting of a puffin, but I wasn't able to get a photo. Well, I'm making up for it now. There puffins were at Hermaness Nature Reserve. It's impossible to get around Unst without a car so the hostel warden gave me a lift up. The reserve is simply swarming with puffins, and they let you get extremely close. There's also gannets, and great skuas, which dive bomb you if you get too close to their nest. You're supposed to carry a stick to fight them off, but today I think I saw more skuas than you could shake a stick at.

Sheep and peat.

Sheep and peat., originally uploaded by British Traveller.

Most of the pictures I've posted so far make Shetland look a pretty romantic place. In reality, however, it's a very bleak, windswept landscape. It's covered in vast expanses of treeless peatland - with sheep. I think that's because they're the only animal that doesn't get blown over by the wind.

Uyeasound harbour

Uyeasound harbour, originally uploaded by British Traveller.

... and this is the view from my room.

Most northerly...

Most northerly..., originally uploaded by British Traveller.

Prepare yourself for a few 'most northerly' facts over the next two days. I have just travelled to Britain's most northerly inhabited island, Unst, and this is my a picture of where I'm staying. In fact, I seem to have the place entirely to myself! The conservatory is beautifully warm.

More wildlife

More wildlife, originally uploaded by British Traveller.

Yes, they do have the ponies here too!

Birdlife

Birdlife, originally uploaded by British Traveller.

Another view of Sumburgh Head. I was confidantly promised by a lady al Jarlshof that this was where I'd see my first puffin. The Shetlands, more than anything else, are famous for their birdlife, and puffins are the pick of the lot. So off I marched. The cliffs are swarming with birds, fulmars, kittiwakes and razorbills, but no puffins. Standing next to a sign that read 'watch here for puffins didn't seem to help. In the end I was about to give up. Then I caught sight of a chubby creature on a little outcrop, whipped out the binoculars and - wow - there it was. The one and only puffin on the shelf.

A nue-foo a clippins

Well, my first day in the Shetland Islands is already proving something of a challenge. When I arrived at 7.30 the weather was fantastic (see previous post). I checked into my youth hostel, dropped off all my stuff in the luggage store, and marched confidently out onto the harbour.

Then the weather changed snap! - like that - and I found myself getting drenched without a waterproof piece of clothing in sight. Five minutes later I was to seen cowering behind a slide in an empty children's playground, cradling a beautiful baked potato with chilli (no, I haven't got a picture).

The Shetland Islands are a scraggy bunch of rocks in the north-eastern reaches of the Atlantic. They aren't exactly sheltered (hence the changeable weather - apparently it snowed last week) and they aren't easily reached. A local poet, Rhoda Bulter, tried to describe the islands like this:

Sometimes I tink whin da Loard med da aert,
An He it aa pitten togidder,
Dan He still had a neu-foo a clippins left ower,
Trimmed aff o dis place or da tidder,
An He hedna hert to baal dem awa,
For dey lookit dat bonnier an rare,
Sae He fashioned da Isles fae da ends of da aert,
And med aa-body fin at hame dere.

First morning

First morning, originally uploaded by British Traveller.

Pulling into lovely Lerwick. Everyone is up on the outer decks, gazing at the landscape. And a sleepless night is rewarded with cliffs, seabirds and a full English breakfast.