Jarl and back to the Trees

Jarl Squad member

As  I left Shetland yesterday I bumped into a scary-looking man who was visiting the offices, he was a member of the Jarl squad preparing for Up Helly Aa in January. I managed to get a photo just before starting the long trek home. The journey was quite a trial with a snowstorm on the road to Sumburgh airport, and delays in the incoming planes, which had to circle whilst the runways were cleared. Then we were held for an hour on the plane whilst the wings were de-iced twice. Finally, there was the uncertainty of whether the plane could get sufficient traction on the runway for take-off.  It is not often I feel totally frazzled about travelling but this was one such occasion.

The snow followed me home and this morning a one-inch layer of snow had been welded onto the pavements, this was not windblown powder snow like Shetland but wind-blasted moist snow. There were blue skies although by noon the temperature was still below freezing. I decided to go for one of my favourite walks out of the back gate of the garden through the oak woods and into the Forestry Commission plantations leading to Lime Craig.

After the bleak winter landscapes of Shetland, it was good to be back amongst the trees which were plastered with snow and the dappled light of the early afternoon made it a glorious excursion. The views from the summit were as good as last winter and I lingered on the summit enjoying the splendid panorama. Much as I have grown to admire the bare slopes, big skies and ever-visible seas whilst in Shetland over the past few weeks, there is a joyous familiarity about being back in the land of trees.

Trees blasted by snow from the east

Birch and Oak below Craig Mhor

Spruce below Lime Craig

View from Lime Craig to the north-west. Stobbinnein and Ben More