Mainland South

Tombolo at St Ninian's Isle from Ward of Scousburgh

Pot of Gold at Hoswick

Shag at Hamnavoe

Shetland Ponies on West Burra

West Burra

Shetland Museum

Bressay at Dawn

Cliffs at Noss - nesting for Gannets, Fulmars, Guillemots and Puffins

Jarlshof at Sumburgh

The last week of January in Shetland was dry with unseasonal light winds and some sunshine.  I was working for 13 days but managed to get out late Friday afternoon to collect Aileen from Sumburgh.  Her first impression of Shetland was sheer amazement as we watched the sunset over St Ninian's Isle.  The fresh fish served in the Scalloway Hotel confirmed that this is a very special place. Saturday dawned bright and after leaving our normal abode in Gulberwick that had been rented out for Up Helly Aa and transferring to a B&B, we explored Lerwick before heading north for Eshaness and a long walk along the cliff tops.

On Sunday we had a morning walk around Lerwick and in the afternoon visited West Burra, a long peninsula separated from the mainland by a voe and joined by a couple of bridges. It is a delight with beaches, cliffs, old crofts, seals basking along the shore, dozens of Shetland Ponies and a community-run museum that we were invited to view by some of the local residents.

On Monday, I worked and Aileen visited the wonderful museum in Lerwick before we had a farewell lunch for Kay at Monty's before she disappeared on maternity leave. Aileen was given a cookery lesson by Christine, our friendly landlady and bannocks were served for the evening meal. We were given a history of the Out Skerries by her husband, Peter, who had been brought up on the remote isles and spent his life at sea fishing before he retired and built himself a boat.

On Tuesday morning at first light, we enjoyed the first early morning boat excursion of the year around Bressay and Noss with Jonathan Wills, a gregarious and controversial councillor and environmentalist, along with a group of officials from visit scotland. The cliffs at Noss are home to 100,000 seabirds in spring - gannets were constructing nests already. We then managed to take part in all the Up Helly Aa activities that merit a separate posting.

Shetland was devoid of life on Wednesday morning after Up Helly Aa as I drove Aileen to Sumburgh airport to catch the morning flight. There was time for us to visit the Jarlshof settlement at Sumburgh, a neolithic site subsequently occupied by Norse invaders. After Aileen's flight left, I had a quick run up Scousburgh Hill which is another Marilyn and the site of the former Early Warning System but is a spectacular viewpoint to see the southern mainland. 

I was the only one working on Wednesday afternoon and as I returned home at 6pm there were still revellers staggering home in their squad costumes, a group of half a dozen men with beards and hangovers, still wearing dresses and high heels summed up the bizarre spectacle of Up Helly Aa. Lerwick was a ghost town with everything closed, even Tesco, as people recovered from the traumas of Up Helly Aa.