Up Helly Aa fae Brae

All torched out

Jarl and Children on da galley

Moon versus torches

Torch is upside down Peter

Torching the galley

Pyromaniacs all

Jarl Squad watch a year's work float off on fire

Bright side of the moon

Friday 18 March 2011

After a star-filled night, the cold bright air just lit up the town at dawn on Friday.  An early morning run around Lerwick was a compulsory start to the day. There are few better places to be at first light than on the Nab with views down the Sound and across to Bressay - light doesn't come any clearer than this. 

I bumped into an eminent recently retired Shetlander on her morning stroll and commented that it was sunny so it would probably be raining this evening for the Up HellyAa at Brae. Had it been raining it would have been dry in the evening. She replied that it depended on how fast was time but when it was windy it would usually get windier and when it snowed it would be all these things as well. All of which makes weather forecasting pointless in Shetland. So after this austerity government have abolished Coastguard Stations and the Emergency Tugs perhaps they should to take out the Met Office as well!

Unfortunately, when I grabbed my camera to capture the perfect morning the battery compartment was bare, I had left it on charge at home before returning to Shetland. It was the last of this year's Up Helly Aa's at Brae and a few folk had suggested that it was worth a visit and that required a camera. But a day's work first and I barely had time to nip down to town and buy a new battery for the camera. It cost £40 and this is symptomatic of a devious consumer goods pricing strategy that is becoming ever more prevalent. It is most wantonly exercised by manufacturers of printers who charge the same for a set of replacement inks as the purchase price of the printer. 

By 6:30pm the hail was ratatatting at the windows and I had abandoned any thoughts of heading north but slothness is an original sin so I persuaded myself to go out. It was not difficult when I realised that the alternative was red nose TV. I phoned a friend who had suggested it was worth going and she agreed to go along as well.  Arriving at Brae the rain had stopped and there was a ring of fire ahead.  We abandoned the car at the south end of the town and jogged past the queue of vehicles that were following the Up Helly Aa procession. The route curved around the voe from Frankie's fish and chip shop, the most northerly in Britain and one of the best, to the boating club.

About 500 souls had grown beards and/or wrapped themselves in a variety of uniforms from Vikings to Fairies to Roadworkers.  They all carried substantial torches made from hessian soaked in fuel and this was not easy in the gusty cold wind. The sparks were flying and burnt a number of small holes in my jacket as we overtook the squads and headed for the front of the procession. The galley was guarded by the Jarl Squad that included several colleagues who had been growing their beards since November. There were far more people in the procession than spectators but active participation is practised not preached in these parts.  There must have been a million candles of light emanating from the torches, even Rhod Gilbert would have been impressed.  The full moon was struggling to compete. 

The galley and the procession continued to the boat club where the galley was taken to the slipway.  It was launched on an unusually calm sea and floated out but held within throwing distance so all of the squads could throw their blazing torches onto the lovingly constructed galley.  With several hundred torches aboard and the galley a blazing inferno it was then pushed out into the voe. 

The Jarl thanked everyone for participating and the chilled participants and friends made for the Community halls for a day or so of partying at the hops. We had a 30-mile drive back to Lerwick but cold weather creates warm folk as I discovered when I was invited back for food and drinks with friends.