When we arrived in Shetland almost a month ago a local told us it had been cloudy for three weeks solid. Well, that weather pattern continued for us, with just a couple days where the sun made an appearance for a few hours. But today we woke to our first morning of sunshine, what a…
Tag: nature
Spectacular cliffs and rock formations along the coast of Shetland
We began today’s hike with a stroll along a stony beach where we came across a dead seal. It had been preserved by the sun, it’s skin pulled tight and leathery, similar to the ancient Egyptians, with an awkward set of teeth protruded out like Austin Powers. Like almost every hike we’ve done in Shetland…
Rescued seals and coastal hikes | Shetland
Eshaness is considered to be a must visit area in Shetland. It sits on the north western tip of the mainland on an area of old volcanic activity. We arrived in the evening so we slept in the carpark with the lighthouse beam sweeping past our window every minute or so. The carpark was high…
Hiking and exploring Yell Island | Shetland
Our first stop on the island of Yell was a hike around Breckon Beach, a stunning stretch of white sand and turquoise water nestled in an inlet. We were enjoying watching the gentle waves lapping the shore when we were rudely interrupted by the screeching noise of artic terns. We were attacked by these birds…
Quirky sights on the island of Unst | Shetland
Unst is a quirky little island and one thing it’s famous for is Bobby’s bus shelter. It all started when a 6 year old boy was fed up with the poor state of his local bus shelter and wrote to the council. A new one was promptly erected and then some strange things started happening….
Attacking birds, coastal hikes and otters on Britain’s most northerly island
Shetland is an archipelago made up of 100 islands, 16 of which are inhabited. The biggest island is known as the mainland and further north there’s Yell and then Unst – the most northerly island in Britain which had donned the catchphrase ‘The island above all others’. Our plan was to island hop from Yell,…
Exploring St Ninian’s Tombolo | Shetland
St Ninian’s Tombolo is a sandbank that connects the mainland to St Ninian’s Isle. It’s accessible even at low tide unless there’s very high tides and rough sea. It was a cloudy day – in fact a local we spoke to said they’ve had nothing but cloud for three weeks, so the beach didn’t look…
A spontaneous decision to travel to the Shetland Islands
The possibility of seeing Orcas is all it took for us to book the 13 hour ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick on the Shetland Islands. It was a very expensive ferry so in an attempt to keep the costs down we opted for the free recliner seats instead of a bed. There were about 15…
Hidden waterfalls, jungle and beaches in Scotland’s East Coast
With our ferry booked for Shetland we had just a couple days to reach Aberdeen. On the route we stopped at a scenic spot by the sea. There was a tiny parking area atop a very high cliff with a view of the sea and a wide beach below us. A few wild campers had…
Helga goes in for her MOT and we cross the border into Scotland
We’ve been dreading Helga’s MOT coming up as I’m sure everyone does with their vehicles, but this was the first one since we’ve owned her. For anyone who’s not familiar with an MOT it’s basically a safety check on a vehicle in the UK and it’s a legal requirement. We always get nervous around mechanics,…
