Shetland 2012

May’s usually good weather in Scotland, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to make another visit to Shetland. I was right, 10 days away and I didn’t get “proper wet” once!

Day 1, Friday 4th May, was the trip north from Derbyshire to an overnight stay north of Glasgow. The route, as always on this pretty regular journey, took me off eth M6 at the South Lakes turn, then through Kendal and over Shap on the A6. With very little traffic, that’s a superb road on a bike and makes a welcome break from the boredom of eth motorway. Passing through Penrith, the A6 towards Carlisle gave me my only sighting of a camera van in the entire trip, but since he was brightly painted and at the end of a very long straight stretch, it was easy to spot. Passing Carlisle on the M6 saw me cross the border and the M74 was left behind at junction 21near Gretna to pick up a combination of smaller roads which run parallel to eth motorway all the way to the Glasgow suburbs. Much nicer riding!

Day 2 dawned bright, sunny and cool – perfect conditions for a run across some fo my favourite Scottish roads: the A821 Aberfoyle, the Duke’s Pass A84 Glen Ogle (where it snowed!), right at Lix Toll and along the north side of Loch Tay to Aberfeldy and on to Pitlochry for fuel and coffee. Then the fun continues with a planned route via Glenshee, Braemar and into Aberdeen. Unfortunately, when I am having a day on the bike, I am usually enjoying the ride so much, I don’t bother to stop and take photos, so you’ll have to either know what great roads these are, or go and find out for yourself! However, I did take a photo during my lunch stop at Glenshee Ski Centre, where I met the Hebriders Motorcycle Club from the Isle of Lewis on a tour based in Perth and, for some, ending up in Norfolk.

Beyond Braemar, I chose the south side of the Dee, because the road is quieter and the ancient woodland gives some shade from the relentless sun beating down from a cloudless sky – yes, the weather really was that good!

2.55pm saw me arrive in Aberdeen and by 3.10 I was on Northlink’s MV Hjatland ready for the scheduled departure to Shetland at 5pm. A couple of beers and it was time to retire to my cabin where I slept pretty well until 7am on Sunday saw a prompt arrival in Lerwick. Not, perhaps, the best time to see the town…………

Heading north, I was aiming at the northernmost island, Unst, for the next 2 nights, requiring the use of 2 of Shetland council’s ferries until finally, I arrived at Saxa Vord and was able to unpack and chill. Saxa Vord was RAF Saxa Vord, teh cold war station which watched the Russian jets watching the British missile testing in the Atlantic. The base has long closed, but the buildings are in use as a base for tourism, with a bunkhouse, restaurant, bar and houses for rent. Although I had pre-booked the bunkhouse, the powers that be had decided that there wasn’t enough trade to bother opening up the bunkhouse or restaurant/bar and so I was given a house for 2 nights – not bad for £20 a night, even if I did have to bring my own food and beer!

Monday was a cold and sunny start, and time to rediscover Unst, an island I had visited several times before so it’s not unfamiliar territory. These pictures show the cliffs around Hermaness nature reserve, Muckle Flugga lighthouse, which isn’t quite the end of Britain, that hour goes to Out Stack just beyond it. There’s nothing but sea and sky up to the arctic from here. And, of course, the Puffins are just arriving back in Shetland at this time of year.

Saxa Vord, of course, had to have a radar installation and the dome is still there, at the top of the hill and with a light dusting of snow on Monday morning. I left it until later in the day to ride up there, visit some of the other military buildings and to go to Skaw beach, the end of the public road.

to be continued…..

Enjoying this thanks

Me to keep it up

Yes good report,great pictures

Must of took some training to get those puffins to line up like that for the pic

Tuesday was an interesting day. The weather forecast said there would be gale force easterly winds and that it’s due be heavy rain all day which wasn’t what I wanted to hear as it was the day I was moving from Unst to Walls in the west of the Mainland – only about 60 miles, but with 2 ferry journeys. I had planned to take all day for the trip and thoroughly explore Yell on the way – in the past, I always seem to have treated Yell as the island you pass through on the way to somewhere else, but with such a poor weather forecast, I was not looking forward to the trip.

However, when I woke, the sun was shining and there was hardly a cloud to be seen, and certainly no wind to speak of. It was well before 5am, though, so I went back to bed!

By the time a leisurely breakfast had been had, the wind was certainly up, but the rain hadn’t appeared so by 11 o’clock, I decided that I couldn’t procrastinate any longer and I set forth. Windy, it certainly was and at time crossing Unst, the wind was really causing some problems and I was down to 35mph at times. However, I was at Belmont in good time for a ferry at 1130ish and, with 2 cars, made a crossing which was actually smoother than the trip out on Sunday. Any plan to explore Yell blew away with the wind, I really wasn’t enjoying the ride on the exposed sections, so simply rode across Yell and caught the ferry back to the Mainland. From there, with the wind in the east, the obvious way south was to divert from the main road and go via Brae and back to Voe. This proved to be a great decision, going south in an easterly wind was horrible, but the dog leg south-west and then south-east made a really big difference.

Lunch was taken at the Pierhead in Voe, and within moment of walking in the door, the heavens opened and the rain came down. Apparently, it’d been doing likewise all morning, but I’d just ridden ~40 miles and was totally dry. Shetland weather.

Lunch was interesting, battered haddock which overhung the plate at both ends was sublime, the best fish and chips I’ve had in a very long while! Only one other person appeared in the pub whilst I was there, someone who turned out to be Guido the Belgian, mentioned earlier as someone I must meet! So, an interesting lunch stop.

From there, I again kept west and used the minor road round the coast via Aith to Bixter and then westwards to Walls, arriving windswept and happy at my hotel for the next 3 nights: Burrastow House. It’s a great spot, right on the sea, with just half a dozen rooms and fantastic food – thoroughly recommended if you like a comfortable, quiet hotel: www.burrastowhouse.co.uk

Pictures: The Unst ferry and Burrastow House.

Wednesday morning was still windy by English standards, but by now I was getting into Shetland thinking, so considered it no more than a light breeze! Further evidence that I was well into the Shetland way of thinking came later in the day as I came out of the wee shop in Walls and couldn’t find the bike keys. They were, of course, still in the ignition!

However, by lunchtime, the wind was getting up again, so I decided to go back to base, leave the bike and go for a walk round the cliffs. For those of us who live as far from the sea as you can get in England, a cliff top walk on a windy day is a real pleasure and in the end, I walked about 8 miles and came back with a sunburned face, having seen plenty of seals on the way.

Thursday – no wind!

I had a choice to make today, either south or north west and south won. It was a great day for a ride, again sunny and as I have said before Shetland’s major roads suffer from too much oil money and not enough traffic! It really is great riding.

So, today’s photos are St Ninian’s Isle, which is connected to the Mainland by a tombolo, a double beach, of golden white sand. As you can see, it was very crowded but a great place to kick off the bike boots and have a wander and a paddle.

Then it was on to Sumburgh Head, the lighthouse and more puffins, but these aren’t as well trained as their northern cousins on Unst and I simply couldn’t get them to line up for the camera!

Still Thursday “down south”, and this is Sumburgh airport where one of the runways has both ends in the sea and traffic lights stop motorists on the A970 from crossing the runway when planes are landing and taking off.

In one of the pictures, you can see a red helicopter on the left. It is a search and rescue aircraft. Shortly after this photo was taken, it took off and only later in the day did I learn that a Super Puma helicopter en route to an oil platform had ditched in the North Sea. All 14 passengers and crew were rescued and this Shetland coastguard helicopter had taken part in the rescue operation.

You really are doing a spot on report on Shetland with this report both with your words and pictures.

When the sun is on the beach at st Ninians isle it could be mistaken for a caribbean beach,but only for a brief moment

Great to read .... thanks

I love Shetland, have family up there

Fantastic pics and a great report.

Thanks for the kind comment, folks!

Friday was my the final day in Shetland. Once again, the wind is blowing a gale, literally. We’re back to Force 7/8 according to the met office but this time, the wind is in the north. Having never visited Bressay, I’d planned to go over there for the day before heading back into Lerwick for the evening boat to Aberdeen. However, the ride over from Walls to Lerwick was exciting enough for me with the bike being quite seriously affected by gusts of wind on a couple of occasions, so I am afraid I got to Lerwick and parked up for the day. That said, it was most pleasant spending some time in the Shetland Museum and spending an hour over lunch in Hays Dock watching the rain batter the windows! A wander round the town and a couple of coffees filled the day nicely and then it was time to go for the boat.

So far as Shetland was concerned, I’d not explored Yell, not been to Eshaness and not been to Bressay. Add in a visit to Foula and a few days on Fair Isle and there’s still a long list of things I’ve not done. I’ll be back!

The pictures are:

1. It’s pronounced Rossi, but doesn’t go quite so fast!
2. Lerwick, in the sunshine after a rain shower. “Britain’s Top Port” really is very busy.
3. The Bressay ferry approaches its destination.
4. Northlink’s freight boat, MV Helliar in Lerwick. Until a day or two previously, it had been on charter to the Isle of Man Steam Packet as cover whilst Ben My Chree was in dry dock.
5. Sheltering from the hailstones whilst waiting to board the sailing back to Aberdeen.

On board Hrossey, these words are prominent on the outside deck. I think the rough translations is:
"DO NOT LAND YOUR HELICOPTER HERE!"

Sailing south the boat passed Bressay, Sumburgh and Fair Isle (north & south) lighthouses before I got hungry and went to feed and then sleep!

Saturday’s 7am arrival at Aberdeen heralded a fine, dry day. 420 miles home is quite do-able in a day, but once I am on the last leg home, I tend to put my head down and just go. Consequently, I don’t really enjoy the ride and decided to break this trip and allow time for plenty of enjoyable riding away from motorways as much as possible. So I retraced my route back up Deeside to Braemar and Glenshee (breakfast this time!) and then via Perth, the Forth Road Bridge, the A7 to Hawick and then cross country via Kielder and Alston (for a quick visit to the South Tynedale Railway – no holiday is complete without a bit of narrow gauge steam!) and down Teesdale to my overnight stop at the Shoulder of Mutton, a great little pub near Richmond. A really enjoyable day’s riding, followed by good beer and great food. I do highly recommend this pub, and I know other Tossers have also stayed: www.shoulderofmutton.net

Two hours down the A1 and M1 on Sunday morning saw me home by lunchtime. A great trip!


Vital statistics:
• 1411 miles
• 48.7mpg
• Most expensive petrol: 152p per litre (The Final Checkout on Unst)
• Cheapest petrol: 136.9p per litre (Tesco in Banchory)
• Less than 1/3 of a window of oil used, so I’ve not bothered to top it up.

The end!

Thank you

What a fantastic report. I want to go now.

The 2 puffins in the last picture,

"He won't be bothering us after today he's booked on tonight's ferry"

great report mate

Thank you for that- glad you got the weather.