22 June – Longest Day in Shetland

Yesterday may have been the longest day in Shetland (18:55:28)

Left:  taken at 11:30 pm

Right:  taken at 3:30 a.m.


 but even though today was 9 seconds shorter, for us warrior tourists it was the longest day yet (9:45:30), and what a day it was!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous, with the temperature in the warm upper 50’s.  The sun was downright hot, tempered by a cooler breeze.  We loved every minute of it.  A brief record of our activities:

We started out at 9:00, loaded up with gas, and headed north.  About 90 minutes later we were at the Eshaness Lighthouse in the northern portion of Shetland.  It is situated on the Northwest coast of Shetland, and the area is noted for the spectacular cliffs.  No kidding! 

Next stop was the Stennes Harbor, formerly one of the busiest fishing village in Shetland.  Not much there now except more spectacular cliffs and rock stacks.

Then we headed on to Tangwick Haa (old Norse for ‘house’) Museum.  We didn’t know what to expect and were very pleasantly surprised by a small museum with an incredible amount of historical info about the area, culture, history, and people.  We didn’t take lots of photos because they’d be so out of context, but believe us it was very, very well done.  Dan even bought a jar of rhubarb jam donated by volunteers for the good of the museum.

Hand-made wedding dress, 1840, pure silk.

Fair Isle sweaters on blocking forms.

Finally it was time for lunch.  Our hostess had listed the Braewick Caravan Park & Café in her tourist info as a good place to eat so we checked it out.  Not only was the food good but the café had a wall of windows looking out over the ocean area we’d visited.  While there another lady, Maxine asked to sit at our table as it was crowded.  She was very interesting and talked non-stop.  I must quote her however as one of the first things she said was “Your accent is lovely, I could listen to you for hours”.  Hee-haw!

After lunch we weren’t ready to come back, so I suggested we drive further north and check out North Roe and a couple small communities to see what it looked like.  It was a cool drive, mostly single track roads, but hardly any traffic (not counting the multitudinous sheep and lambs).  Beyond North Roe we went to the end of the road in both Isbister and Sandvoe… farthest north we could get in that area.

BLIND SUMMIT!  (What's on road signs.)

So many rocks of different colors and contents. Formed hundreds of millions of years ago.

                                                                Beach at North Roe

Don't ask!

After walking on beaches in both places, and finding sea glass, pretty stones, and shells, we headed back south.  One more beach we wanted to check out.  Along the way we stopped at Bonhoga Gallery, a very nice art gallery near where an artist we met at church had his home and studio.  He wasn’t there, so our stop was brief.

Then on to Spiggie Beach(near the Spiggie Hotel) , another place Kathy had read about in her quest for sea-glass.  It’s a beautiful beach in a very remote area but we found it!  We also found sea glass and more beautiful shells.  The sun was so warm and wonderful, we almost wished we’d sat there all day… almost.

After walking the beach for about an hour, the seals appeared and it was fun to see them stick their heads out of the water.

Then it was time to head home and collapse… What a great last full day in Shetland!  Tomorrow evening we board the ferry and ride to Orkney.  Arrival at 11:30 pm, so no posting unless we hit a good wifi in the afternoon.

About the only trees we saw if Shetland...  a few more homes had some, but very, very rare!