Northward bound on Shetland: Ewe would love it here!

The Shetland Islands are comprised of 100 islands (Scotland in total has about 900), but only 16 are inhabited. Few can be reached by plane and most can’t be approached by boat much of the year. After watching the surf on a windy day we could understand why.

We arrived in the large town of Lerwick enroute to our next stop. Brant handled the roundabout expertly and without foul language. We quickly realized that everything was closed in Lerwick on Sunday…except for grocery stores, a food truck, a a museum and a bar. That’s pretty much all we needed so it worked out fine.

This might look familiar to those who have watched “Shetland”. The first photo I believe is the home of Jimmy Pérez in the show. Our take away from the series is that it is always raining or gray in Shetland and they have lots and lots of murders. We found neither to be true.

This is the view from the excellent and free museum in downtown Lerwick.

I would like to find out if anyone has found these tinned treasures. I am sure I am misunderstanding something here but seems like you are sending more plastic into the ocean. On the other hand,glass bottles never seemed too kind for beachgoers feet. The museum did a nice job with the history of Scotland. It was more culture based rather than simply religion based.

After Lerwick we were on our way to our next stop. We had lots of difficulty choosing just how far north we wanted to go but we knew it would require ferries to a great deal further north. It did not seem wise to put ferries between you and the airport when catching an early morning flight so we chose Reawik, a small community. No restaurants or stores but there was a marina and a little campground.

There was this at the marina

It had books, jigsaw puzzles, games, movies and music …and a tote box filled with fresh eggs to the far left.

This is the driveway to the home built in 1854 that we stayed for 3 nights. They never locked any of their doors nor were there any locks to be locked. After watching Shetland that was a little worrisome. Brant got a good test of his single track driving skills as we arrived just as everyone was leaving the annual flower show that apparently all of Shetland attends. We wondered where everyone was in Lerwick.

The hosts made terrific breakfasts every morning. Though Brant questioned the wisdom of smoked mackerel …in a beautiful salad that included an avocado for the Mexicans, it really was delicious. Deb, the owner and chef baked us daily treats as well and sent us to the airport with egg salad sandwiches. Before there bnb, they owned a fish smoking business. They shipped fish all over the world…to Santa Monica and Singapore…from their pretty small shop in super tiny Reawik. (at Christmas they had a max of 38 employees, the rest of the year it was 4 or 5).

They also helped provide us with daily travel advice. While Shetland is a beautiful place, there are few signs for trailheads or pretty much anything but “passing places” signs, only a few restaurants with unique hours and shops that only open if you are in the mood to shop and reach out to them on WhatsApp.

The weather app predicted wind. It seemed windy to me with 40 mph gusts but we were advised this was just a ‘gentle breeze’ compared to their truly windy days. In fact, the rental car sticker on the window warned us to open car doors carefully so as to avoid losing your door.

They had names for the rock formations , not sure what the name of this one was.

All the hiking makes for big appetites so when you did luck into finding a restaurant we found great food. Cullen Skink was everywhere….a creamy smoked fish potato soup. The mussels came straight from the ocean there. Excellent breads and surprisingly many vegan options on every menu. And of course, melt in your mouth salmon.

We were there in Shetland about 3 weeks before wool week. They were frenetic with preparations but happy to stop and tell funny wool week stories. They said it was ABSOLUTELY MAD during wool week. In case you haven’t heard of it, this is the week knitters/weavers come from all over the world (one thousand of them) to take classes, visit farms to watch and learn dying and spinning. They say it’s impossible to eat out without a reservation. Yes, with only a dozen restaurants on the island and nine of them in Lerwick I can see how this could be a problem. But we did not say that.

The woman above is making a handcranked sock. It’s a special type of loom that cost 3,000 pounds. I bought a pair and I’m sure she will pay it off in one wool week. Note Brant in background with the dog trying to convince him to play.

The dog, Sydney, won then relentlessly chased the toy (40x?). He is a breed called a working cocker spaniel and is known for his unstoppable energy. The sock lady (they actually call her that) was so thankful for Brant’s workout. I guess Sydney“works for the sock lady” keeping bored husbands busy while the wives shop…clever.

People always say that it is the people of a place that are the most important part of your trip. I don’t agree, I am happy to put up with some grouchy jerks in order to be in a beautiful place…especially if they have good food. That said, I really loved the people we met in Shetland (all over Scotland but especially Shetland). They were warm and friendly, but let you have your space. Clearly, they were very proud of the beautiful but somewhat quirky place they lived. They seemed to get a bit flustered if they felt they weren’t taking care of you fast enough….we kept finding ourselves telling them we were in no hurry. Best of all, they had a terrific sense of humor. And they knew it, once you started laughing they were unstoppable. I also loved that people were very open about US politics. . Dave said it best when he said “you’ve had such an amazing country….why would you screw it up like this now?” Most people just teased us about our current politics (lots of it when not among the well trained tourist spots)but I think Dave was truly frightened and completely puzzled (he watched the us news and commentators every night). Smart guy….especially if he didn’t really hide the McCallums. (see below re: Mcallums)

One morning, we hiked out to this broch and due to our weak pathfinding abilities we walked 7 instead of 5 miles. While some are true trails here many are just point yourself in the right direction trails. I think that actually you can always find some sort of trail but sometimes it’s just more fun to walk wherever. I loved that.

Yes, I really was that warm and did need a sun visor that day. The rocks were challenging but the steep hill in front of the room leading to the broch was even more challenging. On that beautiful day we saw only one other couple all day on the trail.

Every evening was different. The clouds made for some beautiful and prolonged sunset drama.

We were lucky to have plenty of these spots so I could get out and take pics:

Brant became expert at spotting them and gently gliding our Picanto brand car into them at a moments notice (as a giant hay truck zipped around the car or if i shouted, “jesus rays”)

Best of all was having a place where we could wander out into the fields of heather ….

Then return to our cozy parlor and bedroom for egg scramble dinner (goat cheese, pea shoots, kale, and prosciutto cooked on an induction single burner in the kitchen/bathroom combo) because the nearest restaurant was an hour away…. And because it was actually very nice!

Then VERY BEST OF ALL…Debbie (who by the way grew up a few miles from where I lived in Pompano Beach Florida) told us there was a chance for northern lights because it was so clear and she would definitely wake us if it happened. I’m not sure why she was awake herself but Debbie came through with a soft knock on our door and told us to get up and look out our bay window…..

It looked like very eerie mist swirling around. The color happens when you take the pics.

We headed back down the island to the airport early one morning with a big bag of sandwiches from Debbie. It was in all honesty far more beautiful than I expected. Debbie says that islanders downplay the beauty and complain about the weather so as to decrease the number of visitors. For the most part I think it’s working. I truly loved it here and was sad to leave for Inverness. I will attempt to add a couple more pics at the end…one with welcome advice…..

Don’t be sheepish, ewe need to go! (say the guys that make wool week possible)

Just a couple more pics. Hope you can see the face in rocks below….off to Inverness!