Lazy morning.
Packed lunch and drove to Loch Spiggie. On the single-track road around Bigton we had to pull in to let a large German tour bus pass in the other direction.
At Loch Spiggie we walked a short way along the loch to the beach in howling gales with few breaks in the rain. Saw some whooper swans, curlews, etc.
We decided to drive back to the Mousa Boat dock to have lunch, and see if we could see last night’s otter again.
On the road back up, we came across the German tour bus blocking the road, half in the ditch. We went to see what was going on. The passengers were all still on the bus with one of the tour leaders, who got off when he saw us. He had lots of enamel badges up his waistcoat. The other leader was outside. Neither tour leader could get a mobile phone signal. Apparently the bus driver had gone off up the hill to try to get a signal. It was very windy and raining. J remembered a garage at the bottom of the hill, and she had a good 4G signal. She googled the garage name (Hendersons of Scousburgh), and rang them. The man there was helpful, and said he’d get in touch with the council.
The tour leaders were worried the bus would tip over further, so started to get the passengers off. It was only about 10 minutes later that a 4WD vehicle turned up with a council man in – and we seemed to be a long way from any council amenities. He said he’d close the road.
We turned round, and took the scenic route to the Mousa harbour. After lunch we walked along the edge of the bay for a bit, but it was very cold, windy and wet.
Back at the cabin, we showered, packed and set off to board the ferry at 17:00.
Excitingly, on the ferry we discovered that the bus incident had made the Shetland Times website:
