In the morning we drove across East Burra and parked at Houss. We walked out on Houss Ness for a bit, hoping to spot for otters. We didn’t see any. We went to Scalloway and had Cullen Skink at Da Haaf, a nice canteen attached to the University of the Highlands and Islands marine centre …
We had an email notification that tonight’s 22:30 trip to Mousa to see the storm petrels was cancelled due to bad weather – i.e. high winds. We decided to go to Fetlar, to look for red-necked phalaropes. We set off at 7:30am. We drove up to the north of the mainland and took three ferries …
We went to Sumburgh Head in the morning. We parked at the hotel and went to look at Jarlshof. On the way, we stopped to look at some Shetland ponies in a field. A man came down with his young daughter to check on the ponies. He offered to sell us one for £1500. He …
In Lerwick R bought a replacement camera, from the choice of one available in the only camera shop in Shetland. Not as good as the broken one, but will have to do. We had a coffee in the Peerie Shop cafe and mooched around Lerwick for a bit. It’s the carnival tonight, and during the …
Decent breakfast – good kippers. R’s camera is playing up: it won’t power on. Google reveals a camera shop in Lerwick which we’ll visit in the morning. We went to Hillswick and parked opposite the St Magnus Bay hotel. We walked around the Ness of Hillswick. Five miles in total, spectacular scenery all round. The …
We checked out and drove a few minutes up the road to the Keen of Hamar, but it was cold, wet and windy so we didn’t bother to walk up the hill to look at the wild flowers. Instead, we drove down to Belmont and caught the ferry back to Yell. We drove north to …
After a greasy fry-up we drove south west and then west towards Westing. At Lund the road turned into a track, and then was blocked by a gate. An old morris minor approached from behind and a woman got out to open the gate ahead of us. We carried on and parked by the ruined …
After breakfast we picked up our packed lunch from the bar and drove to Hermaness. On the way we stopped to look at about 100 great skuas bathing at the end of the freshwater Loch of Cliff. We drove down a bumpy track to get a better view. At Hermaness we parked and followed the …
We disembarked when the ferry docked at 7:30, and had a good breakfast in the Peerie Shop Cafe in Lerwick. Before that, we stopped to look at a bearded seal that was lying on the jetty next to the town centre car park. After breakfast we stopped at the co-op to buy bread and cheese …
We set off at 8:30 and arrived at the Aberdeen ferry terminal at 15:30. The ferry left at 17:00. We saw bottlenose dolphins as we were leaving the harbour. We watched a fulmar follow the boat for a bit, skimming very low over the water. Also puffins, gannets and lots of guillemots. Nightcap, watching the …