Day 12: In which Laura completely takes over the blog for the day.

 Today I hand the blog over to Laura, as all I did was take a brief walk along The Esplanade and Denise bought some goodies for people at home.  Other than that, it was a day of rest considering our very busy day yesterday.  The Tall Ships and a cruise ship in harbour made for a busy walk, so we didn't stay out for long. 

And now it's my blog (Laura here)!  MWHAHAHAHAHA! Today I did many, many things and went many, many places and asked the question "Is that a road or not a road" many many times.

I came to Scotland 25 years ago next month to attend Strathclyde for teachers' college.  I will always argue I got better training there that I would have if I had stayed in Ontario.  While at Strathclyde, I met another Canadian, Dana, and we've been in contact on and off ever since.  So it was a surprise to find out that Dana would be in Shetland, after cruising the north and Norway, during the exact same time I was here.  Our paths would only cross for one day on Mainland Shetland, so we jumped at the opportunity to spend the day together.

This is Dana:

We met for breakfast at The Dowry, which was crazy busy.  There wasn't an empty table in the place!  We got briefly caught up, though there would be more throughout the day, and then went for a walk up and down Commercial Street.  Dana is staying in Brae so this was her first time in Lerwick.

We wandered up to where she was parked, which could be one of those stories about going uphill both ways in the snow.  That's how steep the hill was. It did provide a lovely view of the harbour.

We went off to the Shetland Museum.  It was interesting, but I found it just a longer, more involved version of history that I got at Jarlshof yesterday.  I did leave a donation, because everyone should support museums.  Our history, particularly an accurate reflection of our history, is very important.

Afterward, we decided to take a trip up to North Mainland, the part I did not drive through with the epic tour guide, Jolene.  We settled on heading out to the Braewick Cafe which I have heard a lot about from my parents and had yet to see.  We made a few stops as the landscape was stunning.

I have to say that Dana is an excellent driver.  She's been to the UK plenty of times, and has a lot of experience driving on the opposite side of the road.  I was so glad she was driving.

Once at the cafe, we did something very British:

I'm not usually one for taking pictures of my food, but when one has a scone with cream and jam in the UK, one takes a picture.  Despite this, I am not getting into the debate as to what goes first: the cream or the jam.  I'll let the British sort that out amongst themselves.

The outside of the cafe had some amazing views so we had to take advantage of them.

When our bellies were full (like the cafe, when we arrived we got the last table), off we went further north west, following the road as far as it could go.  First was the beach at Stenness but we didn't make it down to the actual beach.  Though there was a crossing point at the fence, there were too many sheep, and too much of what sheep leave behind, for us to risk it.  We used the excuse that neither of us were wearing serious walking shoes.

Here we are overlooking the beach at Stenness, braving the strong winds.

Braving the wind was easier than the little land mines the sheep leave behind.

Back on the road again, we went to the end of another road and found Eshaness Lighthouse.

We also tried to brave the wind to take more pictures of ourselves.

We had middling success as the wind was really out to get us.

Dana was the more prepared one and had a hair tie.  Either that or I've developed a Stockholm Syndrome like relationship with the wind here.

We wandered the cliffs a little, but because of the aforementioned lack of serious walking shoes, we didn't get that far.  I refuse to admit the wind and the chill had something to do with us scurrying back to the car.

 

 Continuing our very detailed plan of where-does-this-road-lead, we found ourselves inventing a new game: is this a road or not a road.  In the northwest sometimes it's hard to tell.  Twice we easily decided not a road.  Several were debatable.  We stuck to the ones where we answered yes.

Considering there wasn't much traffic on the road we did run into a traffic jam.  The others on the road just stared at us like we were the ones in the wrong place.

Sheep in the Yell are stupid.  Sheep in Walls are judgmental.  Southern sheep had some road sense.  Northern sheep tell you where to drive.

We made our way almost to North Roe, but the road lost the game, and so we turned around and headed back towards Lerwick, heading through Brae, and past the Brae hotel where Dana was staying.  There were a few more stops for good vistas.

Dana took me right to the door of 56 Commercial Street and she will likely be the last one to do so.  As of tomorrow, the roads close for the Tall Ships celebration.  

I may have been done for the day but Dana is an avid traveler and she headed off to Scalloway for their July fire festival.  She later told me it was "quite a sight to see."

For the record:
Shetland pony count: 23

I now pass the blog back over to Dad.

Day 11: In which both Laura and I cross stuff off our bucket list

The day started off very slowly.  We were to be ready for the ever organized, intrepid, fountain of information, Jolene the tour guide, at 9:30.  We didn't quite make it.  Fortunately, Jolene is also a fountain of patience.  If you ever come to Shetland, Jolene is worth her weight in gold and can be found through Island Vista Tours.

Once we made it downstairs and to the car, our day went like a whirlwind after that.

Today's destination was South Mainland, which is where Denise's family is from, specifically Dunrossness.  Jolene even prepared Bairnson-related content for our tour today, but more of that later on in the blog.

Our first major stop was St. Ninian's Isle, where there is a rather famous tombolo, a spit of sand that connects the mainland with St. Ninian's Isle (now uninhabited).  It's the largest tombolo in Europe. At high tide, the tombolo is underwater.  Apparently, a number of tourists get stuck on the wrong side of the tide.  That's all right, as the isle is famous for treasure.  Good luck everyone!

 

To get to the world famous beach, we had to drive through Bigton, which does not live up to its name, but is rather a cute little town with an even cuter little shop.

After St.Ninian's Isle, we continued on a number of one lane roads (with two-way traffic) where we faced off against George Russell-wannabes, which Jolene navigated with aplomb.  There were also sheep on the road.  Yell sheep may be stupid, and Walls judgmental, but South Mainland sheep understand they can't take on cars.

We stopped briefly as Jolene spotted a beach with a herd of seals.  We listened to them talk to each other for a few minutes and Jolene and Laura counted 15 of them.  Not all of them were kind enough to bunch together for a picture.  Here's some of them though.

Next, we went to the tiniest spot called Eastshore which is a part of South Voe, Dunrossness, past the Yacht Club. This was a special trip for Denise as Jolene had discovered a number of ruins near the water.  Since this is the only place in the area with the name Eastshore, it meant we were likely looking at the birthplace of Captain William Bairnson, Denise's Second Great Grandfather.  That Jolene was able to locate the place is proof Jolene is a very valuable contributor to our trip.  Denise will always remember seeing Eastshore.

Off to the Sumburgh Hotel, where I had an excellent cup of coffee and the ladies went to Jarlshof.  Jarlshof is a settlement that was discovered when a storm uncovered it.  This archeological site shows several different ages from the Bronze Age, through the Iron Age, to the vikings, to medieval times, and finally the 16th century onward.  Laura went in and out of the old ruins, while Jolene filled Laura and Denise in on the differing architecture of the ages.  

It should be mentioned, on the way between the Sumburgh Hotel, and Jarlshof is maybe a 50 metre walk.  Laura got very distracted during those 50 metres by some Shetland ponies.  

As for me, I sat in the restaurant at the Sumburgh Hotel periodically getting a glimpse of the ladies' coats while they were off on their tour.  When they returned, we all had a wonderful lunch and more excellent coffee.  It should be noted from the hotel we could see our next destination, the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse. 

Now I digress, nine years ago when I was last in Shetland, I did not make it to Sumburgh Head Lighthouse.  Therefore, I did not see puffins.  I have watched puffins on the webcam every summer since, and had to endure teasing about going all the way to Shetland and not seeing a single puffin.  

Well now, that is over!  We had the good fortune to see numerous puffins, and even two pufflings (really, that is what they call baby puffins).  The puffins were smaller than I expected and they reminded me of penguins, as if they were the transition between flightless and flying birds.  They were just as attractive as expected.  At their closest, the puffins were only 6 feet from me.

 

What was amazing, was that Jolene, a native Shetlander had never seen a puffling in person, and yet the day I finally make it to see the puffins, I get to see two!

Here are the three of us at the puffin-viewing point:

It was certainly a bucket list moment.

We ambled up to the lighthouse proper, and learned about its history, and heard the foghorn.  The museum room smells like the equipment is ready to use at a moment's notice!

Once we were done reading about the history, we went to the south-facing viewing point, where we enjoyed a view of a salmon boat, and a tall ship making its way to Lerwick for this week's festivities. The fresh air was brisk and refreshing for all of us.

Here's the three of us just taking a moment to "take the air."

Once we had our fill of fresh air, by that I mean chilly wind, we departed to head back north toward Lerwick, but not before our wonderful guide surprised us with a couple of detours.  The first was the Crofthouse Museum, which keeps an old croft house as it was when the residents lived there in the 1870's.  Last time I was in Shetland, I was told that the croft house was last inhabited in the 1960's.  Also, Denise's family once lived there.

A few things about the Crofthouse Museum: the first is duck.  Most of the doors are less than 5 feet tall.  Laura learned that the hard way while going through the barn to the but and ben.  The second is that the barn, stalls, but, and ben (the living room and bedroom) are all a part of one building.  Keeping the animals in a section of the croft house was crofter's way to help heat it.

The second detour crossed something off Laura's bucket list.  She petted not one, not two, but four Shetland ponies.  Jolene knows their owner so she said it would be all right.  Laura was thrilled she got to pet Shetland ponies whilst in Shetland! Finally, after 11 days here, she succeeded in one of her major goals.

Shetland ponies abounded today as on the way back to Lerwick, the total of ponies seen equaled 42: a significant number to those who have read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 

Once back in Lerwick, Laura and Denise (with the guidance of Jolene) returned the car to Bolt's Car Hire, as a lot of the streets in Lerwick will be shut down for the Tall Ships, negating the need for the car.  We will now be out and about in Lerwick and dependent on taxis, and, hopefully, Jolene again.

Totals for today:

Sheep: 4 million

Seals: 15

Shetland Ponies: 42

Shetland Ponies pet: 4

Puffins seen: more than 30

Pufflings seen: 2

In order to give credit where credit is due, Laura Carre with minimal help from me, has completed the last two days' posts.  Laura says the help was more than minimal and since she is typing this, I cannot disagree with her.

Day 10: In which you can read and be enlightened

 Today will not be nearly as dramatic as yesterday.  The day comprised of almost a complete collapse of all of the Carre clan.  Laundry and snoozing commenced.

Laura's one Herculean effort today was getting me on the computer to watch the Hungarian Grand Prix Formula One race.  The drivers drive like those in Shetland.  I could've just gone to watch the Esplanade one street over and witnessed similar driving.

One thing we have noticed over the past couple of days is that our view is rapidly disappearing.  With the Tall Ships arriving, tents have been going up all over the harbour parking area, which obstructs our view of Bressay from our present abode.

It's even difficult to see the ferry from Bressay unless, which is actually in the picture, unless you're watching from our room.

The ladies went out briefly to walk down the completely shut down Commercial Street (as almost everything, including the coffee shops, shut down on Sundays) to find food.  They went to the Fort Cafe again, and the fish and chips were just as good this time around but do they every give large portions!  I couldn't finish everything even though the chips were the best I've had in a long time.

One final note: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Day 9: In which we celebrated

 Today we were off to Walls (pronounced Waas)!  It was time for the event that inspired this trip in the first place, Betsy Leask's (Denise's 5th cousin) 80th birthday.  When one receives a handwritten letter inviting one to a birthday, one goes.  Thus, our long-discussed someday plans to return to Shetland became more firm.  A hand-written letter can definitely galvanize us.

In order to get to Walls, Laura had to do something she dreads: drive on the opposite side of the road while avoiding all the Lando Norris wannabes who seem to live in Shetland.  Our planned departure time was 1pm, but we didn't quite make it.  Nor was the estimate on the GPS accurate, because Laura does not want to drive 60 miles an hour down one lane roads.  Her favourite thing to see on road is when they write "slow."  She's happy to oblige.

After Laura mastered the concept of one lane road passing places, we arrived in Walls a couple of minutes after 2, but then spent 17 minutes driving around trying to find Helena's home.  Helena had given us detailed instructions, but we followed the GPS.  The lesson, listen to Helena.

Helena's home in Walls is called Rocklea, looks out on the water, and has a view of the Walls marina.  It's rather stunning.

Once greeted by Helena, Nigel, and her grandchildren, we met another of Denise's 5th cousins, Marina.  Denise thinks Marina is not only very friendly, but also has the most amazing tattoo.  Fortunately, Marina is also interested in genealogy, so Denise was in her glory.

 Laura and I found Marina very entertaining.  We were lucky to have met her.

Betsy was very excited to see Denise and me and promptly produced the calendars we sent her in the past: one of the Lora Bay area where we live featuring our dog and family, and one of just our dog.  It's our way of keeping her up to date with us.  

 

Thus onto the important part of the day, celebrating Betsy.  She had her daughter, Helena, granddaughter, great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephew, and grand-nephews.  She even had a long-standing dear friend there, so it was quite the gathering.   Also, there were three Canadians.

There was also one epic cake complete with sparklers.

Betsy was serenaded by The Overlys, and enjoyed the music.  I'm sure this was hard for her, not the music, but being the absolute centre of attention.  She's such a gentle, practical soul.  Denise and I absolutely adore her.

The weather was everything.  The only thing it didn't do was snow.  We had sun, cloud, rain, wind, rinse and repeat. Still, the Shetland people are hardy and we stayed outside in Helena's lovely garden for the whole afternoon.  Of course, the sun and heat only came out when Laura fetched our jackets from the car.

As the festivities wound down, there were a number of group photos taken, one shared earlier in this post but here's another one.  It's of Betsy, Helena, and Betsy's sister's Catherine's children.

 

Betsy had to be convinced to step into her rightful place in the centre of it all.  One of those in the photos, who shall remained unnamed, made a crack about the paparazzi, as it was four men taking pictures with the ladies' phones.

It was sad to have the gathering break up, but hopefully we'll see some family next week again as the Tall Ships are coming into Lerwick.  Although, Denise would not leave without first tracking down Betsy's husband, Arthur, who is not the party animal the rest of us are.

Driving away, I felt we celebrated a true lady's birthday.

On the drive out of Walls, we learned something: Yell sheep may be stupid, but Walls sheep are judgmental, given the number lined up against the fence and along the roads watching us drive out of town.

For today's record, as her eyes were on the road, Laura only saw one Shetland pony.  Denise claims she saw another one but Laura insists it only counts if she sees it too.  Thus the count stands at one.
 

Day 8: In which we go really far north and remove items from bucket list!

 Jolene, our intrepid tour guide (and distant cousin through marriage) has returned to take us on another adventure.  This time, we headed as far north as we could get in Scotland, to the islands of Yell and Unst.  Laura bought a convenient post card showing the islands.

We began our day at a ridiculous hour in the morning (for us) and I only had one cup of coffee.  We had to start early, as it's a long way north.  We took the north route out of Lerwick, heading up to the first of two ferry rides.  Jolene, being the organizational guru she is, had us booked on certain ferries so we couldn't be late!  

The ferry terminal is just a parking lot and a place for a comfort break, very rustic, but the actual ferries are run like well-oiled machines.  Fortunately for Denise, the water was very calm.  It took about 20 minutes to get from Mainland Shetland to Yell.  

We took the scenic route through Yell and learned something very important: Yell sheep are either stupid or suicidal.  They spend a lot of time on the road, not the side of the road, where it's safe, but the middle of the road.  Jolene warned us they were stupid, but we didn't believe it until we saw it with our own eyes.  How could anyone believe something living could be that stupid?   You know who was not in the middle of the road? Shetland ponies.  The two ponies Laura saw were smart enough to stay behind the fences and stone walls.

The drive was very scenic, past small hamlets all along the way.  The majority of Yell is one lane roadways, so there was a lot of asking ourselves who was closer to the nearest passing place: us, or Lewis Hamilton barrelling at us? 

After traveling all around Yell, we headed up to the Ferry Terminal, to catch a very small Ferry over to Unst.  As it was so scenic at the terminal, we had to take a few pictures.

Our trip over to Unst was equally as calm, which Denise was grateful for, and then we were off exploring the most northerly island in all of Scotland.

We did get to see Muckle Flugga (a lighthouse), which is the most northerly part of the UK, but at a distance.  It would have been impossible to get to without a really small boat, and scaling some cliffs. I had seen the lighthouse keeper's house on the webcams, but had no idea just how far from the lighthouse. It looked like it was miles away. It must've been very hazardous to man the lighthouse.  Did you know Robert Louis Stevenson's, the author of Treasure Island, father (and uncle) designed and built Muckle Flugga?  It's an incredible feat of ingenuity all on its own.  It's beyond my imagination as to how they did it, given the time period, which was 1854.

As you can tell by the pictures, it was raining. It rained on and off throughout our adventure.

Jolene had a reservation for us at the UK's most northerly tea house, Victoria's Vintage Tea Rooms.  

 

It's a good thing she did as it was insanely busy.  There wasn't a seat in the house about 20 minutes after we arrived.  It was every bit as good as advertised by our guide.  I had homemade soup and bread from a local bakery while the ladies had scones.  When in a tea house, of course.

Laura picked up a couple of postcards, which some of you will receive, including the one of the map of Yell, Unst, and Fetlar, which started this post.

Before we started our journey back from Haroldswick, which is where Victoria's was, we posed for a family photo overlooking the water.  

 

A fun fact about Haroldswick is the place where historians believe viking first landed in the Shetland Islands. 

From this point, we started our return to Lerwick, but we still had a few side trips.  The first was Bobby's Bus Shelter.  As the story goes, a little boy didn't like waiting out in the rain for his school bus and petitioned the council, through many letters, for a shelter.  When it was built, it became a tradition to decorate it.  First with a comfy chair, then yearly themes, and finally a visitors' books, which I signed on behalf of everyone.  Bobby's mother, to this day, still decorates it.

I was impressed with the efforts of one small boy, making what is a very reasonable request, in this barren landscape.

Next was a detour through Baltasound, which is the largest settlement on Unst.  For the supposed largest settlement, it was really tiny, but their school was huge, and very modern.  One thing I did notice driving through Unst is that the evidence of peat farming is everywhere.  It was more there than anywhere else I've been on Shetland.

On Unst, Laura spotted four Shetland ponies, two before lunch, and two after.

The drive back to the ferry went rather quickly, and we made an earlier boat than the one we were originally booked on.  Again, a smooth crossing, and Denise was happy.

Back on Yell, we cut through the middle of the island, which is their one two lane road.  Despite this, there were still potential sheep speed bumps.  The stupidity of Yell sheep cannot be overstated.  On Unst, there wasn't one on the road.  On Yell, there were many looking to take on vehicles. 

Speeding back to the ferry, avoiding sheep, again we made the earlier one.  The waters were with us, and we barely noticed any movement the entire trip back.  Denise was still grateful.

The drive back to Lerwick was scenic as always, with Jolene pointing out the turn to head to Walls, which is where we're headed tomorrow.  In a testament to Jolene's ability to organize and shepherd us about, she got us back to our flat in time to get a coffee from the shop below us, just before it closed.  

Exhaustion was the state of being for us for the rest of the evening.

Just for the record, Laura saw a total of 10 Shetland ponies.

Day 7: In which we sample the food of Lerwick

 Today was far more active than yesterday, having made it up and down "Da Street" (Commercial Street) twice.

Our first outing was to The Dowry for coffee with Denise's fifth cousin, once removed, Helena Mackay.  The Dowry is so busy that she had to reserve a table just to have coffee!  I have to say, it was a great table as it looked out over the harbour.  Denise and Helena did most of the talking, but Eric, Nigel, and Laura, got a few words in edgewise.  We were lucky to meet Nigel, who is Helena's partner.  After an hour they had to leave as they had some shopping to do for this weekend's family reunion / birthday party.  We're excited to see them, and the rest of the family, on Saturday.

We had to walk back along the Esplanade as they're tearing up parts of Commercial Street for repairs prior to the Tall Ships arriving next week.  We enjoyed the view of the harbour.

We went to the Peerie Shop and picked up some souvenirs and even more postcards.  Some people reading this blog will receive them.  We talked a little to the employees in the store and while they're looking forward to the Tall Ships, there's also some anxiety as to how busy Lerwick will be.  This is one of the first major events (besides Wool Week and the yacht race) since Covid, and it's going to be the busiest thus far.

We have talked a lot about the convenience of where we are, in particular the closeness of the coffee.  To demonstrate, Laura took a picture of where we are versus where the coffee is, and then made some important edits to the photo as you can see below.

After our long and arduous walk in downtown Lerwick, complete with detour, we rested (with coffee from the Blyde Welcome) for the afternoon.  We had dinner reservations at 6.

Laura made arrangements with the restaurant No. 88 so that I could enjoy a nice meal out.  Not only did they rearrange the menu for me, but also extended our reservation time so that I would be able to eat it all!  The walk down was faster than we expected, and we were there 20 minutes early.  It drizzled the whole way down.  We have learned that when the weather report here says a 10% chance of rain, what they really mean is that it will rain 10% of the time.  We have yet to have a day without rain.

 The service at No. 88 was wonderful.  Karen is the manager and took care of all the special arrangements.  The was also a young lad who was very attentive, and he was so busy.  When I complimented him on the service, I got the requisite tin grin from the teenager.  

 

For dinner, I had lamb belly and lamb tortellini with mashed potato, and carrots.  I ate everything.  For those who know me, they know this is a compliment to the food.  Denise had braised beef, and Laura had also had a lamb dish.  For dessert, the ladies had a poached pear with pomegranate sorbet, and I had vanilla ice cream.  Denise would like it mentioned that she had a rhubarb drink!  She loves rhubarb.

On the walk back, it was still drizzling, but Denise held us up, as, surprise, surprise, she found someone to talk to.  I'm sure those of you who know Denise will be shocked.  

On the way home from the restaurant, I stopped in Market Cross and had a picture taken of myself in front of the Tourist Centre.  This is important not because of the Tourist Centre, but because I could wave at the webcam.  For those of you who do not know, Shetland has many webcams and I am a regular follower of them, and the forum attached to the webcams.  Hello everyone!

 Off to bed early as we're off to the islands of Yell and Unst (the two northern most islands of Shetland).