The Rest of Shetland

Tuesday we headed to the northern islands of Yell and Unst. The goal was for me to do a walk that would enable me to see the island of Muckle Flugga, the northern most point in the UK. Unfortunately a sea mist made the walk pointless. But we still saw so much stunning scenery, probably the best we've seen so far. It doesn't photograph well, the three dimensionality and texture of it just doesn't show through.

Our first stop was at Victoria's Vintage Tea Room on Unst, where Dimity had had a marvellous Victoria Sponge Cake five years ago. It was still a great morning tea spot.

Bakewell cake and their deluxe hot chocolate. The shortbread was amazing.

The northern most house in the UK.

The sea mist.

We accidentally found the launching site for Europe' first vertical launch space shuttle.

The northern most church in the UK.

A reconstructed Viking ship and longhouse.

Bobby's bus shelter, this year's theme is a leap year. 

 A Viking standing stone.

Peat bagged and ready for sale, with some drying in front.

Wednesday we headed to the north west of the main island.

Mavis Grind, where you the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea are a 100 yards apart.

The concrete blocks on the shore are WW2 tank blockers, Shetland was more involved in WW2 than I expected. 

A man is very gradually restoring a plane that crashed on landing in Shetland.

The childhood home of the inventor of the smallpox vaccine, Johnie Notions.

View from the lighthouse.

Lots of interesting rock formations and sea stacks in the ocean.

The Tangwick Haa Museum was quite interesting. In the 1950's a 250 year old body was found by some local men when digging for peat. His garments were quite well presented, so local women knitted copies of them. One piece was even knitted before the police arrived to collect the body.

Thursday was about exploring Lerwick, including a long walk and some Shetland wool purchases. 

The Lodberries aka Jimmy Perez's house in the Shetland TV series.

Thursday night was traditional music night at The Douglas Arms. It started as three men playing and the group kept growing. It was wonderful to see teenagers joining in and lots of tourists and locals gradually filling up the lounge. I also got to try the local gin, which was very good.

Friday was a very wet day, with a quick trip to Scalloway to see the castle of the original castle and then like many others a visit to the Shetland Textiles Museum. 

A knitting week project from a Wool Week a few years ago, the bunting is now 67 metres long. I added four rows. 

This woman was incredibly knowledgeable about the history of knitting in Shetland, I learnt so much from her. It was also interesting to see her demonstrate and explain about knitting with a belt. She was a quick knitter but said her mother was much faster, as she knitted at a time when knitting was a part of a family's income. 

Knitted tea bags!