Monday 23rd
June BRAE -
LERWICK - SCALLOWAY
We were
fairly lucky with the weather today – as I said yesterday, the forecast today
was for rain likely in the morning, and even more rain in the afternoon. With
this in mind, we thought we’d get ourselves down to Lerwick as early as we
could and hope that the weather gods would smile on us for a while, at least.
We met for
breakfast (included in our hotel room cost) at 7.30, to find a large array of
continental breakfast options, plus also our choice from the cooked menu. No
one was quite brave enough to have haggis for breakfast though! However, I can confirm
that the scrambled eggs and sausages were very nice. We left about quarter to
nine, and headed south for the half hour drive to Lerwick. Of course, it was
raining by this time.
There's a lot of fairly bleak moorland between Brae and Lerwick
However, when we got into the town and found the parking area (free, yay), it was fine but cloudy. We were parked right next to a large fort, dating back to the time when it was a major defensive post in the 1660s when the Dutch were the bad guys. The Dutch successfully burnt it in 1673, but it was rebuilt and named Fort Charlotte after the queen in 1781. Glen and Carol went off to explore it, but Lex and I decided to head down to the Esplanade and walk along there. Being a fan of Ann Cleeves’ Shetland novels and the TV series they inspired, I wanted to find Inspector Jimmy Perez’s house. It’s Lerwick’s most photographed building, unsurprisingly, and is right on the waterline. It’s called The Lodberrie, but in fact we saw several of them. A lodberrie, Google informed me, is a Lerwick house/store built into the sea, with a door to the sea wall into which goods could be delivered. At one time, there were over 20 along the seafront, many of them associated with smugglers! Fort Charlotte at Lerwick. Note the cannons!
Keen 'Shetland' fan outside Jimmy Perez's house.
We had a most enjoyable walk along the Esplanade and through the winding, very old streets of the shops in Commercial Road. Lots of little, sometimes tiny passageways through to the sea or up the hill. What we’d call a ‘close’ is a ‘closs’! It was high tide, and it did make you wonder how on earth they built all those walls and houses INTO the sea. A huge ocean liner was in the harbour, and hundreds of passengers were being ferried across and pouring into the town. We decided we’d seen enough of the town area, and should head around to the museum, but we’d have morning tea first. By now, it had started to rain, as threatened. We tried several places, but found them shut up. Apparently, Monday is a favourite day to close, even if there’s a cruise ship in town. Anyway, we finally found a nice little shop in Commercial Road, the Island Larder, which had hot drinks, fudge, biscuits and croissants, so we happily munched our morning tea while watching the world go damply by. The street is twisty and narrow, with buildings jutting out, and it was interesting to watch cars and delivery vans making their way through the crowds. Amazingly, we didn’t see anyone knocked down.
Lots of narrow lanes and passageways and clossesHuge liner contrasting with the Viking ship in the harbour!
Crooked, winding streets.
After this, we headed up the hill towards the town hall. I was very grateful that I’d remembered my umbrella, as it certainly was well used today. The town hall was built by the Victorian great and good local landowners in 1883 and it’s now a Grade A listed building. It’s very gothic in appearance. We went into the meeting room and the main hall upstairs, both of which feature beautiful stained glass windows about the Shetlands’ history. I’d forgotten that the Shetlands used to actually belong to Denmark, but were included in a marriage dowry in the 1400s when a Danish princess married a Scottish prince. Unfortunately, the marriage wasn’t happy or long, as they both died young. The Danes spent decades trying to get the islands back, but unsurprisingly the Scots weren’t enthusiastic, so here we are! You can certainly see the Danish/ Viking heritage in a lot of the local customs and place names.
Lerwick Town Hall, 1883Lex with one of the very Baroque dolphins
Danish princess marries Scottish prince, 1468
Lerwick Police Station
When we’d finished admiring the town hall, we headed for the museum, past the Lerwick Police Station, another frequent appearance in ‘Shetland’. The museum was closed when we got there. We thought about having lunch first in the café we could see in the archives, then discovered….of course, closed on Mondays! Anyway, the museum opened at midday, so in we went. It is very good, with displays starting with Shetlands pre-history then working up to the present day. We spent a very enjoyable hour or so wandering around the exhibits. There was also an art gallery with a display by local artist Ron Sandford, all pen and ink with watercolour. I loved his big picture of Sumburgh Head, where we went to the lighthouse yesterday, but alas, someone else had already bought it for 2000 pounds. (Don’t think I’d have got it home safely, anyway.)
Lerwick MuseumBack of Sumburgh Head, Shetland by Ron Sandford
A 'sixareen', the traditional Shetland fishing boats with 6 oars
Beautiful Fair isle knits from the 1800s and early 1900s
Around one, Lex and I met up and thought we’d have lunch in the museum’s café. Except it’s closed, in-between owners. Glen had also just discovered the same thing, so we headed off into the rain again to meet up with Carol and look for somewhere actually open to eat lunch. We passed a lot of closed cafes and restaurants before stumbling upon the Golden Coach, an Asian restaurant. We had a nice, warming Chinese meal there.
After this,
we decided that the rain was here to stay, so we came home via Scalloway, to
see the Scalloway memorial to the ‘Shetlands Bus’. This was the help that the
Shetlanders gave to the people of Norway particularly during WWII, when they
were occupied by Germany. Thousands escaped by sea, and most of them came to
the Shetlands. Once we got to Scalloway, it was pouring, so we volunteered Glen
to go and take photos, which he bravely did!
The 'Shetland Bus' memorial in Scalloway
After this we came home to the hotel for a good lie down and read. I finished off the novel I’ve been reading, The Winder, which Carol had loaned me. It was written by John Hunter, who is a forensic archaeologist and heads the local history society in Tysoe. I really enjoyed it. Have also been sorting photos and blog writing; all enjoyable, warm and dry activities on a cold rainy day. Hopefully tomorrow may be better, according to the Met….