Saturday 21st June ABERDEEN -
SHETLAND FERRY!
Robyn writes: Well, this is something very new – we’ve been
on quite a few ferries before, but never a long enough journey to sleep on one.
And here we are, currently (as I type) off the coast of Peterhead, Scotland,
sailing north.
We woke up this morning in our hotel room at the Bridge of
Don in Aberdeen, after a good night’s sleep. We met Glen and Carol for
breakfast as pre-arranged in the restaurant at 8, and everyone had a good feed.
Our meal deal entitled us to the full breakfast, so we had lots of choices. I
must say that Premier Inns are a good place to stay, except for the very poor
Wi-Fi. I ended up sitting in the reception area after breakfast to finish and
publish the day before’s blog! After that we returned to our rooms to finish
packing and out to the car to sort what was going and what was staying, and
then we met up with Glen to swap things over.
What’s happening is this: our hire car is bigger than
Carol’s, so we are taking it on the ferry to the Shetlands. Hers was to go to
long term parking at the Aberdeen airport with all the luggage we didn’t need
for the four-day trip. Once we’d got all the Shetlands luggage loaded, we set
out to see what we could see of Aberdeen in the limited time we had.
We navigated through the very foggy morning to a paid
parking site I’d found right near the terminal. It turned out to be in a
shopping centre, which was fine. We parked, then went to check out the terminal
so we knew where to go this afternoon, then walked the few minutes to the
Aberdeen Maritime Museum. It was very interesting, and huge – many levels of
information about sailors, rescue ships, oil rigs, sea exploration past and
present. We were there until about one, when we decided we’d better move on if
we wanted to see much of the art gallery. This was about a ten-minute walk
away, so we navigated around a massive amount of redevelopment/ road works
going on in Union Street, where they’d pulled up the road for several blocks.
Aberdeen’s predominant colour is grey – lots of grey granite buildings line the
streets. It was still quite foggy, so very atmospheric!
We were starving by the time we got to the art gallery, so we willingly paid a pound to dump our backpacks in a locker there, and went into their café. Lex ordered the haggis and was disappointed when the girl came back to apologise that they were out of it! He settled for a cheese and chutney ciabatta instead, and I had the macaroni cheese. Both very tasty.
After lunch, we had about an hour to look around the art gallery. It was interesting, but there was nothing to tell you what displays were where, so it was a bit like a lucky dip going from gallery to gallery. I did really enjoy a collection of samplers sewn by young girls over the centuries – some of them gave so much information and they were very talented seamstresses. There were also some lovely French impressionists, and of course a lot of Scottish painters.
Finally, we figured we’d better head off to meet up with Glen and Carol. By this time, they’d dropped the car off at the airport, and taken a bus to Union Square, which was where the car was parked. The fog was finally lifting as we headed back, and met up with them about quarter to three. We got ourselves out of the car park and drove the block to the ferry terminal, where we’d been told to arrive about 3. There was already a line of cars there, so we pulled up too, and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, about 4, they started bringing cars into the dockyard. We got put into a line and told to wait. There were about ten lines. Occasionally, they would move the cars even closer in line. So we waited there. And waited. And kept on waiting. Finally, they started moving cars and motorbikes. We kept on waiting….five o’clock – sailing time - came. Still waiting. Finally, at about 6, we got the call, and drove onto the ferry, parked the car and made our way upstairs. We are in room 428, small but perfectly formed. It has 4 bunks in it, and no window, which I’m trying not to think about!
Our ferry, the Hjatland
We went straight to the dining area, as we were pretty hungry by this stage. Lex and I had the beef pie, and Glen and Carol the fish and chips. All very nice, then Glen and I just had to try the Orkney icecream. While we were eating, the ferry set sail – very smooth until we left the harbour and noticeably rougher since. Am crossing everything I’ve got to cross for a smooth sailing!
While we were out on the back deck admiring the view after
tea, Glen (who’d made our booking) got a call over the loudspeaker. He came back
to say that our car alarm was going off, so he and Lex went off to stop it.
They couldn’t figure out precisely why it had started, so the bloke down there
with the cars has our key in case it happens again!
Of course, today is the longest day, and we are far enough
north that it probably won’t get dark at all. (So it might be just as well that
there’s no window….) We will reach the Orkney Islands at about midnight, and
despite the late start, the captain is hopeful we’ll still be on time into
Shetland around 7.30 tomorrow morning. Then the Shetland adventures will really
begin!
Sunday 22nd June THE SHETLAND
ISLANDS - PUFFINS!
Robyn writes: Well, it was a long, long night! I fell asleep
fairly easily, but woke when the noised indicated we were coming into harbour
in the Orkneys. That seemed to take ages, with lots of different sounds and
shaking the boat. Finally we were underway again, and I dropped off, but woke
several times. Around 5.15am we were rolling quite a bit. I tried not to
think about movies like the Poseidon Adventure. Glen snored, and Lex says I
snored too (I am sure it was only in self-defence.) Carol had decided that the
room was just a bit too claustrophobic, and there were very comfy reclining
chairs upstairs. Anyway, I was sound asleep and not happy when the alarm went
off at 6.15. The three of us were soon up and dressed, and pretty much ready
for breakfast soon after it started at 6.30. The ferry was back on time, and we
were into Lerwick harbour at about 7.30.
Mercifully, it took a lot less time to get off the ferry than it had to get on. Before we knew it, we were driving out, and onto the road south. The weather was foggy but very little rain, and it has pretty much kept that up all day. Lerwick, the capital, is roughly in the middle of the main island, and our accommodation is at Brae, almost at the top of it. We’d googled a few places and found that they opened at 10, so decided to go south first.
However, we drove past a broch, and decided that we just had
to check it out before we went anywhere. For the uninitiated, a broch is a type
of Scottish tower / pre-castle. They are always round. We’ve never actually
visited one before, and this one was excellent. It had so much extra
development around it that it really reminded Lex and I of the homes at Skara
Brae, which we saw in Orkney in 2014. The Clickimin Broch was built around 2300
years ago for a local ruler on the side of a loch. Historians can’t seem to
agree on the uses of it, but it looked to have pretty strong defences to us. It
was great to be able to go around and into it.
From there, we continued southwards, over a lot of hilly country and some pretty heavy fog. Thankfully the roads were good, and two lanes, so it wasn’t too death-defying! Our aim was to head to the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse and Visitor Centre, which is right at the very bottom of the island. We reached the parking area there around 9.30ish – at the bottom of the hill we had to climb to get there. Lex decided he wanted to see first what was on the hill behind us, so he climbed it, and discovered a cairn of rocks. Meanwhile, after putting on every warm and windproof thing we owned, Glen, Carol and I made our way up the path. There’s a hut halfway with lots of good vantage points to see the hundreds of seabirds that were wheeling around and nesting there, and then we made our way up, arriving just as it opened at 10. Excellent timing!
We bought our tickets (6 pounds each) and the first order of
the day was morning tea. For a donation, they have lovely cakes and biscuits
and a hot drink, so we all had very tasty muffins while looking out at the view
from their lovely, warm room. Lex arrived to join us, then we went off to look
around the old lighthouse and rooms, and the birds on the rocks. Glen and Carol
had seen a couple of puffins on the way up, but from about 11 o’clock, they
were all coming out of their burrows and onto the ledges and rocks, and I was
in puffin heaven! It was the puffin motherlode. We all took a ridiculous amount of photos. Finally, we tore
ourselves away (photographing puffins on the way down) and were back to the car
a bit before 12.
Our next destination was the Shetland’s only surviving mill, at Quendale, which was less than a ten minute drive away. We had a good time exploring it, and saw a video about its history, and how a local group restored it.
By now it was after one, and the hunger pangs were real, so we drove back south to the Sumburgh Hotel, built in the 1800s and added to several times since. It has a distinctly gothic look, and the lunch was affordable and tasty. It came in at under ten pounds each, which you’re lucky to get here. Lex and Glen had huge baked potatoes with prawns / Coronation chicken. My quiche was nice, but I definitely had food envy!
By the time we’d finished, we realised that we could head north to the Brae Hotel and check in to our rooms there. It took just under an hour to drive pretty much the length of the main island, through some very thick fog at times, and the odd shower of rain. The hotel won’t ever win any style awards, but it is warm and the beds are sooo comfortable. The moment we got in, I pulled the curtains, collapsed on the bed and shut my eyes. I vaguely heard Lex moving around, then all was silence until we woke up around quarter past 5. I really needed that nap!
Since then, I’ve washed my hair (bliss – it’s been whipped
by salt gales all day), written the blog, and Lex went for a walk around Brae.
He only got rained on a bit. We met at the hotel restaurant for tea at 7.15,
and had a lovely meal. Glen and I both had the roast beef with Yorkshire
Pudding and heaps of vegetables, Lex had
cod and a bean casserole, and Carol the haggis bon bons! (Well, we are in
Scotland.)
Tomorrow, unfortunately, rain is forecast, so we will be looking for indoor activities. Fingers crossed it decides to be kinder to us!
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