In this latest blog, we share our Shetland Island campervan road trip part 1 as we explore the beautiful and sunny Shetland islands in Nelson. The main reason for setting off so soon after our European road trip was to catch the puffins before they set off for the winter and we were not disappointed.
A brief stop off in the Yorkshire Dales
It all seems to have been a bit of a whirlwind being home for only a week before we set off on our next trip. Our time was filled with LOTS of washing and cleaning of the van after 6 weeks on the road in Europe and visiting our families.
We had a super weekend back in Cheshire catching up with friends at a birthday party and staying with my mum.
In the Dales, the flowerpot trail has returned to Settle and the characters are even more impressive than last year. We spent a couple of fun afternoons just exploring the town - if you are at a loose end of what to do with kids this summer a day out in Settle is a great option.
Before we knew it we were packing the van again and heading north!
The Kelpies and Falkirk Wheel
We have visited the Kelpies a couple of times over the years and they never fail to disappoint. It is hard to capture the sheer size of them in a photo but we spent a couple of hours just exploring the area around them and taking dozens of photographs. The light conditions all evening were superb and we managed to capture them with blue skies, sunset and in the dark.
We parked right next to them overnight as they have moved the motorhome parking which was fantastic - £12.50 complete with toilets and a free cup of excellent coffee from the café in the morning!
We also managed to fit in a visit to the Falkirk wheel – which until I saw it up close – I could not envisage how it worked. Because we were there later in the evening we didn’t see it in action – but I have spied a stopover there for next time we are heading up to the Cairngorms.
The Shetland Islands Ferry
It was not until we booked the ferries that we realised just how far north the Shetland Islands are from the mainland. To put it into perspective they are closer to Bergen in Norway than they are to Aberdeen!! So the ferry trip was a little adventure in itself – we were followed by a small pod of dolphins out of the harbour in Aberdeen which was agreat start.
It’s a 12 hour journey and we had booked a twin cabin with a sea view which was fab. We were very fortunate that the crossing was calm and we settled down for the night with a tea of beef and ale pie and a pint of lager. There were a few musical travellers who gathered in the bar for the evening and entertained us all with a few hours of traditional Scottish tunes. We both slept really well and were raring to go at 7.30am when the ferry docked in Lerwick.
Sumburgh Head Lighthouse
Our first destination on the island was Sumburgh Head Lighthouse as it is one of the best places to watch the puffins and I wanted to make sure we definitely saw them before they migrated. The weather was not great all morning – wild, wet and windy but as it cleared in the afternoon we soon became attuned to spotting the little orange feet zooming past us on the cliffs.
They are really comical to watch – the Shetlanders call them tammie norries which translated means foolish looking man or little old man. They hop around on the cliff edges, frequently setting off out to sea. They are not always so graceful on their return landings and you can’t help but smile as you see them spread their webbed feet out and hope for the best.
They are also tiny, around the same size as a small pigeon and they chat away to each with a really quiet but deep groaning sound. They live in burrows in the cliffs tops and if you sit and watch carefully they are constantly popping in and out. They are not bothered by humans and at Sumburgh their burrows are literally on the other side of the dry stone walls and fences so you can get to within a couple of metres to watch them.
We spent a delightful 24 hours at Sumburgh as you can stay over in the carpark as long as you are inconspicuous and leave no trace when you leave in the morning.
Hiking around the Sumburgh peninsula
We made the most of the weather as you never now long it will last and got out hiking a couple of times whilst we were on the Sumburgh peninsula. There is an old WW2 radar station on the cliff tops above Compass Head and then we dropped down to have an incredible view over Sumburgh Airport.
We were very bemused on our drive to Sumburgh Head as you have to drive past the airport and OVER the run way. We got caught by a red traffic light where they close the road for 5 minutes whilst a great big aeroplane takes off!
Our second hike was to indulge Richards love of history as we hiked to the ruins of an iron age fort on the Ness of Burgi - I did have to concede it was pretty impressive but questioned why our ancestors felt the need to make settlements in such desolate places!
St Ninians and Scoursborough beaches
Our next stop was the magnificent St Ninians beach which is a natural tombolo beach – a causeway that connects the mainland to a small island. It has beautiful white sands and the causeway can be observed from above which shows it at its best against the deep blues of the sea and the vivid greens of the pastures surrounding it. We had hoped to stay there overnight as it is on P4N but it was really busy and there was no phone signal.
Instead we headed south to Scousburgh Sands - a small beach that has a tiny sheltered carpark. It was stunning. After a lovely evening on the beach watching the sunset with the firepit to keep us warm, we had a quiet night with just one other van for company.
The sun streaming into the van woke us at 6am, we had a coffee and a slow start to the morning before spending a couple of hours sunbathing on the beach and swimming. Not something we thought we would be doing so far north on the Shetland Islands!!
We spoke to a few different locals that had come to swim and walk their dogs who gave us some fab tips of places to visit during our stay on the island.
West Burra
Our third night was at a super little marina on the West Burra peninsula at Bridge End Outdoor Centre - they had set up a great resource with 4 motorhome spots with EHU and wifi, all for the small sum of £20. It was a fab park up with good showers (£1 a go) and a small kitchen area - just what we needed as rain was due over night and we just wanted to hunker down. We walked to Minn beach from the campsite which was a unique tombolo beach with one side calm and serene and on the other side waves crashing and bashing on a pebbled beach.
We also stopped off at Meal beach was just stunning - the sea was a deep saphire blue against the white sands of the beach. Although the cove was sheltered - the waves out at sea were quite wild that morning.
At this point we decided that we would head North and try and get across to Unst – a few of the locals that we spoke to had mentioned that the Unst and Yell ferries have been a little eratic over the past few weeks.
First we needed to stop and stock up on food from Tesco's that we had spotted in Lerwick. On the way in we drove past an interesting iron age fort which we obviously had to go back and have a wander around.
We have been using the ‘Scotland Wild Guide’ to find some of the more out of the way places and one suggestion we would go past was Frankie’s fish and chip shop so it would have been rude not to call in there! It boasts to be the most northerly fish and chip shop in Great Britain – we shared a portion and they were fantastic!
After rushing to the ferry port at Toft hoping that we would be able to get on the ferry without a booking – we found we were one of only 5 vehicles making the trip! The ticket to Unst is £19.30 for the van and 2 passengers – To get to Unst you first have to drive through the island of Yell and catch a second ferry. If you stay overnight on Yell then you have to pay the fee again – so we scuttled across the island and caught one of the last ferries of the day.
In our next blog, we find more puffins, explore lots of beautiful beaches and find lots of historical sites on Unst before island hopping our way back to the mainland. I had hoped to get the blogs out more frequently but the weather has been amazing and we have been full on exploring and having fun!
Hope your summer plans are all going well
Jackie and Richard
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