Today we have to catch the overnight ferry back to Aberdeen. This is our last day and our last post from Shetland! Hurrah, we hear you cry! However, we feel a bit sad and rather appropriately, it’s raining. Back in January we made friends with another couple when we were at Balbirnie House and, in conversation, discovered that they were going to be in Shetland at the same time as ourselves. They had Shetland connections. What are the chances of that? Needless to say, we promised to meet up. This afternoon we’ve arranged to meet them at Fjarå Café Bar in Lerwick so our day’s meandering would have to be kept in check.

Scalloway was our first stop. It used to be the capital of Shetland until Lerwick became more commercially successful around 1880s. It was an old Viking settlement and today the population of about 1200.  It looks a bit Tobermoryish with its brightly coloured houses. The famous Shetland Bus was based here. In 1940 Norway had been occupied by the Nazis. The Shetland Bus operated under cover of darkness transporting weapons and supplies across the North Sea and bringing back refugees. In small wooden fishing boats it was extremely dangerous, there were many tragic losses.

From Scalloway we headed south to the two long finger like islands of Trondra and Burra. Nowadays they’re not actually islands because  they’re joined to the Shetland mainland by single lane bridges. Rowing boats used to be the only means of reaching the mainland so by 1961 the population had dwindled to just 60. The building of the bridges, however, has meant that almost 1000 people live here now. There’s an annual rowing event, ‘Round Trondra Race‘ and recently they have introduced “Da Peerie Neep” (“The Wee Turnip“) which takes place in Trondra Hall.  One of the events is “Toss the Neep”. We’ll have to come back for that!

Another bridge took us to East Burra … famous for its bears. Not real bears but teddy bears knitted out of recycled Fair Isle jumpers at  the Burra Bear workshop.  When we got to the most southern part of Burra we came on the Red Houss . It had been signposted for miles so we thought it would be easily found. However it’s quite difficult, it’s tiny.

Inside we met Mike who was busy hammering out metal bunad buttons for a wedding in Norway. His workshop/showroom is bijoux but fantastic. Lots to see in this cosy well organised space. We particularly liked the beautiful silver necklaces he’d made from fragments of pottery picked up on the beach. Imagine what these fragments could have been. A teapot, a vase or maybe a plate that might have had a scone sitting on it in some far away place? Who did it belong to? How did it get broken? Anyway, he wouldn’t sell them … they were for an exhibition. Nevertheless my wallet took a fair bit of punishment hence Pat’s broad smile!

Now we had to head back to meet our friends at Fjarå. All readers who are fluent in Faroese will know that Fjarå (pronounced Feeara) means ‘beach’. Appropriate because it’s on the beach. As soon as we went in there were our friends. It was great to see them again. Much excited chatter as we swapped our Shetland experiences. Turned out we must have been standing right next to each other at the Delting Up Helly Aa in our Busta House post. Obviously, among all the celebrations and  noisy Vikings we had just missed each other.

Fjarå Café Bar is a great place. It sits on a small peninsula of land jutting out into Brewick bay and has fantastic views across the water to Lerwick and beyond. You can sit here and just watch the wildlife. You might see seals, otters, whales and all sorts of birdlife while just sitting having a coffee. A young lad was looking after us very well and he soon had us fixed up with coffees and a fruit scone. It came with loads of jam and cream. The scone itself wasn’t quite a topscone but nevertheless, very enjoyable. A great way to round off the last of our Shetland days.

Soon it was time to catch the ferry and travel back to reality. Shetland is a great place to get away from the problems of world and UK politics … nobody’s all that bothered up here! They just seem to quietly get on with things in their own way. We’ve seen lots, reconnected with old friends and made new friends … fabulous!

ZE1 0ZJ     tel: 01595 697388     Fjara

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