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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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Stop Norway We are a military family. My husband was in the Air Force for twenty-three years, we have two children in the army and one in the Air Force, and both daughters in law have also been in the forces for a certain period of their lives. For anyone who has no association with forces personnel, I can tell you that they talk their own language, abbreviating EVERYTHING. It’s CO this and Cpl that NCO the other and… well you get the picture don’t you? Family gatherings can be a nightmare if you don’t understand the code. Not coming from a military background myself, I didn’t really understand all of this and there are only so many times one can say “Excuse me, what does BFT or ABC or XYZ mean”. But I took great interest in all things military and tried hard to keep up with the conversation. However, the names and places, abbreviations and adages frequently went over my head and I would smile or make the right noises in what I hoped were the right places, trying to look and sound intelligent on the subject of Army or Air Force whenever it (frequently) wormed itself into the conversation. Our RAF son and his family spent much of their early married life on whichever camp he had been posted to at that particular time. So when I received a phone call in 2002 to say that he had been posted to RAF Saxa Vord, I didn’t immediately see what all the fuss was about. A posting is a posting after all - Yes? Well, technically, but it just happens that RAF Saxa Vord is the Northernmost British posting it’s possible to have, being situated at the very top of the Shetland Islands, in the North Sea. The nearest train station is in Norway and the weather can be unforgiving to say the least. Amenities are scarce and it is generally one of the most unpopular postings to receive. Undeterred, they duly moved up to the Shetland Islands and we were frequently fascinated by their tales of local life, weather, scenery etc. Their fourteen-hour ferry journeys between Aberdeen and Lerwick were at best acceptable and at worst a nightmare. They were grounded in Aberdeen harbour on at least one occasion because it was too rough to sail and I worried as only a mother and grandmother can. So when it was suggested George and I go up to Unst for a holiday in 2003, it was with mixed feelings that we agreed. Never mind that I get anxious on the Channel Ferry Crossing (I feel much more at ease flying). Never mind that the North Sea can be so rough that the boat gets tossed around like driftwood. Never mind that the weather in the Shetland Islands can be so bad that it can keep you inside for days; we wanted to see the family, we were intrigued by the stories of the islands and it was different to any holiday we had taken before. No argument. As the travel date got closer, I got a little anxious, but I just kept telling myself que sera, sera. If I was going to die, it might as well be of sea-sickness on the dreaded ferry crossing as anywhere else. So the first Saturday in May saw us taking the six hour journey from Lancashire to Aberdeen and we duly boarded the ferry at 5.00 p.m. for the overnight crossing to Lerwick, mainland Shetland Islands. We had a very enjoyable meal in the restaurant, and strolled around the ship for a while, perusing the various amenities including a cinema, shop and bar. We had a glass of wine and took a nightcap back to our cabin. I read for a while, awaiting the bad weather to start, enjoyed my nightcap and did not expect to get a wink of sleep. Maybe it was the expectation, maybe it was the wine, maybe it was the nightcap, maybe it was the gentle swaying of the boat – we had some of the calmest weather, certainly to be experienced by our family. Maybe it was the soothing sound of the engines, maybe it was the book, but before I knew it, the intercom was announcing our approach to Lerwick Harbour and that breakfast was being served in the restaurant. By 8.00am, we were back in the car for our journey up to the top of the island to catch our second ferry of the journey over to Yell. We then faced another short car journey and a final ferry across Bluemull Sound on to Unst. Once out of Lerwick and on the road north, my initial observations of the island were of the open, rugged landscape. However, what is most noticeable on the islands is the absence of trees and I was constantly taken by surprise by the sight, even though I visited the islands on two separate occasions. Apart from a few cultivated copses in the shelter of an occasional house, the islands are completely devoid of any greenery that grows taller than knee high. One can only assume that this is due to the extremely high winds that the islands are subject to. The roads are wide and well maintained, but generally have no kerbsides or boundary fencing. Farmland, whilst usually marked by perimeter hedges, is unfettered by invasive walls and fences. There is no trespass law in the Shetland Islands and, providing one shows suitable respect for the owner’s property and asks permission, visitors may walk anywhere on the islands. The drive up to Toft and our second ferry crossing took around 45 minutes and we enjoyed the misty, early morning atmosphere of our Sunday morning outing. Approximately fifteen minutes into this part of the journey, we lost mobile phone signals. Once outside the capital, there are no phone masts and we (gladly?) put the phones to sleep for the rest of our holiday. Another feature of the islands, since there are no cumbersome fences to keep them in, is the presence of sheep in and around the roadways and, in view of the fact that the species were there many years previous to the invention of the motor car, they have no road sense and will run across from one side of the other without warning. It is quite endearing to see the animals enjoying their natural habitat, but it can be a major problem if one is driving at the national speed limit and encounters a nervous kamikaze sheep waiting to play chicken. 8.45am saw us sitting at the small terminal to board the ferry over to Yell. Getting out of the car to await this part of our journey, I was taken by the peace and tranquillity that surrounded us. The only noise was that of the water lapping around the terminal. I’ve been to many remote places in the past, but one doesn’t realise that the presence of manmade noise is ever present in our life. The hum of electrical generators, the distant sound of traffic, the omnipresent mobile telephone, farmyard machinery - all so familiar that we don’t realise they are there until they are removed. Standing by the car on the first day of our holiday, I experienced a promise of serenity that my busy working and social life does not afford. The islands are not for those who seek nightlife and excitement, unless of course, that excitement can be engendered from the wealth of treasure that nature offers. The ferry to Yell arrived with good grace, disturbing the peace as little as possible, and we enjoyed the short crossing, the water, to my pleasure and relief, once more being extremely calm. Although this crossing takes a short while, all local ferries can be affected by bad weather and there are times when passengers can wait for hours to make the crossing. At others, the boats are cancelled for days and, since local shops rely on fresh produce being delivered regularly by road, the winter especially can be a bleak time for the island dwellers. By the time we reached Yell, the mist had lifted and a watery morning sun had started to present itself. As we made our way up to the tiny ferry port for our last crossing, we wound our way through mountains and countryside with breathtaking scenery, made all the more dramatic by white horses dancing on the sea and the sun shining on distant cliffs and glinting off the mountains of the other islands. We passed a variety of modern looking houses, interspersed with the ancient ruins of crofts and huts long abandoned by the island dwellers. Local industry is still predominantly that of fishing and we were intrigued by the huge nets on the salmon farms as we drove northward. Passing the reputedly haunted Windhouse on Middle Yell, we could see some of the thirteen windows that can be viewed from the outside. Apparently only twelve can be located on the inside of the house (it might be the other way round!), but whichever way, the locals are convinced that supernatural happenings take place in the derelict building and since the site has been occupied since Neolithic times, who knows? The last crossing from Yell to Unst took just seven and a half minutes. The water was still calm with the island inviting us onto its undulating hillside. We no sooner seemed to board than we were back on the road and driving north towards the camp. On disembarking from the ferry, our first sight was of a group of the famous Shetland ponies. These tiny animals, which stand between just 28 and 42 inches tall, have roamed the islands for over twelve centuries. Many of the colts were exported to Britain in the 1850’s to be used in the coal industry, following legislation that banned children from working in the mines. However, the reduction in the number of stallions threatened future breeding patterns and the Shetland Pony Stud Book Society was established in 1890 to rectify this. On the islands, the ponies were used as workhorses cultivating the land and transporting peat from the hills. The first Stud Book asserts that the ponies are ‘Bred in the fields, live in the fields and die in the fields’, a description that stands today, as they graze on common grazing grounds. Unst is the most northerly of the islands and is approximately 12 miles (19km) x 5 miles (8km), with a population of about 1,000. Our journey up to the camp took just a few minutes - from the ferry to the top most point of the island only takes around a quarter of an hour - and we couldn’t wait to start exploring. Over the next few days we visited some of the local attractions, including Muness Castle which was built in 1598 by Laurence Bruce and fell into disuse within a century. It is kept locked, but visitors may still peruse the ruins by collecting the enormous key and a torch from the nearby cottage. Donations are respectfully requested, and small gift items and postcards may be bought from the owner. All the local residents are friendly and we spent some time discussing the history of the castle with the cottage owner. The island also boasts the local family run Valhalla brewery, which was opened in 1997 and must have prior notification to visit. The brewery, which is the only one of its kind in the Shetlands, is well established and exports its beer as far south as Aberdeen. One of its most famous ales, Simmer Dim, called after the longest day on the island, 21 June, when the sun sinks below the horizon and rises again within minutes. You can purchase a case of the delicious brew and get some local history at the same time - must be a bonus. There is a leisure centre on the island but, although it is well equipped with a variety of facilities, we chose to pursue other activities and never really got around to visiting it. Unst has only three grocery shops (not including the RAF NAAFI), but there are various outlets and self service cafés where you enter the kitchen and help yourself to refreshments. No-one bothers to check if you have paid or not, because everyone does pay and the owners rely on trust to run their business. There is a wonderful knitwear outlet at which you can purchase locally produced items and view the spinning and knitting process and a visitor centre at Hermaness which gives local history and information about the National Nature Reserve. We spent an enjoyable afternoon at the Unst Heritage Centre and were transported back through the ages to discover some of the hardships that the locals endured. Modern day life on the island is not without its difficulties, though residents are by no means antiquated or desolate, but as with many northern islands, in the winter, there will be little or no daylight all day long, but in summer has 24/7 daylight. It is hard to imagine what life must have been like without electricity, fresh supplies or the comforts that we take for granted in the twenty first century. Even now, there is only one policeman between the islands, medical emergencies must endure the ferry crossings over to the mainland and fresh supplies of meat and vegetables can be held up for days at a time. The island is blessed with some of the most magnificent views and, although many of the beaches are shingle or pebble, the coastline offers a varied shoreline with the chances of seeing otters and seals being more than remote and offers a treasury of semi-precious stones - a consequence of the unique geology of the islands. On more than one occasion, it gave us great delight to see seals basking in the late spring sunshine on the local jetty, eyeing us nonchalantly as if to ask why we were invading their space. Unst boasts many of Britain’s most Northerly attractions including the Post Office, where visitors can have their post specially franked with the title, and Muckle Flugga Lighthouse can be seen at the most northerly point of the islands. However, probably the quaintest of its ‘most northerly’ attractions must be the bus stop, which has been adopted by one of the local youths. He has put up curtains, has a TV, microwave, settee and many more homely comforts. Bobby, the young man in question, has been furnishing the attraction for some time and can be seen reading or relaxing and enjoying the surroundings on a regular basis. And for all the computer buffs out there, it even has a website devoted to it, which is at www.unstbusshelter.shetland.co.uk. There is
only one public house on Unst which contains the island’s only restaurant.
However, what the island lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for
in quality and the Baltasound Hotel is well worth a visit. We were fortunate to be on Unst at the time of the full lunar eclipse in 2003 and the island afforded one of the best views of the phenomenon. However, I volunteered to stay at home babysitting so that the other family members could go and watch it. Now I might enjoy nature, but this did occur at 3.30am on a cold, cloudy May morning and someone had to stay at home with the baby, didn’t they? My bed was just too inviting to get up around 2.00 in the morning to climb up to the cliffs overlooking the North Sea, no matter how historical the event. Shetland wildlife includes the great skua, or ‘bonxie’ (which is extremely predatory and will make vast swooping attacks on anyone who gets too close to its nesting grounds), the Arctic tern, six different species of gulls, eider duck, the merlin, seals including the common and larger grey or Atlantic seal. It is not unusual for locals to encounter otters on the roads of Yell. Flora and fauna include some rare species including the butterwort and sundew. Unst itself supports over 400 plant species, some of which are unique to the islands, but one of the highlights of the holiday for George and me was the visit to Sumburgh Head, which is the Southernmost point of the (Shetland) mainland. Sumburgh Lighthouse was built in 1821 by Thomas Stevenson, father of Robert Louis Stevenson, and the headland is home to a vast seabird colony. I have never been close to puffins before and imagined them to be the size of a small penguin. However, they are only about five or six inches tall and are intriguing, funny little creatures that swoop and fly gracelessly overhead. They fly feet down and land with their under carriage careering towards the ground. If I hadn’t been so delighted to get a sight of them, I would certainly have found them comical. Unfortunately on the day we went it was cold, extremely misty and blowing a gale, so we could not enjoy the breathtaking view that the cliffs afford. Apparently on a clear day, Fair Isle can be seen and I can only imagine the beauty of this sight. Perhaps someday I’ll go back for a second look, but I don’t suppose the ferry crossing would be as calm as it was on this and my subsequent visit in the following October. Our family have now moved back to England and so for next year at least, we’ve booked to go abroad, but I don’t suppose we will enjoy all that sunshine, nightlife, sea breezes, sandy beaches variety of pubs and restaurants…no, not one little bit. Mind you, our daughter in the Army has just been posted to Ireland for the foreseeable future. Now, we’ve never been to Ireland… First published in VISA issue 59 (February 2005) |