Serenity of... SHETLAND
“An idyllic spot where not a soul was to be seen along the entire arc of pristine sand”
Our touring does not always go as planned and sometimes even the planning itself takes a kicking. I suffer from a persistent foot complaint that still has the scanning and prodding medics scratching their experienced heads. So, a simple amendment has been made by limiting most walks to under four easy miles and using inter-island ferries for days out on foot.
The second setback really hurt, though. My lovely wife, Sheila, passed away quite suddenly, leaving me in a dilemma over whether to carry on alone or give up the ‘van thing altogether. There was only one way to find out, by honouring the ferry booking to Lerwick.
Early minor hurdles included all the packing, unwrapping the driver’s sweeties myself and having to stop to check irksome rattles from the rear.
Mind you, the sat-nav has risen to the rank of true hero, rather than the plaything I had previously sneered at!
Sailing from Aberdeen was always going to be a journey of discovery in many ways and it seemed entirely appropriate that the route out of port was obscured by typically Scottish coastal haar.
There appears to be no obvious logical order in which to tour these islands. To simplify a very complicated shape, think of Shetland as a spoked wheel where you must always return to the hub around Lerwick before exploring the next leg.
