A thrilling challenge
Why had we never visited these northern islands before? This was turning out to be one of the best trips we had ever made! We were standing on the deck of the ferry from Orkney at 6am, watching the coast of Shetland reveal itself in bright sunshine. Scattered houses spilled down the slopes to tiny coves and sandy beaches, with dramatic high cliffs between.
And there was one obvious difference from Orkney – colour. On Orkney, all the houses had been grey.
Coming into Lerwick’s harbour, we could see reds and blues and houses with painted cladding, white-framed windows and steep gables, much like we had seen in Norway.
We didn’t think we’d be going far that first day after an uncomfortable night in the ferry’s ‘sleeping pods’, but it all looked so inviting. Shetland is long and thin and we’d decided to take our game seriously. We were on a mission to reach the northernmost point of Britain, so we would start in the south and make our way up.
The southern tip of Shetland is Sumburgh Head, a nature reserve crowned by a gleaming white lighthouse. Pink thrift spilled over high cliffs where thousands of fulmars were nesting. A
