Overnight on ferry and on Shetland Island by 7:30am. Met the car rental person at 7:50am and we were on our way in our tiny red Skoda.
We had a drive through the capital of Shetland, Lerwick, but didn’t find it particularly picturesque.
Then headed off to the south, Sumburgh Head. The very cool thing about driving all the way there is that the airport runway is part of the road. So it has these lights that if lit, you can’t drive or you might hit an aeroplane.
Naturally, I was distracted along the way.
And I saw Shetland Ponies. Very friendly. Unlike the sheep that are always running away from you, then turning around and staring at you.
As I heard, the Shetland Ponies are very noisy eaters.
Over at Quendale, where we were visiting an old water mill, I saw a peeing cow.
We found food at the Spiggie Hotel. It was pretty good. I had the lamb tagine, not bad but didn’t photograph well. The steak was quite good, if cooked closer to done than medium.
They claim the fries are triple fried. I assume because that makes it more crispy. But frankly, they didn’t beat the fries I had the day before at Mrs Bridges in Peterhead.
After lunch, we headed to St. Ninian’s Isle. It is connected to the mainland by a tombolo. The island is now uninhabited. It’s mainly used for pasture land and for tourists to roam around this island that has a rough route around the island of about 6km.
It’s really a nice island to walk on the nice soft grass full of rabbit holes, wandering sheep, and dung – watch your step here!
But who’s worrying about dung when you’re looking at these scenes.
The nesting birds on the cliffs were fun to spot. Over at Sumburgh head, they were there too. And in fact, at the right time, there are puffins. But the puffins have already left the island. Around 2 weeks ago. I was saddened when I was reading up on the island that by the time we arrived, they’d be gone. I’ve never seen a puffin in real life before.
It was finally time to head to get our keys for our self-catering apartment in Scalloway, the ancient capital of Shetland Islands.
I found Scalloway a little more picturesque than Lerwick.
The Easterhoull Chalets are an efficient setup with two rooms, a little kitchen and a living area. I quite like the place. And I prefer Scalloway to Lerwick. This will be our home for 2 nights.