25 October: Going North to Esha Ness, Yell and Unst

Today we wanted to go as far north in Shetland as possible, so we had an early start and then headed North. This is actually what the signs say: North or South.  Charming!

The weather was a bit more grey than the day before, but it was not raining so we were happy.

Spectacular Esha Ness

Our first destination of the day was Esha Ness, with its magnificent and wild nature. Along the way we passed many beautiful places and, of course, lots of ruins, sheep and Shetland ponies.

Esha Ness is home to Shetland's volcano, but for us the main reason to go there was to admire the spectacular nature. It was well worth the drive.

Cuddling Shetland ponies at Yell

From Esha Ness we continued to the island of Yell. After a short ferry journey we were once more in the great outdoors. With a small population (nearly 1000) and few cars on the roads, it was almost as if we had the island to ourselves.  Add some more sheep and ponies and you've got yourself a mind-soothing experience.

The boys wanted to stop every time we saw ponies and I must admit I have a soft spot for them too.

On one of the deserted plains we saw four Shetland ponies grazing right next to the main road. The road was a single-track road with passing places at appropriate intervals, but it was straight and in good shape.

With hardly any cars on the road, I decided to stop on the passing place conveniently placed just opposite the ponies. Even though we stopped for around 20 minutes, no cars went past while we were cuddling the ponies so I did not feel too guilty about stopping in the middle of the road.

The Unst Bus Shelter

After the ferry ride from Yell to Unst, the most northerly island in Britain, we headed north on the main road. Not far from Baltasound, we discovered The Unst Bus Shelter. The bus shelter was originally used by children waiting for the school bus. In 1996 the original bus shelter was demolished and a new shelter was built. 

A few days after completion, a wicker sofa and table appeared in the new shelter. Soon afterwards, a small TV was added, closely followed by a ‘hot snacks’ counter. In the winter, a 2-bar heater was installed, allowing an even more comfortable wait and it wasn’t long before a carpet was fitted. 

Since then the Unst Bus Shelter has become a tourist attraction and has had a new theme every year since the Millennium, with Pink (Breast cancer, 2009), World Cup (2010) and Tall Ships (2011) being among the latest.

At the shelter there were no signs or explanations and to us this seemed rather strange, but extremely charming. Unexpected thing like this give me such a positive boost.

Viking heritage at Unst

Unst is thought to be the first foot-fall of Vikings in the North Atlantic, only 300 kilometres from Western Norway. There are the remains of at least 60 longhouses, the highest density of rural Viking sites anywhere, including Scandinavia.

Driving along the main road we passed places with very Norwegian names like Hamar and Littlehamar, equivalent to Hamar and Lillehammer in Norway.

Hamar longhouse - the best preserved in Scotland

At Keen of Hamar we took a look at the Hamar longhouse, the best preserved longhouse in Scotland.

According to the information at the site, the term 'Viking' refers to raiders and settlers from Skandinavia. In Shetland, the 'Viking period' refers to the initial phase of raiding and settling between 800 AD and 1050 AD.

'Norse' is used to describe the later period of established settlement from 1050 AD up until 1469 AD. In 1469 Norway pawned Shetland to Scotland as part of a dowry payment for the marriage of Margrethe, daughter of the king of Denmark-Norway, to James III of Scotland.

As we were walking around the site, we saw many rabbits and rabbit holes. There were a number of ravens circling the site - it seemed this was their smorgasbord, judging by all the rabbit carcasses we found on our short walk around the area.

Longhouse reconstruction at Haroldswick

When we reached Haroldswick, we saw a longhouse reconstruction and next to it the Skibladner, a replica of the Gokstad ship.

The reconstructed longhouse had been built based on the excavated remains of the longhouse at Hamar, but it also used elements from other excavations. The excavations at Unst showed that there was no standard single design, each house was different in some way to the next.

Full scale replica of the Gokstad ship

Skibladner is a full scale replica of the 9th century Gokstad ship, found under a mound in  Sandefjord, Norway. She is one of the largest replica Viking longships ever built. The Gokstad ship seated 32 oarsmen and carried up to 70 men. As they rowed, the oarsmen sat on chests which contained their possessions.

Skibladner stranded in Shetland in 2000 after a mainly Swedish crew failed in their attempt to sail like Leiv Eiriksson from Scandinavia to America without a back-up engine or any facilities to accommodate the eight crew. Shetland Amenity Trust aquired the Skiblader in 2006 and it has been located at Haroldswick ever since.

The hedgehog at Hermaness

Before leaving Unst we wanted to go as far north in Shetland as we could, so we drove to Hermaness. On our way out there I nearly ran over a hedgehog, one of Britain's most endangered species.

Hedgehogs are among my favourite animals and it would have broken my heart if I had killed one. My relief was immense when I stopped the car and discovered that it was unharmed.

This was the end of the nice weather and the scattered showers soon turned to more persistent rain. For us it didn't really matter, we had finished our sightseeing for the day. It was already time for dinner and we had a long drive back. With no restaurants for miles, we had to settle for sandwiches made from our supplies of fresh food from the back of our car.