I hadn't planned any travel outside Scotland during my Study Abroad. I didn't want to go live in Scotland and then not be in Scotland for most of my time there. It felt like defeating the purpose of living somewhere and fully emerging yourself in it. However, I didn't consider visiting the Islands of Scotland until my flatmate asked me if i wanted to go with her to Shetland in the beginning of December. Knowing my final papers would be turned in by then and I wouldn't have much to do at that point, I said yes.
We planned basically nothing. We knew how to get there and back and we knew where we were staying; other than that we were just gonna show up and find stuff to do.
To get to the Shetland Islands is no small feat. From Stirling you have to take a two hour train ride to Aberdeen to get to the ferry terminal where you board a huge overnight ferry that will, in thirteen short hours, get you to Lerwick.
We got recliner seats for the trip, which might not sound that comfortable but all in all we managed to sleep on the ferry ride. Since the boat left at 7 pm, and I took motion sickness pills just in case, I was asleep pretty early. This meant I was up pretty early. So from 3 am until we docked I messaged my boyfriend and scrolled through social media.
While the boat had free wifi, my phone was somehow still having full service in the middle of the ocean. A mystery I am not complaining about.
They served a breakfast buffet on board that I gladly partook in and before we knew it we were docking in Lerwick at 7 am. As bad as a 13 hour recliner seat ferry ride might sound, it was pretty manageable.
Lerwick is something out of a Tim Burton film. I mean it in a good way. It is a very grey place, and I don't just mean the weather. All the buildings are grey and unless the people have painted the window panes, it all is rather Corpse Bride feeling. There is a beauty in that, because most of the interest of the eye is then found in the texture and shapes of different shades of grey stone and tile and roofing.
Lerwick also reminded me of coastal cities in Oregon, but I suspect that most coastal cities feel very similar. Although Oregon Coast architecture is much more fantastically colored.
We were all feeling drained after our travel so we went straight to the Airbnb we had rented and took some well earned naps before departing around 10am to explore.
Our first day was very chill as we didn't really have a lay of the land yet, we started with a walk into the main part of town stopping at Fort Charlotte on the way. The former military base from the first known Anglo-Dutch war is a five sided fort with no original building left standing within its walls.
The current buildings on the property originate from Charles II, but were rebuilt during George III's reign and named after his wife.
We then went to the Shetland Museum and Archives which had a rather impressive collection. Sweaters and lace, fishing and boating history and vikings were the three main themes. Of course participation in both World Wars and the everyday life were covered too.
I didn't take very many pictures because nearly everything was in a glass case and all you could see was my phone's reflection.
We then walked to the grocery store and bought food for the weekend and walked back to the Airbnb. We decided to go see Last Christmas as a fun activity since it gets dark at 3 pm in the islands, and it was a trip. I didn't expect what it was and am not sure I liked where it ended up. Still had fun watching with my friends. We then went back to the house and I made fried rice and we watched better romantic comedies (In my opinion of course).
Day Two in Lerwick involved walking to the nearby connected town of Sound which has the Clickman Broch Archaeological site in the middle of it. It is open to the public and is fenced in the middle of the town and everyone just moves about it as if it isn't really cool, which boggles my mind. From the outside it looks like this.
However, the inside looks like this!
The Broch is a type of archaeological site found mainly in Scotland that dates to the Iron Age. There are a proposed 700 in the whole of Scotland, but only about 100 have been found and or preserved. This article goes more into the history and possible uses of such a structure. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/Brochs-the-Tallest-Prehistoric-Buildings-in-Britain/
We also took some fun photos, some of which are on Aly's nice camera and I don't have yet. These are the ones I do have!
We also got a photograph of this really weird bird that kept following us around.
We spent an obscene amount of time taking photos at the Broch before going to the beach to eat our sandwiches. And by beach I mean rocks. It was absolutely gorgeous though.
And we saw a Seal! He kept popping up right in front of us in the water, but was moving really quick. And yes, in this picture we took at 1 pm the sun was already starting to set.
Following a similar pattern to the night before, we stopped at the grocery store - this time for snacks and sugary treats - to eat while we watched s couple movies on Netflix. We chose A Marriage Story and Friends with Benefits. The polar opposites of each other. We did get sidetracked after dinner though by accidentally taking a three hour nap. Mainly Aly and I. We did eventually wake up and start our movies, and Marriage Story was really good and really sad so counter acting it with Justin Timberlake's jokes was a good idea.
The last day we decided to take the smaller ferry across the channel to the Isle of Bressay with the plan of walking the whole length of the island to the Lighthouse and back. So we hopped on this little ferry and in within five minutes we were on Bressay with a lot of walking to do.
We met some friends about fifteen minutes into our hour and a half walk. The infamous Shetland ponies.
And this cute little bouncy sheep that we named Jeremy.
The walk was absolutely breathtaking. The light was changing constantly and the contrast was insane. It was way more photograph-able then I expected, a welcome surprise of course.
And then, we reached the lighthouse. Oh my goodness. The colors, the water, the cliffs, the light, it was all so perfect. We were completely alone and having the best time losing our minds over it together.
I also had to get a couple Wes Anderson style shots with my long coat and hat that matched the lighthouse. A dream for me really.
Then we discovered stairs leading over the wall to the cliffs below right over the most amazing waves ever.
And I did another one of these guys. Arguably my best one yet.
It was AMAZING.
We ate our lunches on the walk back because we were quickly running out of daylight and there are no street lights on Bressay. We caught the 4 pm Ferry back over to Lerwick bringing an end to our Bressay adventure. We were very lucky and it didn't rain on us until the last fifteen minutes of our walk back. But when the rain came, man did it pour. We were very wet as we arrived at a little hole in the wall restaurant for dinner. A good meal and some Hot Chocolate fixed us up pretty good before having to pick up our stuff and get back on the big ferry to Aberdeen. I once again slept for most of the ferry ride back and played on my Switch for the train ride to Stirling. Untitled Goose Game is a simple joy in this world.
This short and heavily unplanned trip had quickly become one of my favorite adventures here in Scotland. I am so glad I said yes to it.