Shetland

A Tale of Rocks (not really)

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This is the beach at Harodswick (Unst, Sheltand), where I was told was a good place to see seals. The seals around Tasmania/Australia are fur seals. They’re in the same family as sea lions. (They have that upright/triangular shape.) The seals up here are “true seals”. (They’re more log-shaped). And I wanted to see one!

So I sat down and waited. No seals, but a lot of rocks.

That rock out there in the middle of the water disappeared after a few seconds, then reappeared again and sat there, waving rocky bits around. Yeah, it’s not a rock.

So, I sat for a while taking photos of the rock. (I’d bought a new zoom lens for my camera. This means it can see things better than I can.) Then I thought I’d try walking down the road, closer to the beach you can see in the photos. in the hope I might get close enough to see something other than a black rock.

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Some Towns of Unst

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The largest settlement is on Unst (the northernmost island of Shetland) is Baltasound. It used to be a major herring port. Then the island’s population could reach something like 10,000 people. Now the population of the is 600.

That’s Baltasound Hotel, a semi-circle of wooden cabins facing the main building. (Warm, quiet and quite comfortable cabins, they are.)

The “shopping centre”

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A Morning on Unst

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Muness Castle (it’s actually a tower house but it is fortified, possibly to protect him form the locals). Construction started in 1598 for a guy who was half-brother to Robert Stewart, Earl of Orkney, whose son had Scalloway Castle built. (I mention them because they’ll probably come up again.)


The bottom level has a wine cellar, storage rooms & kitchen. The first floor has the great hall (shown here). Although less tony then, and more plastered or timber. The private rooms/chambers are in the turrets, and there was another floor above.

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Clickimin Broch, Shetland

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I found another, more intact broch. Clickimin Broch is on the edge of Lerwick, with service station in front and a supermarket across the road, and houses around. Not some remote corner. It was built about 2400-2100 year ago, so about mid-Iron Age. They don’t know who built it or what it was used for or how it originally looked, but it’s very cool.


The broch is on a promontory that was once an island with a causeway.


There’s the causeway.

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Bressay

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The island at the back is Bressay.


You get there on the ferry. It leaves about every hour and the trip takes less than half that time.

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A Visit to Lots of Times All At Once

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Today we’re visiting a place that calls itself one of the most important prehistoric sites in Shetland. Right there, on the first line of the guidebook. But first a little deour.


Past a cow.

To look at a croft, a small tenant farm. There are two rooms on the left, and a barn and byre on the right. Grass roof.

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