Blogs from Shetland Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

September 21 Thursday Toronto Pearson Airport Gate 33 There was a moment when I thought I would have to tell Sherry this trip was cancelled ...luckily I could still walk with my wonky knee...but just barely. The drive down from Sudbury was uneventful except for the fact that I spilled the ice water which had been cooling my engorged left knee, all over the back seat of a brand new VW. No idea why that happened ...the seal on the ziplock bag seemed secure....what a birthday present ...hitting a big zero and falling apart immediately. The wonky knee must have happened when I was shutting down the summer house for winter. I did do the work of two days in one because of an unexpected delightful visit to a friends garage where all kinds of goodies ... read more

Shetland. Hillswick 45 miles. After waking up to rain these past two days, for a surprise we woke up to rain again today although it was only very gentle and there was very light wind from the south. This was great news as we are heading north today firstly up the east side and the tail wind is every cyclists dream. Breakfast, for the more domesticated of us, was home made porridge with banana and jam. The molly coddled crew of three went to the Peerie cafe in Lerwick again and then to the supermarket to find some food for Unst. Five of us then headed off under a heavy sky and low cloud. The scenery going around the lochs and coastline was very good and would have been stunning on a sunny day, but alas ... read more

Coming from Inverness the railway passes thru Thurso and then continues on to Wick where there is also an airport. The stay at Thurso House B&B was like being at home. Shiela and her husband were extremely welcoming. The town itself is small filled with stone built houses and buildings. The walls of these houses are over two feet thick ...50cm ? Never did see the shops...to busy planning to go to the most northeastern tip of the UK. "John o' Groats lies on Britain's northeastern tip, and is popular with tourists as one end of the longest distance between two inhabited British points on the mainland, with Land's End in Cornwall lying 876 miles (1,410 km) to the southwest. It is not the most northerly point on the island of Britain." (from wiki) Nearby Dunnet ... read more

At Sea between Denmark and Scotland--Wednesday, June 4th Earth, Wind, and Fire: Powering Northern Europe and the World was the topic of Valerie’s lecture today. She spoke on renewable energy like the grid of wind mills seen in several off-shore places we passed. North Sea oil and gas platforms that we might sail past and other sources of energy being used by the Shetland Islands, Iceland, and other “green” countries. Lerwick, Mainland Island, the Shetland Islands, Scotland--Thursday, June 5th The town of Lerwick, sitting on the west coast of the island of Mainland, is the capitol of all of these islands. It dates to the 17th century and sits on an excellent natural harbor. Once we disembarked, we were handed a brochure with an excellent map of the town with useful information printed on it like ... read more

Well, we've hit the road! On Wednesday at 3pm after a couple of delays and a couple of hours at Tesco's, we hit the road in the Mercedes 308D camper van, Sarah driving and me looking after Honey and Zebedee, the two dogs. Looking after = being squashed by. Reached 50 miles south of Edinburgh and stopped the night in a road layby with a large truck. Camper was cold but Zebedee decided he liked my bed and so lay across my converted couch. On Thursday we took the dogs for a walk at around 9am, the hit the road again and reached Aberdeen by 3pm, bought the two dogs some nice warm coats, and got onto the ship that was taking us to Shetland Islands. More updates of the boat ride and the first day ... read more