Lerwick harbour

Backblip.

My ferry arrived at Lerwick harbour at half seven in the morning. From there, I went straight to my guest house, which, by the way, as the Trip Advisor comments suggested, didn't have the best of hygiene standards. But the family who run it were friendly enough! Nice people.

I liked the way most houses had their fishing nets hanging from their garden fences. As you can see from the picture, it was a pretty overcast day, as predicted by the Met office.

First, I went to the tourist office to get information about stuff to do and then I went for a walk around Lerwick under the pissing rain. As a result, most of my photos have a blur from the drops of water on my lens. In the tourist office they told me there were some folk music performances in Scalloway, and the bus service that went there was free as well! So there I went! Scalloway is quite a small place. There were a few things going on in the Gala, but the audience was pretty small due to the rain. I listened to this group of ladies with really beautiful voices. It was a magic moment! There was about fifteen of us listening to them under the rain, the fresh sea air blowing, the stunning Shetland landscape in the background and those wonderful voices! Just beautiful!

The most strange thing (not sure if that was part of the Gala) was later on seeing all these guys smashing old pianos with big sticks!! It must be a tradition there, I don't know! But all the town was watching them!

After that, I went back to Lerwick and took a bus to Sumburgh in the south, where I was told there were beautiful sand beaches. That's where I met Robbie, the friendliest bus driver ever! Great man! As I was the only person left on the bus, he took me to the two beaches there and told me to take my pick. Then, on the way back, he picked me up from where he left me not charging my fare back to Lerwick! He told me as well that if I wanted to go to 'Up Helly Aa' (a famous viking festival) in the winter, he could get me tickets, and gave me his phone number to contact him. He also told me about the most likely place to see puffins! After a friendly chat, he dropped me off at Clickimin Broch.

Clickiming Broch is one of the many Brochs in the Shetlands. They are amazing round and tall stone buildings that date from around 2,300 to 1,900 years ago! Their structure is really interesting! I wanted to post a picture, but I had so many pictures, that the decision was pretty difficult!

I finished my day with a really good (probably the best I've had so far) fish and chips in the harbour, under an overcast sky, a strong wind blowing and a can of Irn Bru! The true Scottish way!! :)