Another back-blip. The ship’s WiFi clearly couldn’t cope with everyone checking on the football last night, so I gave up! 

We say farewell to Shetland as we watch the Hjaltland’s wake spreading out in the late afternoon light and Lerwick disappearing into the haze. Our northern isle adventure has been wonderful - but this is now the final instalment. At this point, I feel I must apologise for any errors and oversimplifications I have made; I write with the naivety of one passing through….. 

And so to our final day.  Completing our tour of Unst, we visit the ruins of Muness Castle - erected - as the information plaque outside attests - from ‘the sweat and tears of Shetlanders’ under the orders of the deeply unpopular Laurence Bruce as Sheriff of Shetland in the 1570s. 
https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/b/laurencebruce.html

Of course, the poor and disenfranchised had a hard life everywhere with few if any rights. Nothing illustrates this more than the countless ruins of crofts and villages, piles of stones left as evidence of the individuals and communities that lived there before lands were cleared by greedy landowners who saw more profit from grazing sheep. 

We’ve seen this before of course, but Shetland is my first introduction to the further exploitation of haaf fishing, when the profitability of fishing meant landowners forced crofters into a life on unbelievable harshness and danger. We saw the remains of a fishing station in Stenness a few days ago, but now we visit the poignant memorial in Gloup on Yell where in July 1881,  hurricane force winds sank several of the wooden sixareen boats. Only the bodies of seven men were found and 36 of the men were from Gloup. The 58 drowned haaf fishermen left behind 34 widows and 85 orphans, and the impact of this on a small community must have been devastating. Fittingly, the memorial bears the names of these men and behind stands the statue of a mother clutching her baby and staring out to sea, waiting for a husband who will never return. More on Haaf fishing and the disaster can be found in the links below - the third also going onto detail on the clearances 

http://kozetland1.blogspot.com/2010/04/gloup-disaster-memorial.htm
https://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/shetland-blog/haaf-fishing-in-shetland/
https://www.shetlandwithlaurie.com/blog/shetlands-darkest-days-the-clearances-of-the-19th-century#/

But despite all this hardship and sadness from the past, we’re left with the impression of islanders who are intensely proud of their homeland and heritage. I don’t think we’ve been anywhere where smiles and waves and greetings are given so freely, and it has been like stepping back into a bye-gone age where doors are left unlocked, children - and cats and dogs and hens - roam freely between neighbouring houses, and everyone knows everyone - or at least knows someone who does. Our three lovely hosts on the islands, all know each other, we discover. 

But island life’s not perfect, I suppose. I was impressed by easy medical access to a GP back in Westray, but distance from specialist care must be so hard. Our waitress on Rousay had to go - alone - to Aberdeen to have her baby due to concerns about the pregnancy. And while each island has access to a general store, a trip to Tesco might take several hours of road and ferry travel. 

For us, now heading home, Orkney and Shetland will hold a very special place in our hearts. 

Today’s - well really yesterday’s - main, is of the Gloup Memorial - though light was far from ideal. Then there is a collage - The White Wife figurehead from a German wreck, the memorial to the local naturalist Bobby Tulloch, Muness Castle and a self-service cafe Unst style!  

Thank you for the lovely response to yesterday’s puffin, and once again, apologies I didn’t get very far with comments last night. We’re now breaking our journey in New Lanark, so I’ll try to catch up a little tonight. Failing that, there’s always the weekend…..