Phew, full on day!

I was worse than an excited  child at the thought of spending the night on the ferry.  When we had parked up on the lower deck of the MV Hjaltland, we dumped our bags in our very comfortable outer cabin and went to get our bearings and have dinner, before heading out on to the deck to wave goodbye to Aberdeen.

The crossing itself was uneventful.  We had been warned of turbulent waters in the early hours and I think I woke once feeling it was a bit rockier, but the sun shone at 6.30 when we went upstairs for breakfast and then out to blip Jimmy Perez's cottage as we passed Lerwick to the ferry pier.  

Once clear of the ferry we turned south to explore the South Mainland, beginning with the tombolo beach at St Ninian's Isle which was so pretty under the blue sky.  A tombolo is a beach which joins two pieces of land or the land to an island, and this one has water coming round both sides.  I would have chosen it as my blip but when I climbed high enough to capture the whole impact, it also had the bins and the carpark in the shot!!

We walked across the tombolo to the island and headed towards the dramatic cliffs and rock features at the southern end, passing through rabbit town and wildflower spotting en route.  There were some deep, spectacular drop offs and I had to make sure I stood still to check settings instead of my usual wandering along!  We called in to look at the ruin of St Ninian's Chapel before returning across the tombolo with the waves crashing in either side of us.

Turning south again, we had booked in to Jarlshof at 11am and spent a fascinating hour or so exploring the archaeological site which records several settlements from late Neolithic through to the Viking longhouse and Medieval farmhouse.  Walking through the early dwellings with their stone lined walls gave us a real feeling for what life was like for these early people in a quite inhospitable place.

From Jarlshof we drove to the headland of Sumburgh, across the airport runway at one point (!) Here we had a cuppa and a bite to eat then toured around the grounds of the lighthouse enjoying watching the guillemots and terns on the cliffs below.  Then we found the puffins!

Back at Lerwick the rain arrived and all the cafes were understandably full.  We walked out of town to the Shetland Museum where Tony had a huge scone and I enjoyed a bowl of delicious creamy smoked haddock soup with samphire, yum.  

After a walk through the town to find the bookshop we arrived at our very comfortable B&B in the old part of town.  The owners Rebecca and Phil are photographer and naturalist and so we look forward to our boat trip to Bressay and Noss with Phil in the morning.