The road to the isles

Today's adventure/expedition/outing/whatever was to Shetland's northern isles, specifically Unst and Yell. We made an early start because the weather forecast suggested the best of the weather was to be in the morning, and indeed Alf was up and about photographing the voe in front of the cottage at 5.30am and posting the results on Facebook. I emerged at 6am, and we made good time up Dales Voe (together with a good deal of Sullom Voe traffic) until I pulled over at the top with the words 'we won't be in this place many times at this time of the morning with this weather and I think this view needs photocopying'. The reference to 'photocopying' comes from a in-joke, stemming from the time I screeched at Alf (before I started taking photos) that he needed to pull over immediately and photocopy the Cuillins... I've never been allowed to forget this malapropism.

The first few minutes were indeed the best of the day weatherwise, although we got some stunning reflections while waiting for the ferry at Toft. Not that the weather has really got that bad since. Indeed, it was quite good that we weren't always in full sun for the excellent walk that we completed (the Horns of Hagmark on Unst) which saw me managing another 10.6kms.

On the way back, we also took a detour on Yell to see the memorial to the fishermen lost at sea in the Gloup Disaster in 1881. 1881 was a bad year for fishing - the Eyemouth Disaster was a few months later that same year. We topped off the day by picking up a nice red in the Co in Brae and take away fish and chips from the much lauded Frankies. It definitely deserves the prizes it has been winning. And still, despite the forecast, it hasn't actually started raining.

Well, the alternating days thing seems to have broken down. So let's see what tomorrow brings. And yes, I'm well behind with my digital housekeeping so I'm not going to encourage you to revisit the flickr albums just right now.