Page 166 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Scotland

164  SC O TLAND REGION B Y REGION THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS  165

$ Shetland Islands VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Hermaness
National Nature Reserve Haroldswick
More than 100 rugged, cliff-hemmed islands form Scotland’s 0 km 15 Unst Baltasound Practical Information
most northerly domain. Nowhere in Shetland is further than 0 miles 15 Cullivoe Belmont Shetland. * 23,000. n Lerwick
5 km (3 miles) from the sea. Fishing and salmon farming are Isbister Sellafirth Fetlar (01595) 693434. _ Up Helly Aa
(Jan). ∑ shetland.org
mainstays of the economy, boosted in recent decades by Ronas Hill Houbie
revenue from the North Sea oil industry. In winter the islands Esha Ness 454m Ulsta Yell Transport
~ g from Aberdeen and
suffer severe gales and storms, but in high summer, the sun Stenness Mossbank Out Skerries Stromness on Mainland Orkney.
may shine for as long as 19 hours, and a twilight known as Muckle Roe Brae Vidlin Whalsay
the “simmer dim” persists throughout the night. Papa Stour Voe Symbister
Garth or the snowy owl. Unst has the
Walls Mainland most varied scenery and the
Lerwick T Shetland Museum and Archive Easter Skeld Lerwick richest flora and fauna, plus an
Shetland’s chief town is a pretty Tel (01595) 695057. Open daily. 7 - Foula Ham Scalloway Noss excellent visitor centre at the
place of grey stone buildings = ∑ shetlandmuseumand The 17th-century Scalloway Castle, Central West Burra Bressay Hermaness National Nature
and narrow, flag stoned lanes. archives.org.uk Mainland Sandwick Mousa Broch Reserve. Beyond the lighthouse
First established by Dutch E Böd of Gremista of Muckle Flugga is Out Stack,
fishermen in the 1600s, it grew Tel (01595) 694386. Open May–Sep: Weisdale, the fertile region of Scousburgh Shetland Britain’s most northerly point.
to become wealthy from the Tue–Sat. & 7 ∑ shetlandtextile Tingwall is a well-known angling Jarlshof Sumburgh Islands West of Mainland, Foula has
whaling trade. The increase in museum.com centre. Connected by bridges to dramatic sea cliffs, while Fair
North Sea oil traffic has made Central Mainland’s west coast are Isle, midway between Orkney
the harbour area very busy. Central Mainland the islands of Burra and Trondra, and Shetland, is owned by the
At the heart of the Sheltering Lerwick from with lovely beaches and walks. National Trust for Scotland.
town is Commercial the winter gales is N o r t h S e a Aberdeen
Street, its northern Bressay, an island with E Scalloway Museum O Hermaness National Nature
end guarded by Fort fine walks and views. Tel (01595) 880734. Open May–Sep: Edinburgh Reserve
Charlotte, which Boats run from Ler wick daily. ∑ scallowaymuseum.org Fair Isle Glasgow Tel (01595) 693345. Open daily
affords fine views from to Noss, off Bressay’s O Noss National Nature Reserve Stoneybreck (Visitor Centre: Apr–Sep).
its battlements. At the east coast. This nature Tel (01595) 693345. Open May–Aug: ∑ nnr-scotland.org.uk
Shetland Museum The fortified tower of reserve is home to Tue, Wed, Fri–Sun. &
and Archive, on Hay’s Mousa Broch thousands of breed ing Key spectacular natural scenery, Day Trips to Remote Islands
Dock, you can admire a seabirds, including gan- Minor road notably the red granite cliffs and There are regular internal flights in
fine collection of historic nets and great skuas (or bonxies). South Mainland blow-holes at Esha Ness, from Shetland to Fair Isle, Foula and
boats, archaeological finds West of Lerwick is the quiet This area offers two important Summit where you can see the wave- Papa Stour, as well as inter-island
and Shetland textiles tracing fishing port of Scalloway, archaeological sights. The ornate gnawed stacks of The Drongs ferries. Most routes depart from
the islands’ history. Shetland’s second town and the Mousa Broch, on an easterly islet and a huge rock arch called Tingwall, on Central Mainland.
On Lerwick’s outskirts lie the islands’ former capital. Scalloway reached by a summer ferry from Dore Holm. Offshore, the island
Clickminin Broch, a pre historic Castle is a fortified tower dating Sandwick, is the best example of North Mainland of Papa Stour has further startling
fort dating from around 700 BC, from 1600, while the Scalloway this type of ancient fortified North of Lerwick, Shetland rises formations of volcanic rock.
and the 18th-century Böd of Museum contains an exhibition tower in Britain. The dry-stone to its highest point at Ronas Hill
Gremista, birthplace of Arthur on the “Shetland Bus”, a wartime walls make ideal nestboxes for a (454 m/1,475 ft) amid tracts of Outlying Islands
Anderson, co-founder of the resistance operation that used colony of storm petrels. Jarls hof, bleak, empty moorland. The The northern isles of Yell, Fetlar
P&O shipping company. fishing boats to bring refugees in the far south, spans over 3,000 sheltered sea loch of Sullom and Unst have regular, though
The building now houses from German-occupied Norway. years of occupation from Voe is dominated by the jetties weather-dependent, boat
a textile museum. North of Scalloway, near Neolithic to Viking times. and support buildings of connections to Mainland. Yell
The cliffs and lighthouse at Europe’s biggest oil and gas has a large otter population,
Sumburgh Head are also worth terminal. The west coast has and on Fetlar there’s a chance of
visiting. The island of St Ninian’s glimpsing rare migrant birds, An inquisitive otter, one of a large
is linked to South Mainland by a like the red-necked phalarope population on the island of Yell
causeway of dazzling silver sand.
Birds on Orkney and Shetland
T Mousa Broch
Tel (07901) 872339. Open Apr–Sep. Millions of migrant and local birds can be
& inc in boat fare. ∑ mousa.co.uk admired on these islands. Over 20 species
of seabirds regularly breed here, and over
T Jarlshof Prehistoric and 340 different species have been recorded
Norse Settlement passing through Fair Isle, one of the world’s
Tel (01950) 460112. Open daily. & great staging posts. Inaccessible cliffs provide Puffin
7 limited. 8 by request. excellent security at vulnerable nesting times for
O Sumburgh Head Lighthouse huge colonies of gannets, guillemots, puffins,
(RSPB) kittiwakes, fulmars and razorbills. Species found here but in very few
other UK locations include great skuas and storm petrels.
Tel (01595) 694688. Open Apr–Sep: The red granite cliffs of Esha Ness,
Early evening lights over Lerwick Harbour daily. ∑ sumburghhead.com North Mainland
For hotels and restaurants see pp176–7 and pp187–9 For additional map symbols see back flap

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