Day 25 - Shetland - Lerwick and travel to Orkney - 2 October 2024

Day 25 - Shetland - Lerwick and travel to Orkney - 2 October 2024

Today, the breakfast cook at the hotel kept some smoked haddock for us as a special treat.  That is a special breakfast treat in the UK. so we agreed to forego the full Scottish breakfast.  Hmm, I am not sure that I would have it again.  I think that black pudding, haggis and the works are better.

Anyway, we decided to look at the Lerwick Town Hall building.  We had been advised that the stained-glass windows were extra-ordinary and so off we went.  Unfortunately, Julie was not feeling well so Narelle and I headed off.  The building is close to The Grand Hotel, so it was a short walk.  

Council had meetings on the ground floor so we could not see them.  However, the first floor is a hall and the windows are just stunning.  The foundation stone was laid in 1882 and the building was opened in 1883.  Stained glass windows were added later.   We spent a long time there because the windows show specific historical events and people that influenced Lerwick. It was fascinating.

Lerwick Town Hall

A window in the stairwell

Plaque for the window in the stairwell

In the main hall

A plaque describing the Vikings

The main hall

The windows

The council sent a letter to all Shetlanders around the world to ask whether they could contribute to one of the plaques in this window. Only five countries agreed including Australia.

There are so many stained-glass windows that we cannot comment on them all. They are just spectacular, and the council is still adding to them.  The entire population of Lerwick supported the idea and assisted in funding it. 

One thing that we have noticed driving through the countryside is that there are so many wind generators.  Everywhere we go, there are windmills.

Windmills

There is a special part of the Shetland Islands called Mavis Grind.  It is the place where the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean are separated by only 33 metres.  In previous times, fisherman would move boats across this section of the island.  It is possible to go from the Atlantic Ocean to the North Sea in less than one minute, I proved it!

Mavis Grind Plaque

The Atlantic Ocean

The North Sea

Here it is

Atlantic left and North Sea right

Then we headed to Tangwick Haa museum just down the road. It was run by volunteers and was set out well. They were waiting for a bus from Wool Week and would have closed for the year by now had Wool Week not been on.  This was the first time that I had seen and held peat! It was great.

The entrance

Peat!

A display of a dining room

An old doll's rocker

More displays

 

Then we headed back to Lerwick, however we did stop at a cafe on the way.  There was a spectacular view there. 

How is that view?

We arrived in Lerwick to find that a cruise boat had arrived.  Well, there were people everywhere.  It was crazy times.  We were extremely lucky to get a table for coffee. After that, we were going to walk around town again but with so many people, we thought that it may be better to have a look at the museum.

The cruise ship

So, off we went to the museum to see how the island had developed over time.  There are displays about crofters, Vikings, whaling and people who were in a position of influence over the years. It was very interesting but foreign to our understanding and education. They also discussed how the crofters lived and had displays of their lives.  A model of the Gunnister man is also on display.  The body was found in a peat bog on 12 May 1951.  The clothing and other items were perfectly preserved.  He had coins from around 1680 and two coloured knitted purse which is the oldest know record of "Faire Isle" knitting. He also had Norwegian coins. That was very interesting.  They consider that he was probably a commoner and a travelling salesman but there are many unanswered questions about the Gunnister Man.

the Gunnister man

A croft house

A flour mill

Tools

Then we returned to the hotel because we were heading to the terminal to catch the ferry that departed at 5:30 p.m. to go the Orkney Islands.  It would be arriving at Kirkwall quite late, and we then had to find our accommodation.  The Shetland Islands are wonderful, and it is a little sad that we are leaving. There are other places to see and the northern lights were just not around whilst we stayed here.  They were much further north. we took comfort in the fact that many Shetlanders have never seen "the lights" even though they have lived in Lerwick the whole life. It would have been nice though.

On the recommendation of some friends, we have reserved pods on the ferry.  They are comfortable chairs in a private lounge.  

Goodbye Shetland Islands

And so we depart.

We arrived safely in Kirkwall after an very calm voyage and quickly found our accommodation.  It is a very nice townhouse (called Townhoose to get the lingo) in an outer suburb. It is perfect.

Number 24

We are very pleased to arrive and are looking forward to seeing another Scottish Island.