Shetland Adventures in May 2024.

Travelling to The Shetland Islands features on a lot of people’s “bucket lists” The Islands have been made famous worldwide by author Anne Cleaves who wrote crime novels about Shetland which is now a popular detective television series Shetland by the BBC and has gone on to become a world-wide phenomenon. Many of the areas I discuss will have links at the bottom for further information.

Jimmy Perez’s House from the BBC police drama Shetland.

The Island has vast amounts of fantastic scenery which can change in a heartbeat depending on the sea mists and weather conditions. Although photos look fantastic they do not do it justice seeing it in real-life captures especially the colours. No two days are the same in my experience of staying here. Lerwick pronounced “Lerick” if I heard the locals correctly is the main port where they now have a lot of visiting cruise ships. These are not happily received by all the local people but they do bring in business for others. It does feel like the Town has been invaded on the days they dock in my experience.

Scotland doesn’t have any trespassing laws. “Right to Roam” allows visitors to pretty much go wherever they like. However, always shut closed gates behind you, and do not stand close to cliff edges in the wind (the gusts come from nowhere at times), there’s very few barriers or cliff edge warnings so common sense is absolute essential to take with you on your travels and be respectful to everyone you meet. If you pass a fellow driver who has pulled into one of the thousands of “passing places” on the Island DO wave and acknowledge them. It’s their way of life and they deserve respect and politeness. If you get lost they will happily direct you on and probably share a bit of local knowledge with you.

Sullom Voe was the large Shetland Oil Depot built by BP which spans a vast section at the North of the Island. The views are quite formidable and rather intimidating especially when you come face to face with an oil tanker. It’s not on the tourist hot list funnily enough but it was an area of the Island I will remember and I am glad I saw it first-hand. The Island certainly prospered at the height of the Oil Boom and it brought many people out of the poverty that they faced at the time.

Wildlife is everywhere around you from garden birds, seabirds, seals, otters and larger marine animals. I have been fortunate on both trips to see puffins and seals. These take a certain amount of patience to see or a very lucky chance encounter. I only saw one Otter which was swimming and quite well hidden in their habitat. I will still take that as a visual though. One thing I heard a lot from tourists watching Sumburgh Head with me was how much smaller the puffins are than they imagined, yes they are slightly smaller than a pigeon.

On this trip, I visited each area of the Island and still want to return to see a few other parts as it takes ages to see everything. St Ninians offers a beautiful walk across the sand from the mainland to the Island, it can be very busy at times. In all honesty, I don’t like walking on sand very much but I am so glad I did it. The community shop in Bigton is just a short walk away from that particular beach which has a very friendly community shop with public toilets just across from it. Which are open even if the shop isn’t.

Places to visit well in all honesty there are loads. Fladdarbister is an interesting old Crofters settlement ruins, I just stopped and had a nose around. Hoswick boasts beautiful scenery and craft shops it’s worth stopping at. Lerwick Museum offers an insight into the long history of Shetland. Eshaness coastal line, Stenness, Jarlshorf, Quendale has a well-informed community-restored Watermill. Many commemorative memorials for fishing tragedies and other events scattered across the Isles. The wealth of places of interest is endless my advice is just go where the mood that day takes you (plus the weather conditions) of course.

I had a fantastic afternoon at the Tangwick Haa Museum where I met the lovely local artist Kirsteen Murray, who kindly signed two of her postcards for me. Her Instagram link is here https://www.instagram.com/artykirsteen?igsh=MTJuOHl5aWZ3c2FuZw== check out her work for yourself.

It’s a small museum with local information and artefacts. They gave a tea and coffee area where you can make a drink and leave a donation. From then on, I went down onto the beach, which the Museum overlooks and watched the seals swimming. They are very curious and will keep watching you to see where you are.

Cake Fridges are becoming more common in Shetland now. Although I have only visited the original one. I have been lucky enough to visit during opening hours and sit in. There’s a good selection of cakes, tiffin etc and about three gluten-free choices. I tried the gluten-free lemon meringue cake. It was incredibly moist and packed with lemon, absolutely delicious. There’s something for everyone. When the cafe is closed the cake fridge often has a good range, you pay via the honesty box.

Lemon meringue cake (gluten free) at the *Cake Fridge.*

Many tour guides on the Island have a wealth of knowledge and take you around the Island exploring. They also know where some of the BBC Shetland series filming locations are, which for fans can be interesting. Join local Facebook groups before travelling and ask people on there for advice on things like this it certainly helps being prepared before you leave home.

In one week, I packed in a lot of sightseeing, visits to plenty of coastlines, beaches, places of interest, and museums. Not all are featured here as I think the readers would get bored. Be aware that by nights at this time of year are very light, by June, it is twenty-four hours of daylight before the nights draw in once again. It takes a bit of adjustment. My advice is to take a good quality sleep mask with you, which I didn’t and regretted it.

Travelling to The Shetland Islands has two options from the United Kingdom. Ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick ran by Northlink Ferries which I used last year, personal advice book a cabin as the pods are not comfortable in my experience. Second option is flying. I used Loganair from Aberdeen. I use this airline to travel to Edinburgh every year. A friendly team who have always been really helpful and answered any queries I’ve had. If you sign up to their emails they send discount codes and offers at times which is when I book my flights, small money saving tip, you can thank me later.

As a solo traveller, I never once felt unsafe or threatened at all. I soaked up the tranquillity and listened to the waves crashing. Perfect place to visit if you want to unwind and reconnect with nature. You can’t beat the smell of the sea and wind in your hair. Pure bliss. Now it’s time to go back to reality!

Part of the glorious coastline basking in the sunshine.

Most of my holiday was spent staying at Norlande Guesthouse run by Amanda Hawick. https://www.destinationshetland.co.uk/meet-amanda-hawick/ I will let the link speak for itself. Perfect host and when I return to write a piece on https://www.uphellyaa.org/ I will be staying here. Planning is now in progress for January 2026.