If you’re a regular watcher of the excellent "Shetland" police drama, you’ll already be a little familiar with the kind of landscape presented by Shetland: Dramatic sea cliffs, bleak grasslands and quaint fishing towns.
Shetland’s nearest neighbour is Orkney, 50 miles to the south-west. Norway is just over 200 miles to the east and the Faroe Islands lie about the same distance away to the north-west. Iceland is only another 300 miles beyond Faroe, while Cape Farewell, the southern tip of Greenland, is 1,450 miles due west of Shetland. With distances like these, it’s not hard to understand how bold seafarers like the Vikings were able to move with relative ease around the North Atlantic.
Shetland benefits from the warm ocean currents of the Atlantic Gulf Stream, being much milder than other places on the same latitude. Much colder places like Labrador, the Aleutian Islands and Kamchatka lie considerably farther south.
Getting there
With good transport links to Shetland by air and sea, getting there is relatively easy.
Shetland is very well served by ferries, with departures seven nights a week in both directions on the Aberdeen-Lerwick route all year round, with three calls a week at Kirkwall, Orkney, en route. Full details and bookings visit the Northlink Ferries website.
For flights from 1st September 2017, both Loganair and Flybe will be servicing Shetland separately. Flybe operate direct flights from Shetland to Bergen twice a week (Tues & Sat) during the summer months until end August 2017. Bergen Air also operate charter flights between Shetland and Bergen for up to 12 passengers.
Things to do
The landscape is open and easy to access, with superb scenery and the extra thrill of rich archaeology and spectacular wildlife. Weather rarely stops keen walkers and sometimes the poorest days create the most spectacular sky effects. There are common threads to every walk, yet each one is unique. Some impress because of the surrounding scenery or unique rock formations. Others simply provide good shelter for a picnic. Close to Sumburgh Airport and the ferry terminal for Fair Isle, the south-east facing strand at Grutness might appear, at a distant glance, to be an ordinary pebble beach. However, if – taking great care - you scramble among those ‘pebbles’, you realise that the scale is all wrong: they’re huge, many weighing a ton or more. The power of the sea here is extraordinary: these monstrous rocks have been tossed about, rounded and smoothed as though they were just centimetres in diameter, rather than up to a metre. This shore is exposed to the full force of south-easterly gales and this is one place where, even on the calmest day, the potential of the sea is unmistakable. Grutness holds another attraction: in the waters here, around Sumburgh Head, whales, including orcas, may sometimes be seen and they occasionally come remarkably close to the shore, hunting for seals.
Shetland Ponies
These captivating creatures stand up to 107 cms high at four years old or over. Charming and instantly recognisable, the ponies can be seen in any colour known in horses except spotted. The coat changes according to the seasons: a short summer coat which should carry a beautiful silky sheen and, by contrast, a double coat in winter with guard hairs to shed the rain. This thick winter coat, coupled with a profuse mane and tail help to protect the pony against the often harsh conditions of the islands
For at least 4000 years, in comparative isolation, these fascinating small ponies have roamed the exposed hills and moors of Shetland. This unrestricted lifestyle has led to the evolution of a unique and hardy breed, befitting the environment.
From the 1840s, Shetland ponies began to be used in British coal mines as new laws forbade the employment of women, girls and, later, boys. Hardy, resilient and very strong for their size, the ponies made ideal substitutes as they were able to pass through low underground tunnels hauling truckloads of coal.
The Northern Lights
One of the great experiences during the Shetland winter is the Northern Lights, known locally as "merrie dancers". Aurorae occur in the sky above the earth’s polar regions. The northern sky takes on a greenish glow, with other colours such as pink, blue, orange or purple also present at times. Often, there are well-defined rays or 'curtains' of light. Displays vary greatly in intensity – and may do so over an hour or so - but an outstanding display can occupy the whole of the northern half of the sky and shed a noticeable light over the landscape. Less powerful aurorae will produce a uniform glow towards the north-west.
Title Image Credit: Wendy (Image Cropped)