Having packed and said goodbye to our hosts at 8:45am, we decided to cover the last area of the main island that we hadn’t visited – West Mainland.
Our B&B on Shetland and the view from the front door
But before we went to West Mainland, we visited West Burra and the East Burra, West Burra being where the B&B at Hamnavoe is located. At the end of the road on West Burra we parked and made the short walk to another white sandy beach with beautiful aqua coloured water called Minn Beach. As this one was in a secluded bay the water was very calm and no waves. We stopped for a while and watched the almost transparent small fishes that could be seen near the shoreline. Having walked the beach we went to East Burra where the road just ends at a few houses. Although lovely views, it doesn’t have any beaches of note here.
Minn Beach footpath along the top and beach
From there, we made a quick visit to Scalloway, a small town that is at the end of the road with some narrow streets. We then drove to the end of the A971 the stops at a small slipway at Melby. The drive out is the remotest on the main island that we have covered. There are very few houses and we passed less that five cars all the way to Sandness and then Melby, arriving at 11:10am. It was similar to Yell and Anst, but far far less traffic and it felt like we were stranded on an island all on our own. We did have a cup of tea sitting on the bonnet of the landrover at Melby beach, where we saw a seal and the now very familiar sea birds. There were a couple there when we arrived, and one car arrived as we left.
Melby beach – The end of the A971
After our cup of tea, we retraced our steps until we got to the Dale turning. This road was even narrower and more remote than the A971. There were some stunning views and hills just covered in purple gorse. Arriving at Walls, the A971 (it forks to Sandness and Walls) was closed to traffic back to the A971 so we were diverted along a small road back to the A971.
Typical of the deserted roads in Shetland – this one is on the way to Dale
Once we arrived at the A971, we continued back along until the Bridge of Walls where we took the turning to Skeld. Again, the same remote desolate roads and this time we didn’t pass a single car or see anybody until Skeld on the B9071. Continuing along the B9071 through Semblister and Effirth, we commented how sometimes these places we named and only had one house there.
Back on the A971, we returned all the way to Lerwick arriving at 1:30pm and parked up (free as all the car parks have been on the Islands) to have a look around the islands main town. There was a very large cruise ship, the MS Rotterdam, that had launches ferrying people to and from the ship. The cruise was mainly Americans and most of the shops in Lerwich were expensive Shetland souvenir shops that catered for the American dollar. It didn’t take long to walk the main shopping part of Lerwick. We did take a look around Fort Charlotte where the islands army reserve are currently based and were back at the car by 2:30pm and decided to visit the Tesco’s one last time for sandwiches – that we then ate in the car park. We took our time as check in for the ferry wasn’t until 3:30pm – we are taking the NorthLink Ferries ship MV Hrossey, Lerwick to Aberdeen calling at Kirkwall.
MS Rotterdam and one of the ferry boats that it carries
Arriving for the check in at 3:30pm there was already a longish queue (for Shetland) to check in. We checked in and were told to queue in lane 2, but just as we arrived, we were waved directly onto the boat. It appeared that they were putting the 4×4’s on first, so we jumped a large amount of cars waiting to board. As we parked up, they were lowering a ramp inside on the upper deck for the cars to get on to the lower deck. We were on at 3:45pm and found our reclining seats, this time just outside the cinema. By the time we departed Lerwick, the immediate seating area had been invaded by The Orkney Youth soccer team who were like a flock of starlings – noisy and moving in one big pack. They dumped their bags and were all over the place – not going to be a quiet trip initially.
MV Hrossey as we sit in the queue to board
Goodbye to the lovely Shetland Isles as we depart from Lerwick
After departure, I spent sometime at the rear looking back as we departed the Shetlands. I then had Beef bourguignon (lovely chunks of Shetland beef) and chips, Helen didn’t want anything.
We decided to get some sleep and Helen decided to lay out on the soft seating area, whilst I ended up lying on the floor where our reclining seats were. All the time the little darlings from the football team were stuffing there faces and running around the ship causing mayhem whilst they waited to watch the Barbie movie in the cinema. There was a good swell and you could feel the boat rolling once we left the island shelter. To me it just seemed a little like turbulence on an aeroplane with the occasional judder throughout the ship as it crashed down off a wave.
I woke at 10pm to the sound of the ship crew cleaning the floor the other side of the reclining partition where I lay. Turns out one of the little darlings had thrown up all over the place on the carpet – so annoying as there are mountains of sick bags every where, you can’t miss them. They should have all been given one just in case! Not only did he deposit his stomach there, he then did so a number of times in the vicinity of where they were sitting including on his own bag. Thankfully we were docking 10:50pm where they were getting off. Helen did say that she had felt sick at one point, it had been a little lively on the crossing.
Once the passengers for the Orkney’s had departed, we moved to occupy the comfy seats at the front, with the very front one being 3 cushions long (as opposed to the normal 2) where I could just about lay down with my legs bent. We had seen people doing this on the original crossing and there were people with sleeping mats all over the place. I didn’t pay much attention to the goings on, just got my head down for some more sleep with the ear plugs in and eye mask on. The ship departed at 11:52pm having spent an hour unloading and loading. It wasn’t easy sleeping where I now lay, but it was far better than the floor or the recliner. Sleep was intermittent. Finally at 6am they made an announcement over the tanoy that the restaurant was open. It was quiet at the front of the ship and there were people laying all over the place asleep or waking up.
Route and elevation for Day 7
101 miles on the odometer
The ferry route taken from The Shetland to Aberdeen via Kirkwall.
Annoyingly, the GPX recorder crashed just out side Lerwick and the again as we arrived in Aberdeen.