Civilisation At Last!

Later on Tuesday 16th July, we weighed anchor in Hos Wick and headed north to cover the 14 miles to the big city - Lerwick!

Mousa Broch

Our first course took us inside the island of Mousa where we admired their famous broch, said to be the finest in all Scotland (NB: brochs are only found in Scotland and are basically fortified homes for the wealthy to defend against invaders such as the Norse).

We followed the east Shetland coastline, still wreathed in misty low-level clouds until we came to the southern entrance to Bressay Sound that would take us to Lerwick.  This is a busy place for oil rig support vessels as well as cruise ships, so we were required to notify Lerwick Harbour Authority and request passage to the yachting pontoon in central Lerwick.


We were glad to tie alongside and get to know our surroundings - starting with a meal ashore in the local Indian restaurant!

We soon found ourselves enjoying a sociable life amongst the other yachts - some heading south from Sweden and Norway and some Brits like us, aiming north.

Lerwick harbour - hardly dark at 23:15

Having completed our chores - laundry, cleaning and replenishing our stores, we were free to hop on a bus back down to Sumburgh Head for a day's sightseeing.

The bus driver set us down at the Jarslhof historical site, with its extensive ruins of settlements dating from the bronze age to the Picts and then the late 16th Century laird's house.

Ancient settlements by the sea

Part of a Pictish "wheel house"

It was all rather complicated, as each settlement had been built within and on top of the earlier ones but luckily they gave us audio guides to help decipher it all.

Afterwards, we took the coastal path to Sumburgh Head lighthouse to visit the café and admire the Puffins in their clifftop burrows.











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