We Reach the Summit

What a change in weather; puffy cumulus and blue skies, visibility stretching away into a gentle haze, temperatures soaring to over 10 degrees.  Summer has arrived in the Shetland Islands!

We motored out of Balta Sound without a breath of wind.  It felt strange to not have any sails up but with only 10 miles to our next anchorage at Burra Firth, at the most northern part of the British Isles, that was no hardship.

Leaving Balta Sound

The mountains overlooking the entrance to Burra Firth are dominated by the old early warning radar installation.  It is reported as disused now, so I hope that we have some other way of keeping tabs on the Russian Bears (Tupolev Tu-95 bombers).

Geology Entering Burra Firth

Burra Firth is over two miles long, running South, and surrounded by high hills and mountains.  The scale is difficult to comprehend until one sees a building ashore or a tiny pair of kayakers afloat.  We motored down to the bottom and anchored, in about 4 metres of water, still a long way from the beach.  Tides here move fast in exposed places but the range is small, less than 2 metres.  Here, all was tranquil, with a gentle SE breeze and no tidal flow.

Rapport Anchored in Burra Firth (look carefully!)

Sadly, our meteorologist informed me that we could only stay one night, or we'd miss the best winds back South, to be replaced by nasty headwinds.  But what a night!  Looking North, towards the entrance to the Firth, we knew that the Polar Ice Cap was the next possible "landfall".

Burra Firth, Looking North, at Midnight

This was a big turning point on our trip.  From now on, as we head South, the nights will shorten more rapidly, which is a bit sad.  On the other hand, the temperatures will surely increase, which will be very welcome.

The next morning, while awaiting the afternoon tide, we had a chance to see something of Hermaness Nature Reserve, which included a good hike up the hill, through the Dunlins and Plovers.  A well constructed boardwalk protected the peat bogs from the tourists, although everyone else seemed to go the other way, so we had the upper views all to ourselves.

Hermaness Nature Reserve - Peat Bogs

And so back to sea, around Muckle Flugga lighthouse, sailing West and then South.  Winds were fair although a little light, so the motor was used here and there.  Motor-sailing uses very little fuel, with the sails taking load off the engine, but we much prefer the peace of no engine at all.

Fair Breeze Around Muckle Flugga

The West Coast showed more grand geology, big black rocks (basalt?) as well as more familiar tilted and folded sedimentary layers.  Seabirds were everywhere, large flocks of gannets on cliffs and in the air, artic terns dipping, fulmars soaring, puffins and guillemots floating and diving.

Shetland West Coast

50 miles later, our next anchorage was a gentle and almost deserted island called Papa Stour, although the ferry did arrive in the morning, providing some action.

Papa Stour - The Main Event

From  there, it was only 25 miles to Scalloway the old capital of these islands.  The wind did exactly as forecast, backing steadily to head us all the way.  However, we had the spring tide with us and motor-sailing with just the main, we mostly laid a reasonable course.  Even with a few tacks our logged distance was only 20 miles.  With stronger winds forecast and skies lowering once again, we were happy to moor up to the Scalloway Boating Club jetty, with a friendly reception, showers and washing machine.

The local Scalloway Hotel provided us with high quality bar food and we slept soundly last night.  In fact, the food was so good we are going back tonight, along with a cruising couple from Maine, USA (proper sailors, I call them).  They arrived today, making three visiting yachts in total, so it is getting a bit crowded here.

Scalloway Boating Club Jetty, Town Behind