Shetland: Day 4
Day 4 was an all-Shetland, no-knitting day and luckily for us, we had beautiful, sunny weather. It was pretty windy, but by now, we were getting used to it. ;-D Our day started with a visit to a working croft. The definition of a croft is a small, rented farm. We met a really nice family and saw lots of fun animals. Of course there were sheep …
I think this breed is a Cheviot. I was surprised at their large ears — when they turned sideways, I thought they looked like giant rabbits!
There was also a little baby goat to hold. I decided he loved me — look at that smile on his face!
The croft was situated sort of on a hill and the views from the farm yard were spectacular. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to wake up to these views every morning?
After we wandered around the farm yard for a bit, we walked down the lane to a barn for a sheep shearing demonstration. It was amazing how quickly the shearer could shear. He demonstrated with both electric shears and the old-fashioned hand shears. Here’s the group of not-particularly happy-looking sheep before their haircut.
I was surprised at how calm the sheep were once they were with the shearer. It was a bit of a struggle to catch them in the pen — the sheep would try to run and huddle up in the corner, but they seemed perfectly content once they were on their back and ready for shearing.
And here are some “after” pictures. Poor naked little sheep. At least it was the middle of the summer and not the middle of the winter!
One last look around before we leave …
Our biggest hike of the trip was scheduled for this afternoon. We hiked the Hams of Muckle Roe and on the way there, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up sandwiches and chips and fruit for our lunch. I loved these little grocery store lunches. We also stopped at a community center where the Shetland Tannery had a pop-up shop. It was fun to see the products made with sheep skins that were available. I bought a little pair of sheepskin slippers for my granddaughter – I’m sure she’s grown out of them by now, but they were so cute, I couldn’t resist. After a bit of a beautiful drive, we arrived at our destination and began our 7.5 mile hike. It was VERY windy, but otherwise gorgeous and sunny.
Ahhh, the Scottish heather. There’s nothing like it. It was just beginning to bloom and when it’s in full bloom entire mountainsides are a beautiful shade of purple.
If you look closely, in the center of the picture below, you’ll see a round grinding stone. This is the site of an old grist mill. There was a small stream running out of the mountains, into the sea.
We stopped and had a rest at this beautiful site. Mary Jane even took a swim in the sea — sadly, by the time I got there, she was getting out of the water, so I missed the picture taking opportunity. Here are Bonnie and I sporting very attractive wind-blown hairdos.
We stopped at one of the abandoned crofts along the way and took a group picture. It was such a fun group from many different places – California, Seattle, Mississippi, Utah, Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts and 3 from Sweden (and that doesn’t count Gudrun, Mary Jane and Sorley!)
After our hike, we headed off to dinner, but on the way, we stopped at Mavis Grind. Mavis grind is a short little strip of land that is possibly the only place in the United Kingdom where you can stand at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and throw a stone overland into the North Sea. As a result, it was often used as a shortcut to get from one part of Shetland to the other. It was used regularly until the 1950s, but it seemed a little too built-up by the road to be of much use now.
The view to the Atlantic Ocean …
… and the view to the North Sea.
Chef Pierre had the night off and we were treated to dinner at Frankie’s Fish and Chips. It’s been voted the best Fish and Chips in the whole of the UK, and I certainly wasn’t going to argue – they were wonderful!
(Ooooh, look, a food picture — Thanks Bonnie!)
With our bellies full, we returned to our sweet home away from home. What a BEAUTIFUL view!
