| Any previously uploaded images for this page appear here. Click/Tap an image to see it full size, with a caption : |
|---|
June 2011. 'Furthest North' - 60°50"N - Unst, The Shetland Islands
The trip from West Sussex to the most northerly island of the Shetlands requires two flights, a car, and two inter-island ferry crossings. I travelled with my friend Eric Hooper. Getting there required us to catch a flight from Gatwick to Aberdeen, then another flight from Aberdeen to Sumburgh airport on the southern tip of Shetland Mainland. At the airport we picked up a hire car and headed north. We had another 70+ miles to go - taking the ferry from Mainland to Yell, and then another ferry from Yell to Unst.
North of Sumburgh there is a small roadside sign - blink and you would miss it!
This little sign indicates you are now at a latitude of 60 degrees north. This is further north than Moscow and parts of Alaska.
On Unst we had booked rooms in a disused radar station in Valsgarth. Basic...but OK. We had also booked a boat trip to Muckle Flugga and Outstack for a couple of days later. Outstack is the most northerly land in the British Isles.
We travelled to Skaw Beach - the occupied house there is the most northerly home in the British Isles.
On the day of the trip to Muckle Flugga, we learned from the boatowner that the sea swell was too great, and we could not go. Major disappointment. The sea looked pretty calm to me. We decided that as we could not go on the sea trip, we would get as close as possible to the lighthouse by walking as far north as we could on Unst.
On our return trip on the Mainland, we visited Esha Ness on the West Coast:
- and Mavis Grind. This thin spit of land is technically a point where the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea are only yards apart:
Take a look at the Shetland Photo Gallery HERE
