Shetland ponies and puffins

by SV Taipan on 19 Aug 2017 Blissful weather saw the end to our Norway adventure and that meant Mokster days were over. Schengen visa was finished and it was time to move again. We now had to go to a non Schengen country. Great Britain and Ireland are the only countries for thousands of miles so that was the only option for escape.

It is not widely understood that almost all of Western Europe is lumped into one “country” for the purpose of visas. Non Schengen visitors like Aussies Kiwis and Americans can only spend 90 days in any 180 day period in the whole Schengen Zone. This effectively means that every three months one must leave for three months before re entry. As a result we have been on a sleigh ride these past three months to see as much as possible in the shortest possible time. Such a pity.

So out we headed into the North Sea for the passage of 190 nautical miles to Shetland islands, navigating around oil wells and fishing boats, in sometimes limited visibility. The wind was almost zero. So it was one great big rolling motoring trip.

Conveniently our arrival in Lerwick was in daylight and a berth was found rafted alongside “Leona”, a Swedish Nauticat 41 with Leo and Lena aboard. We had a cyber introduction by “Tuuletar” and were looking forward to meeting them.
Together we hired a car for an island tour the next day which not only reduced the cost but also offered the opportunity of some company.

We had a fabulous day exploring the main islands spectacular west coast and seclluded bay. We did see puffins but not so close. One of the many disadvantages of such rushed travelling is the lack of time in which to get acquainted with other sailors so this was a real highlight.

Shetland islands comprise roughly 16 inhabited islands set about 100nm north of Scotland. The resident population of 23 thousand is outnumbered by sheep, ponies and puffins. The little Shetland Pony is a hardy native of these islands. One of the islands, Foula, has apparently 50 ponies to every resident. There is evidence of human occupation since the Mesolithic period. Originally part of Norway they apparently became part of Scotland in leu of a dowry when a Norwegian maid married a Scottish king.

Leaving Lerwick behind we sailed south to Sumburgh Head and anchored in a small bay beside the Airport, just a short walk away from Jarlshof, a Neolithic site dating back to 2500BC, before The Great Pyramid or Stonehenge.

Archaeologists have established that there were a number of successive occupations here over thousands of years. Each built over the older sites, which when finally abandoned, was rapidly covered with sand and became an unrecognisable mound. Uncovered by storms in 1890 when a fierce storm tore the turf and tussock from the sand hills on the coast, partially revealing the stone dwellings. It was then excavated, and the remains of the settlements are spread out across the picturesque Sumburgh Head.

Fertile arable land, fresh water and plentiful supply of flat stones for building presented the original neolithic seafarers a perfect location to settle. There's a smithy for working bronze from around 800BC, underground storages, souterrains, used to store food, and a Broch. This was a double walled tower at least three stories high which was surrounded buy fortifications, all built from the local stone and enclosing several smaller houses. A medieval farm was established in the 1200s by Viking decedents. Several wheelhouses survive on the site and one well preserved wheelhouse containing beds hearth and saddle quern for grinding grains is open to visitors.

In the late ninth Century Viking settlement saw the construction of several longhouses consisting of farmhouse, bathhouse, smithy servants quarters and separate byre, or animal barn. This settlement survived three centuries as a farm. Buildings evolved and devolved on the site but the main house was in continuous use during the period. It remains a mystery why the area was subsequently abandoned.

The latest settlement on the site was a house built by the Earl Patrick Stewart. Black Patie. By the end of the 1600s this building too was a ruin and the owners moved to a new home nearby. The Scotish Government owns and administers the area now.

There is a good taped tour supplied with the ticket and we were enthralled for several hours as we explored the history of the site.

Sumbergh Head anchorage proved a good comfortable overnight stop. The scenery is pretty with a paddock full of Shetland Ponies and a couple of interesting farm houses ashore. David had a go at fishing after our exploration ashore with somewhat dubious results. He managed to snare a good half bucketful of decent looking smaller fish and proceeded to prepare them for dinner. Barbecued and buttered they went from respectable looking fare to mush!. We don't know what they were but we do know what they look like and we wont be keeping any of them again!!
Next destination Fair Isle.

Fair Isle

Setting off from Sumbergh Head Shetland Island early in the morning we made a bee line for Fair Isle, 35nm to the south west, hoping to get a berth in the tiny harbour. It was a good sail in fair weather and our early arrival saw us rafted to the Swedish yacht “Bliss”, a lovely Oyster 56 belonging to Joachim and Cecilia.

There were only two yachts alongside and another arrived later in the afternoon. There is room for several more rafted either to yachts or the Good Shepherd, the ferry. There is also anchorage room inside the small bay.

Fair Isle is renowned as a bird watchers paradise with over 300 species of birds having been sighted there. A big building housing information and accommodation has been built near the harbour. There is only one ferry from Shetland twice a week so visitors not on private yachts are quartered in the bird watching facility. The Island is precipitous at the edges. Massive cliffs plunge into the North Sea and are battered by huge winter storms uninterrupted all the way across the north Atlantic.

Seabirds in huge numbers flock here to nest and raise young in the ledges and burrows on the cliffs. Puffins were the main object of our interest and they are abundant. Funny little birds with beaks which look like they have been poking about in paint pots they are fishers and sit on the water in large groups diving to catch food for their young, sequestered away in burrows at the cliff tops. They are easy to spot, although much smaller than I had thought. They make hard work of the flying business with short rapid strokes and sometimes ungainly landings at the nest side. Nevertheless we did enjoy watching them although I was frustrated by the lack of a Leica!

The weather was glorious and we spent the whole afternoon and evening strolling and enjoying the birdlife as it soared over the dramatic coastline. Later we had sundowners with the crew off Bliss, exchanging information and contacts. They plan to circumnavigate starting next year so we hope to meet again.

As much as we’d have liked to stay longer, the weather window was just too good to ignore so off we set again in company with “Bliss”, this time towards Orkney Islands some 60nm south west. We opted to anchor at Otterswick Bay in the north of Sanday island and Bliss carried on. Continuing south west the following day to Stromness in lovely calm weather we were able to approach the rugged cliffs of the West mainland quite closely observing seals and lots of sea caves. Stromness has a good harbour with marina facilities and with inclement weather forecast we chose to avail ourselves of the convenience.

Next we will explore the Orkney islands.

This article has been provided courtesy of the SV Taipan.