Shetland Islands

Week-long private guided walking / hiking on the most northerly archipelago of Britain,
boasting abundant wildlife, a spectacular coastline and dozens of major archaeological sites.

Shetland

Introduction to the area

The islands that make up Shetland lie far out in the North Atlantic, geographically and historically closer to Norway than to Scotland. The Shetland Islands lie at about the same latitude as the south of Greenland, but, thanks to the North Atlantic Drift, the climate is much milder. The main island is Mainland with many huge headlands cut by beautiful, long, fjord-like seaways. There are hundreds of islands off Mainland, only fourteen of them are inhabited. All the islands are surrounded by cliffs.
The Shetland Islands are wild and rugged at their hearts and high cliffs drop into the sea. Many of the inhabited islands have an ancient dyke running from coast to coast that separate the fields from the heather moorland used for grazing.

History
The Shetland Islands have been inhabited from Neolithic times. The first contact with Christianity was in the 6th century, but the islands have not been under church authority till the 8th century.
Norseman began to colonise the Shetland Islands in the 8th century and the islands became a vital link in their western sea routes. The Vikings used Shetland as a hub, for raiding the west coast of Scotland and Ireland, trading with the Isle of Man and crossing the Atlantic to Iceland and Greenland. Following the Battle of Largs in 1263, and the loss of the Western Isles in 1266, Shetland and Orkney were the only parts of Scotland to remain in Norwegian hands. It was until 1468 before Shetland became part of Scotland.

Geology
Generally the rocks on the Shetland Islands are Precambrian and of the Dalradian group. These rocks do not decompose into fertile soil. Consequently there are large areas of blanket peat and few rock outcrops. The coastline has been eroded to form high cliffs which intrude everywhere. There are also large areas of red sandstone on the islands.

Wheelhouses, Jarlshof

Wildlife
The wildlife to be found on the Shetland islands is superb. Shetland is a birdwatcher’s paradise and one of the major seabird breeding and feeding areas of the North Atlantic. More than a million birds breed in very large colonies. No-where else in Britain, and hardly anywhere in Europe, can you get so close, so easily, to so many seabirds. You can sit on a cliff top with puffins standing next to you just a few feet away and you can watch thousands of gannets diving into the sea.
We will certainly see common and grey seals. Shetland is one of the otter’s main strongholds in the UK, so there’s a good chance of seeing otters.
There are frequent sightings of harbour porpoises and occasionally dolphins and whales.
Botanical attractions include rare arctic-alpine plants, wildflower meadows, mosses and lichens. The ungrazed holms and sea cliffs are Shetland’s ‘hanging gardens’ with some of the lushest vegetation in the islands.

The walking/hiking
The walks during this holiday will be on open and rough moorland, hills and on coastal cliff tops. Most of our coastal walks will be on paths, but there will be few paths and tracks on the moorland and hills. Shetland does not have big mountains, but the hills have a sub-Arctic kind of terrain, and weather patterns to match.
Summers are certainly cooler than on the mainland of Scotland. Rainfall is less than along the west coast of Scotland, but wind speeds can be high, even in the Summer. This might affect our itinerary.
For all our holidays, we say that you should bring warm clothes, hat and gloves. This is essential for this holiday.

The programme day-by-day

Please note, this is only how your tour could be. Your guide will adjust it depending on your preferences and the weather conditions. There are shorter (and longer) alternatives with less ascent (or more ascent) for all the walks.

Jarlshof, St Ninian’s Isle and Mousa Fair Isle Ronas Hill Papa Stour Unst Luna Ness and Noss

Day 1: Glasgow - Aberdeen - Shetland We will meet in Glasgow and travel by train to Aberdeen. In Aberdeen we will board the overnight ferry to Lerwick. Day 2: Jarlshof, St Ninian’s Isle and Mousa (1) On our first day in Shetland we will explore the history of the islands. We will visit Jarlshof. This is an extraordinary settlement site embracing 4,000 years of human history. The site contains a remarkable sequence of stone structures – late Neolithic houses, Bronze-Age village, Iron-Age broch and wheelhouses, Norse longhouse, medieval farmstead, and 16th-century laird’s house. St Ninian’s Isle is our next stop. This island is connected to Mainland by a ‘tombolo’ - a narrow spit of sand. The island is named after a 12th century church where an ancient Pictisch treasure hoard was found during an excavation in 1958. Historians believe that the site was used as a domestic residence from the 1st century BC. We will have a 30 minutes crossing to Mousa in the afternoon. Mousa - ‘mossy island’ - is famous for its 2000 year old broch, the most complete broch to be found anywhere. The broch rises to 40ft/12m and it has an important part in the sagas. Storm petrils nest in cavities in the broch walls. 5 miles/8km.

Tombola to St Ninian's Island

Day 3: Fair Isle (2)
Fair Isle - ‘peaceful isle’ - is roughly halfway between the Shetland and Orkney islands. Red sandstone cliffs, natural sandstone arches and stacks surround the island.
We will go there by plane. This is a 25 minutes flight and it gives us a chance to see the Shetland archipelago from the air.
Our walk will take us to the north end of the island. The views from here are very impressive, taking in some of the finest rock scenery. From here we will walk up Ward Hill, with 217m the highest point on the island. We will continue southwards along the coastline past channels that cut deeply into the land and natural arches, before going inland back to the airstrip for our flight back to Mainland.
7.5 miles/12 km, 820ft/250m ascent.

Day 4: Ronas Hill (3)
Ronas Hill - 1476ft/450m - on North Roe is the highest point on Shetland. It has a massive barren crest made of pink granite and there is a chambered cairn at the summit. The summit has an Arctic climate, with stony soil and rare Arctic/Alpine plants.
The top is often in clouds, but if we are lucky we will be rewarded by a striking panoramic view, showing all of Shetland and in exceptionally clear weather even Fair Isle.
This will be our easy day, because we will drive till halfway up the hill. From here we will walk to the top and walk round the large plateau of the hill.
5.5 miles/9 km, 985ft/300m ascent

Hernaness on Unst

Day 5: Papa Stour (4)
Papa Stour - ‘big island of the priests’ - is formed from volcanic lava and ash and then sculptured by the sea, resulting in an impressive coast line with caves, arches, stacks, skerries and subterranean passages. It is one of the most fertile of the Shetland Islands; its only failing being a total lack of fuel in the form of peat.
The ferry crossing is 40 minutes and we will have 4 hours on the island. Our walk will take us over to the wild west coast.
We will return to Lerwick in the afternoon, which will give us time to visit the Shetland Museum and explore Lerwick.
5.5 miles/9 km, 330ft/100m ascent.

Noss cliffs

Day 7: Luna Ness and Noss (6)
The narrow Lunna Ness peninsula offers great views of Out Skerries, Whalsey, Bressay and Noss, Ronas Hill and Yell. The sheltered western coastline is one of the best places in Shetland to see otters. Our walk begins at on the west side of Lunna ness. Via an easy track the walk crosses to the east side of Lunna Ness to a little bay called Grut Wick.
The walk goes north along the eastern coastline of Lunna Ness passing by some small lochans. A little further north on a small hill is one of Shetland’s most spectacular geological fetures - the Steens of Stofast. This huge fractured boulder is a 2000 ton erratic that ended up on this spot after falling from a hillside in Norway on to a glacier 10,000 years ago.

Beyond the Steens, the route decends to Fula Water. The route back to the minibus takes you along the western shore Lunna Ness, perfect territory for otters and seals.

After having been on top of many seabird cliffs during our holiday, today we will view them from the sea. This will be done by hired boat to the Isle of Noss. Noss - ‘nose’ - is a national nature reserve. The old red sandstone cliffs of Noss are carved by the sea into thousands of ledges. These are ideal sites for seabirds’ dream-houses and competition is intense.
We will get a very close to the cliffs packed with seabirds and our senses will be assaulted by the sight of thousands of birds, their deafening noise and the overpowering smell.
The boat will take us back to Lerwick and drop us off at the ferry terminal from where we will sail back to Aberdeen.

Day 8: Aberdeen - Glasgow
We will arrive in Aberdeen around 7.00 hours and we will travel back to Glasgow by train.

What is included

Description	8 days, accommodation in Lerwick in carefully selected B&Bs (5 nights) and 2 nights on the ferry,
Walking	5 to 12 miles (8 to 20 km) daily on paths, tracks, pathless moorland and open hill.

The services of our well-qualified, well-informed and welcoming guide.
An attractive, well-thought-out walking programme.
An equally attractive programme of visits to places of interest to complement the walks.
Carefully selected B&B accommodation plus picnic lunches on walking days.
Transport by train, ferries, boats, minibus and plane as needed, throughout your holiday, including evenings and from/to Glasgow/Glasgow airport or another agreed meeting point at its beginning and end.
Get-togethers in the evening to set the scene for the next day in a variety of carefully selected restaurants or pubs. We usually eat in a different place every day, so you will get a good taste of Scottish food.

Personal care and attention in all that we do for you.

Papa Stour