Lerwick, Shetland

Lerwick is the capital town of the Shetland Islands, situated on Mainland on Bressay Sound, a natural harbour. The town is equidistant from Aberdeen and Bergen in Norway, about 200 miles each. There are over 100 islands in the Shetlands, only 15 inhabited. In 1469 the Danish Crown gave the islands to Scotland as part of a wedding dowry. (Lerwick is Norse for muddy or clay bar). Its location made it a strategic maritime base during both World Wars, but postwar industrial activity was slight until the discovery of North Sea Oil. This has made Shetland very prosperous and has increased its popularion.

We docked at 11am and took the feeder bus into the centre of town for a browse around. Walked up to Fort Charlotte, built in the 17th century. Then just pottered along the town centre. Although the Shetlanders are immensely proud of their Norse heritage, we were struck by how Scottish Lerwick looks, compared with the Scandinavian looks of Faroes and Iceland. This is mainly due to the wooden houses further north, whereas Lerwick houses are all stone, and it looks very like Stromness in Orkney. We saw an upturned boat being used as a garage roof, the boat had originally been a mail boat, we were told.

After lunch we had a tour of the surrounding area, and passed Clickimin Broch on our way to Jarlshof, an Iron Age settlement. It was occupied for over 3,000 years and is believed to be the most remarkable archaeological discovery in Britain. It was revealed in 1905, when a great storm eroded the south face of a small hill here and revealed sections of a massive stone wall. Subsequent excavations unearthed the remains of successive dwellings dating from about 1500 BC Bronze Age dune dwellers, broch builders, Vikings and medieval farmers, all of whom had lived here.

We were extremely lucky that our guide was an archaeologist, and she gave us a most informative guided tour of the site. She was the best guide we have ever experienced, a Green Badge Guide, which means a high qualification in the area, similar to Blue Badge Guides, but localised. She had a wonderful speaking voice, which carried to everyone. She was not a Shetlander though, but a Glaswegian, who had lived here for a long time and was very enthusiastic.

On our way back to the ship we passed the island of Mousa and had a stop overlooking it so that we could photograph from afar the Mousa Broch, the most complete broch in the country.

We sailed at 7pm from Shetland, most reluctantly.