Shetland. First day. It's a windy place!!

We survived!. Actually other than some rocking and rolling the whole journey was a non-event. Just as I like it. There are a couple of photos of the ferry at dock and one of Rhino checking out the scene from our cabin (comfy) as well as the cabin itself.
We arrived in Lerwick on time at 7.30 this morning, and after some initial confusion about the rental car we are now established at Alison’s house, which looks out on the sound about 10 miles out of Lerwick. It is north of 60 degrees here and so in the winter the days are really short. It was still dark at 8am and will be dark again before 4pm. To put it in perspective Raleigh is about 32 North and the US/Canadian border generally follows the 50 deg. north parallel.
The house (photo included as well as several of the surrounding area) is a typical “Haar” which is the larger style of traditional Shetland house with three dormer windows on the second floor. The other typical style is a simple croft house and I will get photos of both styles posted as soon as I can.
Steve warned me that the more prevalent style of “architecture” on Shetland is pebbledash houses that have no architectural value at all. Lerwick and the surrounding area is full of them and it is such a pity. We talked with a Shetland resident and the issues that relate to renovating old crofts are very complex and relate to people leaving in the 1800s but still having the right to the land. You could potentially renovate a croft and then someone comes along and claims the property as theirs at a later date. Not a good plan
The general landscape is stark with VERY few trees on any of the islands and lots of low hills with fairly poor grassland and sheep….lots of sheep. There are about 22,000 residents on Shetland and about 350,000 sheep!
The sun shone for a few minutes this morning, but it has clouded up again now and the wind has picked up. The forecast for tomorrow and Saturday is for winds between 35 and 40 knots (40-45 mph) and temperatures in the low 40s. Check out that wind-chill factor!
There are a variety of small local ferries that connect the islands. Some are charged for and some are free. There are also subsidies for the islanders for airfares and ferry fares to the mainland. Not so for visitors! We pay full price.
There is also local air service in a Britten Norman Islander (twin engine 7 seater) from the local Tingwall airstrip out to some of the islands. Sector times can be as little as 10 minutes but by car and or ferry can be several hours.
There is a service in Orkney (next set of islands down) from Westray to Papa Westray where the scheduled flight time is 2 minutes. That is the shortest scheduled flight in the world. I plan to do it some day. I will take a local flight here if I get the opportunity also.

Steve has been telling me about a local piece of history called “The Shetland Bus”. It was based out of a house called “Kergord” (the photo of the house with a tree in front) and operated during WW2. It was basically a covert way to land arms and munitions into Norway, and land agents and extract same as well as refugees. The naval part of the operation was out of Scalloway, which does not seem to make sense as it is on the west side and would have involved sailing around the bottom or the top of the mainland. Guess it fooled the enemy as the whole operation continued throughout the war!!.
When we are on Unst over the weekend we will visit the very north of the island where one of the early warning radar installations from the Cold War era was located. It was designed to give early warning of any invasion or attack from Russia. Those were the days. No ICBMs and no Taliban or Al Quada blowing them selves up indiscriminately. Just bombs on military airplanes.

Stormy Aberdeen and the ferry to Lerwick in Shetland. 60 deg North

Well, we are finally on board the ferry. Steve arrived this afternoon and Geoff, Ellie and I had eaten lunch at the Inversnecky Café an Aberdeen icon well known for it’s awesome bacon sandwiches!

We also sat for a while near the harbor entrance and watched the stormy seas and several supply vessels enter the harbor.

I am amazed at the size and complexity of the vessels and how specialized they are. There are anchor boats that manipulate and place the anchors that hold the giant rigs in place and dive vessels that have wave compensating cranes to lower the diving chambers. The divers may be in the chamber for a week at a time sometimes on the seabed and sometimes in the chamber on the deck. When they eventually come out it is after a considerable period of decompression. They earn a LOT of money, but the emphasis is on earn as it is tough and dangerous work.

The North Sea oil and gas business is huge and while Aberdeen is the center of this activity, Shetland is an important center also.

There do not appear to be many people on the ferry this evening. It sails daily (weather permitting) and is one of three similar vessels that serve both Orkney and Shetland and is absolutely the lifeline for the islands and permit the continuation of a lifestyle that has been in place for thousands of years.

We have just had the safety briefing and are ready to get underway. We have been told that it may be a rough journey so we will see!!

Update. We are two hours out and I can see the town of Peterhead off to the west. We had fish (fresh haddock) and chips for dinner followed by fresh fruit salad, and chili chocolate in our cabin. Excellent

We are rolling and there is the occasional bump, but it is not unpleasant at all. Steve thinks it may get “more interesting” when we get out in more open water off the north end of Scotland around midnight.