Back out west

Timed it beautifully (by pure chance) to get the ferry to Toft on Mainland. Then headed, via Lerwick for supplies, out to the Westings campsite. There's a great view but I'd forgotten it was so near the road, it was very weird hearing traffic from the tent (and certainly a change from the surf last night which was lovely to hear all night).

One of the attractions of Westings was the attached pub - I was hoping to have a Shetland beer as I'd had one last time I stayed there (island games, 2005) but they don't stock them any more! They do have wifi in the bar though.

It was a bit noisy at the pub till about 11.30pm (and the traffic was pretty noisy on the main road from really early in the morning.) The shower was ok - bit of a dribble, but warm - and the toilet had no loo roll (but I had my own supply so I was fine!). The campsite has great views, is cheap and has free wifi and a pub so it was quite good, but I definitely prefer the other sites I've stayed at. It's still better than Clickimin I'd think though! Decided to try to find somewhere quieter for tomorrow night, especially as the plan for tomorrow is having to change anyway as the ferry to Noss doesn't run on a Thursday. Just my luck.... Will have to hope for good weather on Friday, my last day in Shetland....

First impressions of Fetlar

After a very wet day on Unst, the weather got sunnier and brighter the nearer I got to Fetlar! Hopefully this was a good sign.....

I headed for the campsite first but there was no sign of Mark and Heather. The campsite is really quite horrible - no view, and very wet and boggy. Walked over it looking for a flat spot - all I got was wet feet! Declined to stay!!! No wonder Mark and Heather haven't pitched their tent here....

It's boggy!!!

The view from the campsite....
 

Drove all over the island seeing as much as I could while the weather was good, just in case...

There's a nice beach at Funzie (pronounced Finnie), the coastline there looks interesting. Looks like it would be a really nice bit of coastline to the north of the island too but you're not allowed to walk in the reserve area in the summer.

Funzie Loch had 2 red throated divers on it.

There's a gorgeous beach at Tresta - sandy, sunny ...... and quiet. Found Mark and Heather already there with their tent up. Decided to wild camp there also.

I went for a paddle in the sea - in the hopes that it would help my blisters... (it did!)

In the evening we had a nice walk along the beach before cooking a very late tea. It's a really lovely beach. We watched the arctic skuas chasing kittiwakes to force them to drop their fish; one chase came very near me when I was paddling (not the kayak variety!) - exciting to watch. There were lots of signs of otters along the beach but we didn't spot any (Heather spotted otter footprints in the morning after we'd camped overnight though.)

My tent at sunset

We found some driftwood, so we had a campfire and started cooking by it. The rain started, so we just put on waterproofs and carried on! Some may think we're mad............. :-)  We ate and had a drink and chatted round the fire for ages as the tide came in. When the tide got to within about a metre of us the rain got quite a bit heavier we moved into the 'millennium dome' and had a final drink before heading to bed. A lovely evening with great company.