Our plane was an hour late arriving which put us behind. We hired a car from the airport and were sent to the car park to play ’ find the car’. Such a relaxed island way of hiring a car. Steve walked around clucking the car opener until we heard a beep.

We headed straight up the hill to Sumburgh lighthouse. It was super windy and the views were an indication of what as to follow as we explored this most northerly part of Great Britain.

The lighthouse museum explains the history of lighthouses. The hardship the early keepers endured and life for the families of the keeper. I loved the profile of a Lighthouse Keeper.

It had an excellent marine section showing the birds found here. The puffins are a favour and everywhere you go there are pictures and little stuffed toys depicting the puffin. I got to hear the noises of the birds and the little puffin has a growling type call.

We continued up the main road north and called into Sandwick with the idea of catching the little ferry across to Mousa a small island off the mainland. It is a bird life haven. Unfortunately we were running late because our plane was an hr behind and we missed the last ferry of the day. we’ll try again in Sunday.

We called into a jewellery shop on the arts and crafts trail. Karlin Anderson was born in the Shetlands but had spent a lot of her adult life in London. She does beautiful work which reflects life on the islands. Her lace work jewellery is exquisite.

I might have ordered something from her!

We had a bowl of soup at the Hoswick craft cafe and chatted to the lady in the shop They are such warm friendly people so open to questions about their life on the island.

Excited to see some Shetland ponies on our way to the sunny west coast of the island.

Horses came over with the Norse settlers. They would have been bigger then but evolved with the conditions to be shorter study horses to cope with the conditions and the work load.

We detoured to visit St Ninians. It’s a spectacular beach which stretches from the mainland to a small island. The weather was perfect. Warm & sunny there were even people paddling in the crystal clear water.

Steve walked over to the island and I walked around the cove to explore the rocks. There are so few people around it makes it very special.

The road north is much better than I anticipated and there was little traffic so it was an easy drive

We passed through Brae and decided as the weather was so good to head out the peninsula to the cliffs of Eshaness. The drive gave us the most spectacular scenery possible. We got to the lighthouse and looked North. The afternoon light bathed the coast in sunlight. Truly beautiful.

Heading back to our accommodation we drive down to a little boat ramp used by local fishermen.

Arriving at Busta House was like stepping back in time. It’s old, steeped in history and had rooms refurbished. However, it has stayed. Big stone stairs down to an entrance then up two old staircases to our room named Papa Stour , one of the little islands nearby.

The room was comfortable, had a view out to a bay named Busta Voe. The new bathroom was tiny and definitely wasn’t for the feint hearted. The bath was so high it was like doing gymnastics to get get in! I counted at least 5 people staying at the house who used walking sticks so I don’t know how they managed. So it missed a 🛌🛌🛌 rating. Only a 🛌🛌. But a fairly high 2!

We had drinks in the sitting room before dinner. There were around 125 Gin and nearly 300 whiskey varieties to choose from. Dinner was nice fresh homely food- lamb for Steve , salmon for me with lovely fresh veggies.

A quiet 💤 night.