Day 17 - Northmavine

It was very cloudy when we left and extremely windy.  Today we went to the north west of Mainland, an area called Northmavine.  


 

To get here you cross Mavis Grunt which is a narrow strip of land that separates the waters from the North Sea with those from the Atlantic and stops Northmavine from being an island.

 
Welcome sign.  There are solar lights wrapped around 
each letter so will be lit up at night.  

 
 
Mavis Grunt.  Small strip of land between east and west sea

 
View to the west of Mavis Grunt

I did the driving today and we went straight to the furthest point that you can drive which is a small hamlet called Isbister.  From here it would be a 5km round trip to the northern point at Fethaland.  Neither of us really wanted to walk that far and we had a lot to pack in today.  Paul walked part way up the hill and I walked to the top and got the views of Fethaland and the north coastline.  The stoney path was really uneven with lots of deep holes.   There were also cows with their calves although they didnt seem bothered by us.  The sun started to make an appearance during our walk.


 
Old farm buildings at Isbister

 
Grey/White cow at Isbister

View from the top of the hill looking north - the coast was a long way off

 
Isbister hamlet from the hill


 
Shetland Wren
 

We then drove to the western peninsula and first found a lunch stop overlooking Ronus Voe and facing Ronus Hill, which has the highest point on Shetland. 

 
View taken from car

 
View from our lunch stop overlooking Ronus Voe

The afternoon was spent at various scenic points around Eshaness where the coastal scenery was spectacular.  It was a bit of a slow drive as there were quite a few other tourists on the single track road so we were regularly using the passing places to get past.


 
Coastal view from Braewick Cafe


 

 
View of  Eshaness Skerries from Stenness

 
View over beach from Stenness


 
Cliffs near Eshaness lighthouse

 
Small loch at Eshaness Lighthouse

 
Eshaness Lighthouse and sundial

 
Cliffs from Eshaness Lighthouse

 
Rock Pipit

 
Lapwing

 
Dore Holm - Rock with arch

 
Dore Holm - Rock with arch - zoomed in view


We paid a short visit to the little village of Hillswick and just over to the Ness of Hillswick which is a headland joined to the mainland by a small strip of land.

 
Hillswick village from Ness of Hillswick

 
Hillswick Bay

 
Toilet block at Hillswick

 

On the way back we took a detour to Muckle Roe, an island south of Northmavine.  This is an excellent place for walking with lots of footpaths across the island.  There are some nice views across the water but unfortunately a lot of wind turbines as well.

 
View from Muckle Roe



 
View from Muckle Roe

 
View towards the interior of Muckle Roe

 
Blackbird at Muckle Roe

 
Lambs - 1 black, 1 white and 1 a bit of both
 

The road north between Lerwick and Brae is not the most scenic.  The road cuts through moorland and there are several lochs either side of the road but there is also a couple of rows of electricity pylons running along one side and miles of wind turbines.  There are also several works sites.  One seems to be extending the pylons and others seem to be building roads.  There are a lot of quarry works around Lerwick and we can see one of them from our accommodation.

We were later than usual getting back and after a coffee finished off our chinese meal from last night.

 

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