Shetland Islands 2010


May

As winter ended and the clocks went forward, I started thinking about the next bicycle tour. I really enjoy island exploration and a ferry journey is always appealing, so the northern isles seemed like an ideal next destination. Northlink Ferries operate overnight services to Lerwick from Aberdeen and the Shetland Islands are as far north as you can travel in the British Isles, so there were two reasons to go already.

I booked the ferry, outbound aboard the MV Hrossey and back on the MV Hjaltland. The cost of £224.10 included sole use cabins and the bike went free.

An advert in a brochure ordered from Visit Scotland featured a network of self catering accommodation across Shetland called Böds. Described as "camping without a tent", they offered attractive locations with each having an interesting history. Travelling without a tent also provided an opportunity to save weight! The Shetland Amenities Trust kindly sent me a little brochure from which I worked out a route taking in five Böds, all booked for just £38.

Next was the slight issue of getting self and bike to Aberdeen. The nice lady at Durham railway station provided the answer with a return ticket costing only £42!


Day one