August 6, 2023 Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland
All passengers were required to report to the World Stage for an in-person British Immigration and Customs inspection. We were assigned 7:15 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. but were finished and choosing breakfast in Lido by 7:30 a.m. We did not need to get to the Deck 3 dining room for our excursion check-in until 9 a.m. Cee Kaye mentioned at dinner last night that even though all passengers received letters explaining the procedure for Immigration, many are confused. Verandah suite passengers, Orange Club passengers and passengers taking excursions arranged by the ship take priority (they were given numbers) over privately arranged excursions and any one just wanting to look around Lerwick (all others were given letters). Some travellers have not cruised since before COVID changes and are mystified by the new protocols. We choose to take tours offered by the ship to avoid too much confusion. The process was fast. Line up in the starboard side corridor on Deck 1 and walk quite slowly but all the time moving into the World Stage main floor, let the inspector glance at you and your passport, exit the theatre on the port side on Deck 1 and have a red sticker put on your keycard. The red sticker shows you did Immigration and are allowed to leave the ship. From leaving our stateroom to returning was less than 15 minutes.
The pre-breakfast temperature was 8° C, the sky was sunny and a light breeze. An hour later clouds were rolling in. Ellen and David joined us in Lido for breakfast. They had “F” for British Immigration and Customs inspection and at 8 a.m. only “C” had been called. They had another hour to wait. At the evening show Tjalling Riedstra, the cruise director, congratulated the audience on their cooperation with the Immigration this morning. It was completed one hour earlier than planned.
Scotland has over 900 offshore islands. Most of the islands are found in four main groups: Shetland, Orkney, the Inner Hebrides and the Outer Hebrides.
Our tour was called to board the tender boat at 9 a.m. for the short seven minute ride to Victoria Pier in Lerwick, Shetland Islands. It was low tide. Victoria Pier is right in the centre of the Lerwick’s old town. The ship was anchored a short distance from shore. A Viking ship was docked further from the town centre. The buildings in the old town are mostly local grey stone, not the colourful buildings of Iceland and Greenland. Lerwick is about 200 miles west of Bergen, Norway and the about the same distance south to Aberdeen, Scotland. It takes 12 hours by boat to travel to Aberdeen.
Our tour guide, Beth, met the group at the pier entrance and directed us to the bus for the 4½ hour tour. There were 43 passengers. As the final passengers were getting on the bus, a light rain started. As we were driven to Sandwick, we passed many fields of crops and Shetland ponies, Shetland sheep and even some cattle. There were many small lakes or lochs in the fields. There are more 1,500 lochs just on the Shetland islands, but as we saw some are so small we would call them duck ponds. Many of the lochs are stocked with trout for sport fishing. The heather is just starting to bloom, we saw small bunches of purple along the road. There were stone ruins of old buildings and walls. The fields are defined by one meter high dry stone walls, originally built by crofters, the tenants of the landowners. However in 1886 a law was passed that gave crofters the right to buy the land that they worked. There are many small farms about 70 acres or so. There are 120 broches on the Shetland
Islands. They are mostly centuries old broch ruins.
Today the bus dropped the group off at Sandwick where we walked 200 meters to a cobblestone pier for an eight minute boat ride to uninhabited Mousa Island, which is a nature reserve. The Laird’s (lord’ house) was nearby and is occupied by the current laird. It was built in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Under European law Mousa has been designated as a Special Protection Area. The area birds are Arctic Skuas, Great Skuas, Arctic Terns, Gannets or Solans, Shag, Black Guillemots and tiny nocturnal Storm Petrels. The Arctic Tern feeds on sandeel which have been dwindling in the area. There are conservation plans to stimulate the sandeel around Mousa Island.
We gathered at a stone cottage before starting the trek over soft grass covered peat to the Iron Age Broch of Mousa. There was a light rain occasionally during the two hour visit to Mousa. Along the route was a bench carved from drift wood by a local man during COVID-19 and it is placed exactly at the 60° North latitude. There were birds flying along the coast and resting on coastal rocks. There were areas where either flat rocks or tiny wooden bridges crossed a low area that was soft and damp. The trek to the broch was 1.2 km, along the way Beth would stop and tell the group a little more about the area. At Mousa Broch the group squeezed inside the roofless structure in a drizzle. It originally had five levels with wooden floors, but the were no openings for windows or defensive purposes. Built into the double stone wall is a winding stone staircase spiralling to the top. There were openings to view the inner part of the tower. There was ruins of a two storey house and its servants quarters that was abandoned in the 1830s. From the broch, about a third of the people returned to the pier on the route we had used. The rest of us continued the loop around the island, almost 2.5 km. There was a light breeze but the rain had stopped. It was so peaceful walking along the cliffs and seeing the birds.
Claire glimpsed a seal’s head poking out of the water in a small coves but it disappeared underwater quickly. There were birds flying in the coves. It was so nice to be hiking on such a soft but walkable surface. Everyone was back to the jetty waiting for Rodney’s boat, named Solan IV, to take us back to the Sandwick wharf. The jetty was built on a rocky beach and lying among the rocks were a variety of pretty small shells.
During the short ride, we saw a small fishing boat with dozens of birds circling it. There were even birds diving into the water, that is characteristic of the Arctic Terns. The bus driver was the one from the morning drive. The bus returned to Lerwick’s Victoria Pier. It was still overcast but the temperature was 15° C.
There was no line for the tender boat, but only two other people were seated. Within ten minutes the tender departed with less than two dozen passengers.
At dinner with Cee Kaye and Brad, the captain announced that it is 577 nautical miles to Rotterdam. We were reminded that the clocks need to be set yet another hour ahead for arrival in Rotterdam in two days. This is the final time change for this direction. There will be six time changes returning to Boston, but the hours will be given back to us. On the return trip when we get up in the morning we will feel better rested.
Tonight’s show was comedian/ventriloquist Mike Robinson and his puppet. After the show we went to Lido for tea and cake.
Total steps 13,279
one meter high dry stone wall
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