Left home at 04:30, Holly saw me off. It was raining until just before Manchester, then it dried out a bit. The sat nav told me it was 9 and a half hours to Aberdeen the previous evening, but in the morning, it said ten and a half hours, which cut down my faffage time!
Got to the ferry terminal at 17:40, got waved through to the ticket office, handed a boarding pass, and then straight onto the boat. When the bike was all strapped down I went upstairs and waited for departure. It set off at 7p.m. and we were notified that due to weather conditions, the outside decks were closed.
The menu for the restaurant had some kind of haggis curry, which was tempting, however it also had vegetables in it, so went for the chinese chicken curry, which had a thick congealed skin on it, but underneath was bright yellow (sulphides were part of the ingredients), it was delicious!, and when I had finished, they asked me if I wanted dessert, to which I replied "Yes, another chicken curry", which I soon demolished. She looked worried in case they may have to clean it up later, if it made a re-appearance.
The crossing was smooth to start with, but after a few hours, got a lot rougher. I had booked a reclining seat, but it was crap, no leg room whatsoever, so I ended sleeping in the bar, wearing my crash helmet as a pillow, and dark visor down to shut out some of the light, managed about 4 hours kip. Up at 6a.m for breakfast, then docked at 07:30, then off on the bike to see Sunburgh, the lighthouse was closed and it was a bit drizzly
There are 2 lighthouses here, this was the smaller one
the larger one is in the background. I then headed off to Lerwick for a refuel, then off to find my camp site, it is quite remote, a small field full of toadstools, 1 toilet and 1 shower, pay with cash put in an envelope.
After the tent was set up, I went to St Ninians beach, which features in a certain tv series
it was very scenic. Next, I headed to Hillswick where some of series 1 was filmed (Magnus's house) then headed to Eshaness, where the spectacular cliffs are. After some more riding around, I headed back to the campsite for sone ZZZeds
I had the campsite to myself most of the time ( one camper van turned up the first night and one the second night0.
Next morning, I headed into Lerwick to the New Harbour Cafe for breakfast, very nice, then off to look for The Lodberrie for some photo's
Next, I took a ride up to the Northern Isles, but you have to book the ferries online and pay on board, when I got to the ferry, it was a long queue, so I changed my mind, and headed Northwest to Sandness and Papa Stour, then back to the campsite. That night, it really pissed it down, and the small wind turbine sounded like a steam train going full throttle. I had a lay-in until 07:30, then got ready for another explore, realised that I had done 110 miles since last fill up, and as I wasn't sure if there were any petrol stations on the Northern Isles, so filled up anyway. Got to the Toft to Ulsta ferry 2 hours early, but got let on anyway, it is a 20 minute ferry from Shetland Mainland to Yell, you buy one ticket that gets you to Yell and Unst, and return, good value.
There are lots of abandoned houses on Yell, and the roads are incredibly smooth, with lots of sheep. I soon got to the ferry from Gutcher to Belmont (Yell to Unst) 10 minute crossing
The sheep were even more numerous, and I headed up to the old radar station, passing a viking longboat on the way
which had some amazing views
Next, I headed to the Saxa Vord spaceport, there isn't much happening there, as the chap running it popped off in August!, the ride was a bit tricky, as the road is steep and muddy, not ideal on the bandit
After heading south, I had a lunch of soup and a roll in a small shop, then headed back to the ferry
The ferry was just arriving as I got there, but they let everyone off, then went to lunch for an hour, before letting us on board, then across Yell past a spooky house
then over to the Mainland on the next ferry, then back to the campsite. It was a bit cooler this night 3 degrees, I woke at 10 p.m to do some star gazing, and again at 3 a.m, beautifully clear night, fantastic view of the milky way and I found frost on the tent in the morning.
I didn't pack the tent until 10 a.m to give it a chance to dry out, then headed to the burger van in Lerwick, massive cheeseburger, with extra cheese in the middle, lovely.
I spent the rest of the day exploring Lerwick, and saw a seal on the beach
I then headed to the ferry for Aberdeen, I was the first on the boat, it's surprising how much room there is on one of these boats when they are empty. The bike was soon strapped down, then I was off to the bar. I upgraded from a reclining seat to a sleeping pod, which was a mistake, as there a lot of pods in one room, and I had a real fat git in front of me, who fell asleep almost immediately, snoring, snorting, crying out in his sleep, and many other weird noises that he was doing on a loop for 12 hours, I was expecting one of the other passengers to murder him to shut him up, but no luck.
I had a beer in the bar then a pork and mushroom stroganoff which was lovely. It was a choppy crossing, and took quite a while, as we stopped at Orkney, than got to Aberdeen at 07:00. A few people were checking the Aberdeen LEZ to avoid fines, as they had been caught on the way in.
I then headed Northwest to Inverness (110 miles) to see my old friend Pavel,
then after a couple of coffee's and a chat, I headed South. I was going to visit some caving buddies, but a large storm was heading my way, so just went into "Blat Home" mode, I did 720 miles that day, and got home at 22:15. Laura had told Holly (my cat) that I was on my way home, so she was out by my garage to meet me!
Fabulous trip but 720 miles in 1 day 😱, glad to read your as mad as ever
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