From the anchorage at Sumburgh we climbed Fitful Head, near the cliffs
of which the oil tanker Braer came ashore some years ago. The main road
crosses the end of the recently extended airport runway, and we were
briefly held there on our return as a plane took off. A S4-5 gave us a
fine sail north, passing inside Mousa to view the Broch, and out to Noss
Head to see the bird cliffs towering above us. A sizeable sea had built
up there which added to the dramatic situation. In contrast, it was
peaceful in Lerwick where we berthed in the Small Boat Harbour, meeting
up again with Willie in Quaver. We were the only two Brits among the
Norwegians, Finns, Danes and Dutch. A short ferry crossing took us over
to Bressay, where we climbed the Ward, groaning at yet another set of
hilltop communications masts. A better walk the next day was from
Cunningsburgh to Royl Field (photo of Foula from there) and along the
hills forming the spine of the south mainland to Scrae Field. This part
of the island is so narrow that we had views of both east and west
coasts. Andrew left us at the end of his trip and we made the short trip
north in perfect weather to Whalsay and took a visitor’s berth in
Symbister, a harbour busy with inter-island ferries and inshore fishing
boats.