Well what can i tell u about the Shettland Island.... not much
The ferry arrives at the port of Lerwick at 9pm... Our whole arrival was punctuated by the ferries horn sounding every 3 minutes. This was because no one could see the port of Lerwick, let alone make out the Shettland Islands due to thick fog... This fog had been with the ferry since our departure from the port of Torshaven... it was an erry day to spend on a ferry, I think i watched too much Dr Who when i was a kid!
Finally we port and its time to go to the car decks... but when i get to the bike deck i realise i´m the only one going here... as soon as i open the door i realise that this deck is not going to be cleared. Everyone on this deck is going to Denmark... except me.. I know there is no way i can get Patience off the ferry on my own and i start to think about what i´ll do if i have to stay on board and get off in Denmark, when a crew man sees me and says `let me guess u have a vehicle on this deck` yes, but its only a bike... `no worries think we can work that out to get the bike off for u`
So with the help of one of his fellow crewmen, who carries 4 of my laggage bags as if they were feather pillows, the other crewman, picks a now unloaded Patience up and carries her above his head, over packed in cars, the whole lenght of the ferry, then down a flight a stairs and kindly places her on the deck below where i can reload my luggage.... And guess what? I had packed the camera as i thought what can i take a photo of in thick fog at 9,30pm? SO all i have is my memory of this event
Getting through customs at Lerwick was fun... Must be the Australian passport... have to be sure that i´m not trying to get in to England the back way and stay there working i guess... So about 20 questions later and a stamp and some good cheer i´m allowed to go and find camping.
It was strange driving on the left again and i would have been a lot happier if i had remembered to fix my headlight and repair my taillight for the 3km ride... but i made if safe and sound... The camp gound is also the local swimming pool. Its a nice spot, but i didn´t really know this for a day or so...
The next day i´m in no rush. I ride into town to get some info on cycling and find that there are lots of places to ride here. I then return pack my kit and head out to somewhere on the map that sounded good. I don´t leave Lerwick until 1pm, which is not a good time to start riding for the day... I enjoy my ride, but its cold and looking like rain, i can´t really get a good view of anything due to the cloud. Its great knowing everyone i speak too will understand me though. I soon get to a village called Vik from here i decide to ride towards the lighthouse and camping that i was told in Hillswick. The riding is rolling hills, not hard not easy just there. Its very nice or could be on a sunny day with company and a picnic, but on your own its just hard work. There was nothing to make the ride outstanding. This was because i had only limited visibility.
I don´t arrive at Hillswick until 7pm at night. I´m tired, i had left too late in the day for a 65km ride, its going to rain and there is no camping ground!... Great... I´m told the actual camping ground is about 10kms further on up a big hill... just wonderful!... I´m told this by a guy called Pete who runs a sancuary (okay i can´t spell it but u know what i mean) for seals and otters. They have a vegetarian cafe that runs on donations for what u think the meal is worth. Pete tells me i can camp in the backyard for one night and have a shower using the donation concept.... I accept and decided bugger cooking and i´ll treat myself to a great meal also... and it was a great meal.... I even go to see an otter and touch a seal!
The next day...well it started raining sometime in the night and didn´t stop all day... expect for the time it took me to pack my wet tent and stuff. Now i thought i couldn´t see anything yesterday, well today was a whole new concept of not seeing anything. I road all day with both tail-lights and headlights.... I thought that if it cleared i would ride over to the otherside of the island and take the coast road in a bit... adding to my ride by only 15kms... but when i got to the turn-off to make my decision i was wet, it was still raining and i thought what will i see anyway... so i headed into Lerwick thinking i would find a cafe and go to the movies!
Its Sunday in Lerwick and nothing except the pool is open. Even the library is closed, the coffee shops are closed and the resturants won´t open if i´m lucky until late. Its only 2pm when i arrive. Now the movies well they don´t start until the 15th August! struth and an www cafe... not sure where it is but if the library was open u could go there.... No book either as i had finished that and of course the bookshop was closed.... But the lady at the pool to my rescue... she called her dad to see if he mined if i came up to use his www? no worries i´ll make her a coffee and what kind of bike did you say she had?
So once again dressed in full plastic i wander around the streets to find Sam´s house. Sam was out, but there was a note saying where the pc was and when he would be back. So i was able to do some www searching and to update my blog... Sam´s not so sure about recumbents, but he makes a great coffee! If your reading this Sam, thanks for the coffee and chatt about bikes...
The next day was magic, the sun came out, there was no rain, blue sky and a warm feel to the air. I couldn´t beleive i was on the same island... Nor could the farther and son I had met the night before also on bikes and trying to ride here. We had all given up the day before and i had decided i would just find a coffee shop and window shop in Lerwick this day, but my new found friends had another idea.... Hire a car and get me to drive them around the island!
Great plan... We picked up the car around midmorning and drove out to Hillswick again. The cafe was shut, but we when up to the lighthouse and go to see what was so special about these islands... The cliffs are very impressive and yes the place is full of the loverable Puffins, but they don´t eat them here... or they don´t tell you if they do. We drove around and got to see all the loverly rolling green hills and tarns that the Shettlands offer and yes i would have to say on a warm sunny day with good friends, food and wine the Shettlands would be a nice place to cycle. We found a cafe with great views of the sea stacks and enjoyed great chips! yummy...
My new found friends had to catch a ferry in the early arvo so we were all back in Lerwick by 4pm ish.... I spend some time in town looking around and then returned to pack my kit. My ferry was due to depart at 21,30 that night. I planned to spend my last 15quid on dinner in an indian cafe... due to wonderful timing i shared my meal with a teacher from the Czech Republic and a young man from Napal. It was great fun.... i handed over all my remaining pound, jumped on my bike and road down to board the ferry...
It was a wonderful night and clear sky to farewell the port of Lerwick... Now bound for Norway
No comments:
Post a Comment