Shetland

On Sunday we start our summer holiday, a two-week trek including five days on the Shetland Islands somewhere L has always wanted to go. It has only recently been possible to take your dog without consigning them to twelve hours either in a kennel or your car. So we though we’d give it a go. 

We meander our way north via the Errington Coffee House, a former pub near Hadrians Wall before staying at the Holly Bush Inn at Greenhaugh. Our small walk makes it rain so we revert to the room, feed the Lad and dry off before heading down for food in the bar. 

 

We do a walk, in the dry, at Kielder in the morning before visiting Hawick to get an anniversary card for Son. Then we roll into Stirling where we check into the quite posh Stirling Highland Hotel for two nights. There’s no beer to speak of at the hotel and they are also unforgivably short on scotch whiskies but the nearby Settle Inn close to Stirling Castle has the legendary Wee Jock on draught. So, I cope. 

 

Tuesday takes in two bookshops and a walk out to the Sterling Old Bridge and the Beheading Stone (yes, really) but we spend part of the afternoon back in the hotel room as the new Cormoran Strike book The Hallmarked Man is released and we do the first hour of the audiobook. 

The next day we head to Aberdeen via Forfar and a walk along the promenade. Once in Aberdeen, we go to queue for the overnight ferry to Shetland and listen to more of the book as we wait. On the boat we have a dog friendly cabin that only has two beds, so the Lad has to share with me which means neither of us gets much sleep. That apart the boat is good although I find the fact the restaurant closes at 8pm, only one hour after the ferry departs, a little odd. 

 

We arrive in Lerwick at 7:30am and find a café to indulge in a full English\full Scottish. We then drive around the south part of the Mainland with a takeaway coffee at an old Watermill before arriving at our accommodation in Scalloway a little early at 1pm but our room is ready. So, we head to our room for more book. 

We drive around more of the island on Friday and we even hit the beach where L swims. We find a bookshop for L but it’s all second-hand books, so she’s doesn’t buy anything. Back in Scalloway we try the Kiln bar which is the only other pub apart from our hotel but I have to drink keg Greene King, which is obviously very un-Scottish. 

We eat in the hotel for the second night in a row but this time they won’t let us have the restaurant menu in the bar as they did on the first night. So, the lad goes in the car so we can eat in comfort and I can consume their expensive but very nice scallops. The beer is better in the hotel as they have Shetland beers but mainly in cans and they have the local Norn whiskey. 

On Saturday we skip breakfast, because it’s parkrun day, and head to Lerwick from where we get another ferry to the island of Bressay where Parkrun is held. The Lad isn’t impressed that he’s on another boat and hides under the table. 

There is a bit of a delay until Parkrun starts because it’s so popular they wait for a second ferry to bring more runners across. Once that arrives, they walk us down to the start of an out and back course that doesn’t come all the back to the ferry terminal because it ends at the local cafe. The course is all tarmac, surprisingly un-flat and not unsurprisingly windy. 

The Speldiburn Cafe is great, busy but well planned with instant coffee, breakfast cobs and cake. We indulge in all of those things. Then we get the ferry back and visit the Lerwick Distillery which is open and the Lerwick Brewery which isn’t. Then another coffee in the Cornerstone cafe back in Scalloway and a pint outside our hotel before heading back to the room where I offer L a choice of me or Cormoran Strike or a bit of both. 

That was our last night on Shetland. We check out on Sunday morning, drive to the west of the island and visit the cake fridge cafe, which is closed of course, like most things in Scotland in September, but their cake fridge has an honesty box so we have £10s worth. 

Then we board the boat in Lerwick to head back to Aberdeen. We are pre-warned of rough seas and they are not kidding. It was a rough crossing but we calm our nerves with more book. It's character building they say and the three of us survive the night and the trip. 

Back in Aberdeen we park up and walk long the front taking in a Halal breakfast, which is novel, nice and the only place open so early. Then we drive to Cove Bay and then Stonehaven for what is shockingly the first ice cream of the holiday. We then head into the Cairngorms along a remote but scenic valley to Glen Clova. 

We appear to be literally in the middle of nowhere and it’s feels very Langdale-esk. We check in to our hotel and walk up to a small local loch before visiting the hotel bar where we return later for an evening meal and I have the local deer steak on my plate, L has a rather nice veggie Jalfrezi. We return the following night and I have the deer chilli! They also have an Orkney beer on the bar. 

 

During the day, on Tuesday, we attempt to follow a route called the Ministers Path but it is frequently blocked by fallen trees and is not well marked, so we end up turning around halfway. Then on Wednesday we walk from nearby Glen Doll towards the Balmoral Estate but there’s no sign of good King Charlie. Then we drive to our next stop at the Old Aberlady Inn in Aberlady. 

This is just a one-night stopover as we head next to Peebles via the Scottish Bird Watchers Centre and then North Berwick where we have coffee and cake in the Doughnut café before another stop at Stow for the bookshop. We grab a decent pint from Loch Lomond Brewery in the Bridge Inn before eating in the Cross Keys where we are staying. 

We cross back into England on Friday via Traquair House which is thankfully closed on Fridays and therefore doesn’t cost us £15 per head just to buy beer from their brewery which is why we went but that is also closed. We arrive in Amble, which is our next and final stop, and visit the ex-Tourist Information Centre which is now a pub called the Cock n Bull. We check into our apartment at Amble Harbour Retreats and then eat in the Schooner which finds us a table at no notice. We both have the Thai curry. I also have Scallops which are a £3.50 each here and not the £5 each they were in Scalloway. We are impressed enough to rebook for Saturday. 

Then it’s the second parkrun of the holiday and another one on L’s extensive wish list. This on is at Druridge Bay Country Park which is two laps of a very handy lake or so the Lad thinks so. He then also gets a romp on the nearby beach before we indulge in bacon cobs and coffee back in their cafe. We head back to the room then as the pressure is on to the finish the Hallmarked Man before the end of the holiday. 

Sunday is our last day and after finding a cafe for breakfast, we head home and finish book on the way. 

(Sunday 14^th September)