Wanderung 25

Fall Follies

August - September 2011


 

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Wednesday Aug 31st, 2011: Lerwick, Shetland Islands

Bob:

Having visited Lerwick once before with my sisters (Wanderung 21), we knew several things about Lerwick and made a plan for the day accordingly that went something like this: 1. visit the library to use the free internet terminals to do our email, 2. revisit the Bronze-age fortress in the middle of the small lake about 1 mile outside of Lerwick because we had found it fascinating the last time, 3. purchase sandwiches at the nearby Tesco and sit on the bench across the street to have lunch, and 4. walk some more down the headland to see if we could spot any puffins, which have rookeries somewhere along the coast somewhere in that area.

The plan worked out quite well. We did catch up with our email at the old library that is situated partly in an abandoned church building in the middle of Lerwick. As our house had been subjected to a magnitude 5.8 earthquake, severe aftershocks, and Hurricane Irene in the interval since we had left, we very much wanted to touch base with the folks back home to see of the house was still OK, which it thankfully was. We also checked our bills due and scheduled electronic payments for some of them, a task that has to be considered if you travel for over a month at a time as we occassionally do.

Monika:

We had been in Lerwick before, so we knew the lay of the land. In particular, we were aware of the free Internet in the local library. So we headed up the hill to the library and spent a quiet hour telling our friends and relatives that we were safely on board the ship. We also heard from our neighbor that our house survived the earthquake and the hurricane we had missed. For years our area has no excitement from natural sources, and when we are away there is an earthquake and then a hurricane. Not fair!

Bob:

From the library we walked along the coast to the broch in the little lake. It was just as impressive and mysterious as we had recalled it being. In fact, I saw some small standing stones in one of the side courtyards, and that raised the issue of whether the broch had some kind of religious function in addition to the basic defensive purpose it undoubtedly served in times of strife.

The interior courtyard with several levels of walls plus what looked like secret passages in those walls was the same as we recalled it, but this time we obtained some decent panoramic views of it. The doorways were also as LOW and narrow as I had remembered, so that even with the pack off my back and bent over completely double, my head and back were brushing lightly against the stones in the ceiling of the entrance tunnels.

But back in the day, those low tunnels would have put an armed intruder completely at a disadvantage of a defender situated at the end of the tunnel, so I'm pretty certain that they were made that way on purpose.

Monika:

We then decided to go to the bronze age broch in the lough. The Clickimin broch is a bronze age fortification with a lot of stone walls still beautifully intact. We had enjoyed walking and climbing around in it the last time and did indeed enjoy seeing it again.

Bob:

By then, however, we were starting to get hungry so we walked a short block up the road to the Tesco, bought some hot meat pies as a change from sandwiches, and took them across the street to a bench overlooking the bay where we enjoyed some wine and beer with the meal. The Crown Princes was lying at anchor far further out in the bay than our cruise ship on the last visit, and we had a view directly over the water to it. The white of the ship really stood out against the cold gray waters of the bay, the almost-black hills beyond, and the dark gray sky above.

Monika:

We also remembered the local Tesco store just across from the lough, and since by now it was lunch time, we bought some still hot meat pies a bottle of beer and a couple of small bottles of wine. We decided to come back before we got on board for more extensive alcoholic beverage and snack purchases.

We found "our" bench at the bay where we had lunch the last time. This time our ship was anchored a lot farther out at sea and we saw it at anchor before us. After lunch, we decided to walk around the next peninsula rather than come back to town

Bob:

After lunch we followed an official path up the coast and part ways around the peninsula. We wanted to walk the loop, but we couldn't find one connecting piece of trail and ended up having to retrace our steps the way we had walked out. Still, there were sheep in the fields with us and we were crossing through gates the way we had done in our walks in the Lake District and Wales, so for me it felt like a final walk in the countryside in England, kind of like a coda to our visit there.

Monika:

. It was an idyllic coastal walk. After a little bit of road it was just a pedestrian path with gates and sheep.

But the neat thing was that to the sea side we saw harbor seals as curious about us as we were about them. That of course meant a lot of picture taking, and I was glad of my 30x optical zoom that really brought the critters into focus. At one point there even seemed to be a family, daddy, mommy, and baby seal each popping up and staring at us.

Along the way was a family of geese, and when I started to walk past, papa got quite irate and chased me along, he did not seem to mind Bob as much, maybe it was the camera.


 

Bob:

As we reached the tip of the peninsula we encountered what were apparently WWII harbor defense gun emplacements. Much of it was crumbling, but a couple of the redoubts were still largely intact. Off in the distance out beyond the mouth of the harbor, I spied what appeared to be an oil well drilling rig, and I just hoped they never had a catastrophic leak like the huge British Petroleum oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico last year.

Monika:

At the tip of the peninsula we came on a World War II gun emplacement and supporting buildings. We walked around and took pictures. But after that we could not find the path that would lead to the other side of the peninsula. So we decided just to walk back, since we did not want to miss the ship.

Bob:

On our return journey we bought some snacks and beverages at Tesco to take back to the ship and also stopped in the middle of town for a bit of shopping. The best find was some truly waterPROOF jackets I found for half price in sizes that fit us both. They were not only guaranteed waterproof but were breathable, had zippered vents for under the arms, waterproof hoods, and they folded up into a zipped pocket for carrying. Perfect! I just wished that I had had that jacket from the beginning of this trip as it would have saved me several soakings! Hah!

We were tired when we returned to the ship but roused ourselves temporarily for dinner where we chatted with Liz and Peter some more whilst eating some very nicely cooked and presented appetizers and entrees. Then we read for a bit and just collapsed for the night.

Monika:

At Tesco we stocked up on wine, pretzels, and chips - we had brought my back pack in anticipation of this. We also bought some beer, they had a Scottish brew called William Wallace. What with family relations (Bob's side) and all we had to try it. So we again sat down on our bench rested our weary feet and consumed the beer. We then were ready to forge ahead.

When we got back to town, I decided to look into a ladies wear store that advertised "Sale". Bob waited outside. I did not find anything, and when I came back out, Bob was gone. I walked around a little, even checked down at the dock to make sure he wasn't going to try to get back onto the ship. But no Bob. Our rule, when separated, go back to the last place you were together. When I came back to the ladies wear store, Bob came out of the store next door which was men's wear. He had found a truly waterproof coat for half price (19.50 pounds). It looked so great, that I asked whether they had another one in a medium. And indeed the medium fit me perfectly. So we finally both had found hopefully truly waterproof coats. I am sure, we will try them out on this trip.

The line for the tender back to the ship was quite short and we rode out on top for some more pictures. The tendering operation both coming and going was very efficiently done, with enough tenders so we hardly had to wait either in the morning or afternoon.

We rested in our stateroom until dinner, had another nice dinner with Peter and Liz and then just collapsed and read a bit before turning in.



Copyright 2012 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt


 

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August 2011
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21 22 23 24 25 26 27
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September 2011
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18 19 20 21 22 23 24
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