The bus took us to the airport in the damp morning air. I'm not great with motion sickness and the little plane was buffeted and bumped around through the clouds all the way to Sumburgh. I just wanted to stay very still for a while when we got off. Sumburgh airport is a tiny place, right on the southern tip of Shetland. It is a good 40 miles up to the main town Lerwick, and the options were bus or taxi. Fortunately, some oilrig workers were willing to share their taxi, which made the journey pleasant and free.
Our plan was to pick up some pre-booked bikes, and take them on the bus over to our accommodation at Voe. We had taken bikes on the buses the previous summer and it hadn't been a problem, so we didn't anticipate one now. What's that you say? 'Assume' makes an ass out of both u and me? Well.. things didn't quite go to plan.
The bike hire shop had left the bikes out for us, as they were closed for the weekend for reasons I have forgotten. We found them ok, but there were two problems. Firstly, neither bike had the panniers we had asked for, so carrying our luggage was going to be a challenge, and secondly, one of the bikes had a flat tyre but no pump.
Solving the unsolvable is what super-heroes do, I believe, so we split up to solve different problems. Mel went off to the supermarket to buy food, as the accommodation we had booked was in the middle of nowhere. I took the bike apart to see if I could find a puncture and got covered in grease. I persuaded a random stranger working in the back of a garage to pump up the tyre and it seemed to be ok, although I later found out that it had a slow leak.
Then we tried to get on the bus and got refused. It was apparently more than their job's worth, to let us on. One driver pointed out that people talk round here and word would get back to his bosses, like some terrifying KGB officers were going to come and haul him away in the night if he let us travel with bikes.
Mel and I retreated to a cafe to eat and decide what to do. We could cycle to Voe, but it would take a couple of hours, and we had unwieldy luggage to carry. And the tyre wasn't going to hold up that long either. And it would be dark before we arrived. We decided to cut our losses and leave the bikes in Lerwick, chained to the bike hire store fence, and catch a bus, so that's what we did in the fading light.
The Picking Shed in Voe is a 15 minute walk from the main road and only shop, down a steep path and along the side of the inlet. It is a beautiful holiday cottage, with room for 6 people, and a view of the sea. Our host, Keith, showed us around and left us a cake. We settled in, taking a walk out to the jetty. There was an unconvincing green glow on the horizon, which might have been the northern lights or might not have been. It was too rainy to be sure and we were too tired to stay up and wait for the sky to clear.
2025-02-14