We headed back into Lerwick by bus on a cool, mostly dry morning. At the bike hire, we swapped out the bike with a flat tyre for a better option, then caught the ferry to Bressay. It was great to be cycling around the island, free to go where we wanted to go. Our first attempt was to visit a standing stone, which we could see across the hillside, but couldn't work out how to access. A man with a dog called Bonnie (the dog, not the man) pointed out that we would have to trek across several miles of bog if we wanted to get to it. We decided to skip that part and enjoyed it from afar.
The cafe appeared to be shut, so we cycled on down to the lighthouse on the south side of the island. It overlooked a fabulous, austere and wild coastline. The sea was an incredible churned blue with white spume shooting into the air each time a wave crashed the rocks. We found a sheltered spot inside the lighthouse boundary wall and made tea on the Trangia to warm us up, before walking along the cliff a little way.
We warmed up cycling back up the hill to the little shop. It was surrounded by painted pebbles, which depicted all sorts of pictures. Some were colourful abstracts, some were transfers, some done by children and some by adults.
The ferry back to the mainland only takes a few minutes and we were soon back in Lerwick. The TV series, Shetland, is a police drama. The main character, Jimmy Perez, lives in Lerwick and has a star next to his house, or at least there was one for a while. I have heard that the actual owner of the house had it removed though, which is a shame. We cycled over and visited the star, before returning the bikes and making our way back to the Picking Shed.
2025-02-12