Previous To the Out Skerries Prologue Before the tour Day 1 Linlithgow to Aberdeen Day 2 To the Out Skerries Day 3 Planes, boats and islands Day 4 Back to "Mainland Shetland" Day 5 Views from a golf ball Day 6 Bird- and helicopter-watching Day 7 Scalloway and Lerwick Day 8 The Grampions Epilogue Aftermath Next Back to "Mainland Shetland"     Gallery The full gallery Links Other Atrophy pages

Cannon ammunition for taking out enemy spars ... Monument to a Blenheim Two (random) pictures from day 3's part of the gallery. Click for smaller thumbnails Click on any image to get a bigger picture in a new window; from this you can click on "prev" or "next" to see the previous or next picture. You can also click on the "more" link to view the gallery.

Day 3: Planes, boats and islands

Cannon preserved in water Some nasty balls and a 50p piece for scale) Whale vertibra stool Post Office

The next day saw brighter weather, but still cold and windy. Peter took us to see Richard (not the one with us, but one on the island). He was something of a character, although not a local (in fact spoke very good "standard" English, unlike the locals who spoke with a Scottish dialect highly influenced by Norwegan), he had bought a cottage, and was living there while diving off the coast to a wreck. He had a few artifacts there. Anyone want to buy a 15ft long bronze cannon? He'd love to sell it. Buyer collects. He currently has it in pure water to try to preserve it. It's in very good condition.

Richard also had whale bones, and was using a vertebra as a stool

After a fascinating session with Richard, we left to wander further. We came to one of the two shops on the islands, this one had a Post Office counter. There was no-one in attendance at this counter and we could have helped ourselves to the change there!. Crime, at least against others, is unheard of here. The cars they drive are all MOT test failures, driven until they die; they are then taken by ferry to be scrapped, and other failures brought back. Tax? Insurance? What for?

BN2B Islander landing in a cross-wind Peter helps the second landing Monument to a Blenheim Vicious wildlife

While we wandered off towards the airstrip (we'd found out a plane was due to land, and the gusty wind made it sound exciting), Jackie went to the local school because she wanted to find one to twin with hers on Guernsey. She found there were 6 pupils of varying years, with two teachers bewteen them.

We watched the plane, a twin engined Britten-Norman - BN2B Islander, landing at the small airstrip. The man who drove a fire engine up and down the "runway" as a safety check afterwards took us in a small boat (so two trips) to one of the outlying islands.

There we found several ground nests, and a monument to a WW2 Blenheim bomber that, returning from Norway with one of its engines out, didn't quite make it over the cliff, touched a wing tip, and crashed, killing all its crew.

The Plaque

The plaque reads:

The Latin "Per ardua ad astra" translates as "Through difficulties to the stars". A poignant reminder of their sacrifice.

Bird making a commotion "Take care where you walk" Lighthouse Lighthouse keeper's house and garden

We continued wandering over this little island. There were a few sheep grazing, and many birds, we came across quite a few nests, as well as birds making a commotion presumeably because we were near nests that we hadn't seen. We were told to watch where we walked.

On another tiny island was a lighthouse, apparently it was quite common for it to be cut off from the island we were on, and for this island to be cut off from the main island. The keeper had a house here, with its own walled garden to grow vegetables, sometimes the only source of food for weeks. Of course, the lighthouse is automated now.

We explored cliffs and hollows, saw various birds, although no other wildlife on the land, but a fascinating place.

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