Blog for Archer: A Journey to Fair Isle

Well, I  almost daren't tell you about what happened today as it was quite a surprise. It was a lovely sunny day with not a cloud in sight and only, surprisingly for Fair Isle, a little bit of wind. The bright sun made the sheer cliffs look very dramatic and we set out to walk the whole of the West coast.  The steep drops and ravines were amazing but made you dizzy to look down. Whoever built that wall was very brave as they would have had to hang off the end of a cliff to complete it - I expect they would need to have ropes to keep them safe.  We finally reached the highest place on the island.  Ward Hill is 217m high and there are the remains of an old WWII radar station at the top. It was an important listening and lookout point. After the war it was destroyed....I  don't know why, may be there were war secrets there! You can just see the North lighthouse on the promontory between the metal work.   The next bit of the walk was a real surpr...

 Not all beaches are the same. There are some beaches that seem to collect all manner of things that we have lost or thrown away. On these beaches you can often find treasure if your willing to look. I can't tell you which beaches to treasure hunt on as their features and treasures vary; for example, you might find things from far away places on a storm beach; a shoe from Spain, a box with labels that tell you its from France. A storm beach is one which is at the mercy of particularly fierce waves and are often long and open. On the other hand a small cove beach may secretly collect passing sea debris as tides circle in and out of them. The beaches I like best are those on which you can find pieces of shipwreck; each piece you find holding a mystery and a story.   Chris took this photo. This iron work has obviously been there a long time as it  has buried by the relentless sea.  Not all the pieces are from boats ,as we know there were some old buildings lin...

  Day 7 was really windy. The waves were crashing against the rocks and throwing up spray high into the air. The wind doesn't seem to bother the birds, in fact they seem to enjoy the turbulent air.  As the weather has turned cold, I decided to buy a Fair Isle hat. The knitters here are really famous and use patterns which are hundreds of years old and each row of the pattern is different. You can just about see it on my hat . Chris is drawing in the background you can see his pictures on his instagram page  We walked to a exposed promontory called Bunes. The rocks were amazing here and I spent a long time exploring. I had to be careful though as there were  a lot of Rock Pipets about and they got upset if I moved to close to them. Amazingly, I sat down they came to me. Can you see it in the picture below - its well camouflaged on the rocks. As we sat on the rocks we saw a few boats struggling in the windy conditions. The ship in the picture i...

Most people do not know the epic tales of survival of seabirds. Many of the birds have flown thousands of miles just to breed  on the rocky shores of the UK. Take the terns, for instance, Arctic Terns have the longest migration of any bird. They fly approximately 22,000 miles from the Arctic circle to the Antarctic circle. they literally follow the summer stopping off in Scotland and parts of Wales to breed. There are two Arctic Terns on the shore just below the croft.  Read more about Arctic Terns here Stormies Perhaps one of the most surprising stories is that of the Storm Petrels (Stormies for short). They are birds about the size of a sparrow. They spend most of their lives on the open sea - remarkable for such a small bird. They can be seen 'dancing' on the sea behind boats. They hold their wings up in a V and look as if they are stepping across the water. They only come on land to breed and live in rock crevices or burrows. Listen to the call of the Storm ...

 After all my travelling, I decided I needed a rest day. I ate toast and drank coffee in the morning. In the afternoon we were invited to help with an event that happens every year at this time. The sheep on the island need to have their coats taken off so they are ready for the summer. This is called shearing. Chris when and helped everyone get the sheep off the hills, then in the afternoon they began to shear them. The wool is then sold to make clothes and carpets.  The sheep are all got brought in a pen - there are a lot of sheep!  Then they are taken out individually to have their fleeces taken off  Chris was very tired but enjoyed being a farmer for a day! 

You can get from Lerwick to Fair Isle in two ways. Either by ferry or by a small plane. I decided to fly but I was a bit worried as I had never been in such a small plane before. This is the journey except that I will except I flew and it took about 25 mins. I was very surprised to be the only passenger on the plane but it did look very small and the pilot said I was not to worry if it was loud and bumpy.  The pilot started the plan and he wasn't joking. It sounded like a tractor. We taxied to the runway and he prepared for lift of. I could feel the nerves rising but I needn't have worried. I loved it!  I loved watching the land and the sea passing below me. Can you see the reflection of the plan on the water?  The landing was very bumpy but I survived. After 6 hours on the train, 11.5 hours on the ferry and 25 mins I was exhausted but very relieved to get there. Chris welcomed me by playing his mandolin. This is the place I will be living for the next 2 weeks: ...

If you have read the previous post, you will know how long this journey is. You can nearly get to Australia in the same amount of time - it is a long way.  On Monday morning, I woke up in a panic at 4am. I thought I had overslept but I had plenty of time. It was, however, critical that I caught the 6.08 train to Leeds  My bags weighed 15kg which is nearly 2.5 stones, so I would need to set off early for the station, as it might take me longer to walk there carrying such a lot of extra weight. I got on the train from Leeds to Aberdeen. This part of the trip would take me 6 hours. The train whizzed through lots of towns and cities, some I had visited many times, others that were new to me.  The East coast train line hugs the coast line so once we had passed Newcastle, I could often see the sea. On the journey we crossed some famous bridges in Scotland: the Forth Rail Bridge. This bridge took eight years to build.  The other bridge that is interesting is the T...

On July 17th I will be travelling to the Fair Isle. It will take 5 hours by train, 13 hours by ferry and, finally, 45 mins in a small aircraft if the weather holds. This is quite an adventure and my great nephew would love to come with me, but can't, so this blog is for him so that he can participate in the journey and experience some of the wonderful natural sights that Fair Isle has to offer. Come with us if you would like to. This is the journey, but I will be in a train for the first part and a very small plane between Lerwick and Fair