Unst!

 Are we there yet? Nope. We'd been traveling for 2 nights and one day, but now we needed to drive most of the length of Shetland to get to the northernmost isle - Unst. That's where we planned to spend our first four nights. The ferry arrived at 7:30 am, but we couldn't check in until 4 pm, so we decided to explore our way north. 

Lerwick is on the "mainland" - the largest island. It's about a 45 minute drive from Lerwick to the first ferry crossing, so we stopped in Laxo and Vidlin, ports for the ferries to Wallsey and Out Skerries, to walk around a bit. We got cold. It had been so hot on the planes and bus and ferry that I'd gotten cocky. Here, the wind whipped away any warmth, and I regretted just one layer of pants, and only two thin layers on top. But the car was warm, and the voes and cliffs and open peat lands are stark and beautiful. 

I'd booked the 11:15 ferry, and I'd had to rush the last bit to pull in right at 11:10 (they board five minutes before time). Whew! We hopped in the pre-booked line, and drove right onto the ferry. The maw closed, we were stuck in our car, and we couldn't see out. And it was still windy. It was a very weird feeling, and a bit queasy, but 15 minutes later we docked on Yell. 

We meandered across Yell, stopping at the Burravoe caravan park. I never would have guessed it was a caravan park without the signs. With so few trees on Shetland, a Caravan park is just a small parking lot with room for a few campers. It is adjacent to a pretty little harbor and a walking path - which I also wouldn't have identified if not for the sign. 

We also stopped at the Old Haa historic museum and tearoom, which was closed. That is the downside of February in Shetland. A lot of things are closed. 

Another much shorter ferry ride, and finally, Welcome to Unst! 

We stopped in Uyeasound at another caravan park, also by a cute little harbor. This time - we saw otters! They're very shy, so that was really special. We thought there were several of them, but looking at the pictures now - there were also seals! How luck can we get? 

The Unst Weather Rock gave us a few chuckles. 

Our last stop was a full-sized replica of a Viking longship. They were big! It's just sitting out, next to a replica longhouse, so we got to climb aboard and marvel at the size of their boats. 

And finally, our cute house on Burrafirth. That night, I crashed out in my ultra cute bedroom in the eves of the old croft part of the house. 

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