quality day on papa stour

Papa stour

Waking in the back of A van cold with condensation drips frozen to the roof was not the best start to the day but it would defo improve from a start like that! Being parked up at a ferry pier in what to me is the arse end of nowhere but is actually a busy wee boat for the locals had the added bonus of a waiting room loo, I had time and really should have done the wee trig point at the back of the harbour but I left it until later, worried dunc may show up at any time, he arrived exactly when he said he would 08:45, it was great to see him he had even brought me my requested flask of coffee, I still haven’t forced myself to learn how to use the stove! I’m not the roughty tufty outdoorsy person folk think I am, I look at my cooking bag and think? I have a five mile drive and I can buy coffee or a roll of something to eat, being a non mammal eater with a zero dairy diet makes that harder but still easier than firing up a new stove,to make noodles or a stir fry on a stony layby The ferry was such fun we were the only foot passengers, which made it all the cooler what a cute wee ferry built and designed in arbroath one of my favourite Scottish towns four vans and a trailer it was full, I wish we could have been up decks but yet again covid strikes we aren’t allowed out,

Once on papa stour isle dunc knew everyone the ferry is not every day so its a busy wee twenty to thirty mins turnaround, dunc gave me great local info As we walked up to his croft, he only spends a couple of weeks a year here over night in the croft the rest of the time him and kayla only go over to visit her mum, she still lives there full time as one of the only six full time residents on the island which is crazy when you look at the history of how many people once lived there,

I had no idea when waking how great a day this was gonna be, I initially thought dunc would abandon me to do my trig while he went to do work on his croft, or look after his sheep (which we did as we moved around)BUT no he planned a whole fun day for me when he could still do the little bits and bobs around the croft and stuff he had to do, awesome we went into the large barn and got the two quads out I got my driving instructions and we were off dunc drove his quad straight on to the small (peerie is small on Shetland I like it) airstrip. It was covered in snow and ice dunc was doing doughnuts I had to follow on such fun, and then we opened them up on the runway they are fast! I’ve been much more a motorbike person on this sort of terrain but quad technology has defo came on these things can go anywhere I found myself actually truly laughing out loud a few times at how awesome these machines are on this terrain, I would follow dunc up super steep down super steep over streams hillocks and boulders all with ease brilliant fun,

We visited an abandoned croft and discussed the old Shetland mills and population loss, then went to the incredible Kirstin’s hole (stay away from the edges) dep drops into the crashing sea below where ground has just fell away eaten from below! Even the noise of the sea from the chasm was scary!

We then took the quads right up to the trig point a first for me but dunc had done this before, it was a vanessa trig and it was great to have someone to take my picture not have to faff around with my timer or blue tooth joby! Which has started to be an issue,

We then went back for lunch dunc cooked us some boiled eggs on toast and had got me a dairy free meat free pie, but best of all kayla had made dairy free chocolate brownies she is an absolute legend they were delicious and dunc said I could keep what was left as she had made them specially for me OMG thank you kayla,

We then had a trip round the beaches and geo stacks of ness so scenic I was so lucky with the weather, we chatted about the shipping and fishing as there was boats of shore then gunned it back to the tractor shed, where dunc got the tractor out to get some bales for his sheep and I visited the rebuilt by traditional tools Viking house

A short walk out to what is known as the laird’s house now an old storage shed and last Minuit check on some seaweed munching sheep and we were back on the ferry to the mainland what a cracking day out, thank you dunc money cannot buy you a day out like that only friends that are some of life’s good guys