return to yell

Return to yell To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive R,L,Stevenson

I had three trig points and one curry stool left to do on yell, disembarking form the Fetlar ferry at gulcher yell there was a trig point near the harbour, it was only the back of three PM, even though I had been up early on Fetlar worked hard and achieved a lot that day already, I felt this had to be done while I was so close ( a wise decision it turned out to be) my reckoning that it would likely take me ninety minutes to two hours? Which Turned out to be correct

A brief cycle up from the ferry terminal then not so much a cycle down more a cycle along a typical undulating country road to its end, where I left the bike and headed over a damp hillock, then down to a beautiful beach it set me wondering how many idealist beautiful beaches are there on Shetland, I have visited and seen so many most completely empty, later on I passed an unofficial looking wooden sign pointing to a voe with lost sole beach written on it! I hope this wasn’t a spelling mistake I hope it’s an elaborate tale of a beach with loads of washed up shoes.

The sun was shining and only a slight cold breeze as I walked along this nice stretch of sand before a brief walk out to a low headland for the trig point glad, I had made the effort now thinking where should I stay? I briefly wondered if the ferry waiting room remained unlocked all night and I could just have bivvied down in there? I opted to cycle towards the main area of mid yell. Gary park had text me earlier when I found a signal and said he hadn’t read the blog for a few days, I explained I had been where there was no signal no power a few days now, when I told him where I was and what I was up to, he suggested I go back to my yell B&B and get some R&R and the blog updated, this was as I cycled away from gulcher the wind and drizzle had started soon it was misty, so misty I had to get off the bike and put all my back lights including my cycle helmet back light put on, to make sure cars could see me it was that dreich! The seed gary had planted was now a desired dream of a warm bed and hot shower, There is no signal in that area of the island of yell I had to wait until I had cycled to a high point, four or five mile up the road, my phone buzzed a message so I knew I had a signal, I stopped cycling and phoned the B&B, Anne remembered me and said yes I could stay again, I was very glad of that as by then the wind and rain had proper picked up, I was soaked and cold when I arrived glad to put my wet gear in their drying room including hanging up my damp smelly socks apologising as I did so, would you like me to make you dinner Anne asked? LIKE? I said I would be absolutely delighted thank you

Waking a wee bit later than normal as my breakfast was booked at 08:40, the weather was low dark overcast sky but it wasn’t meant to rain, there wasn’t much wind either a damp dark day but it could have been a lot worse, at this time I had two trig points and a curry stool left to visit on yell, the furthest away trig point was a bit back north at basta voe not to far from gulcher (the ferry to Unst place) it would also be a bit of a trek over some hillocks and what looked on the map as a boggy area, (I wasn’t wrong there)I decided to leave this until last thing do all the nearer stuff first then have a think about timing’s fitness and weather,

The first trig point rulkies hill was a cycle way along a dead-end country road, at the end there was a few houses it was mega steep getting up to It, I stopped along the way to visit peerie willie Johnson’s memorial (I must listen to his music!) out of all the Shetland words I hear the most peerie is number one I hear it countless times every day, it’s the Shetland word for small I had not previously realised how often the word small gets used until it is removed from the everyday language and replaced by something else, of course I personally never say small as I’m a central belter scot I say wee, which sometimes means big like a wee beer or a wee half(nip o whisky) these actually mean big! In general, though I use the word wee an awful lot or a muckle lot muckle being scots for big. The word peerie is unique to the Shetland dialect, or perhaps its Norn which is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland) off the north coast of mainland Scotland and in Caithness in the far north of the Scottish mainland. After Orkney and Shetland was gained back to Scotland from the Vikings in 1468–69, it was gradually replaced by Scots.

Anyway I would have called him wee willie, but if he was English it may have been small Johnston perhaps on Shetland it would have been peerie pilly for that, but I’m just being cheeky now, he was small in stature but a great self-taught musician When I left the daunder at the wee (peerie small) hamlet, a woman came out in her pyjama bottoms asking if I was lost? I was looking at a map so I wont say she was maybe just being nosy, I was glad of a chat and some local info anyway she knew where I was headed and said her friend prefers the coast approach it s less boggy and more scenic, her friend is right! but it wasn’t my only walk that day I chose this approach as I could cycle to roughly the correct height so more cycling less walking saved me time along with me needing to head back north for my next objectives, the coast would have taken me west then I would have to backtrack, I would have loved to have walked it from the B&B along to west sandwick beach (beautiful) then up the coast - past a broch and a Neolithic settlement, its just another example of doing what you can and accepting you cannot do everything my agenda had a timescale my objectives required sustained goals to chase, of course I would not want to miss everything hence stopping at memorials and sites of interest but I cannot stop and do everything

I stopped and filmed a bit of the high bogland approach to this trig, I filmed it because it can be frustrating yet funny, you need to weave around big boggy tussocks hillocks puddles pools hags watching where you go all the time, my new trail shoes were getting ripped to shreds the amount of heather that had snagged to their mesh uppers had caused numerous growing rips, the sole was brand new as I was in bouncy wet squished vegetation mostly when not cycling,

The trig point was right at the coast the sun came out briefly I was extremely lucky and smiled at the view knowing that on a giod day this would be an unbeatable place for a rugged coastline view, if you have been following the blog you will know I am qualified to say that!

Flying downhill on the daunder was ace virtually all the way back to the main road, then past the Bod once at the junction for mid yell, I felt it was time to stop take some refuge in a bus shelter and plan/think?, bus shelters on Shetland are well looked after and I can understand why, it really felt great to get out of the wind there almost seemed to be a difference of air pressure in that wee shelter, of course there wasn’t and this wasn’t even that windy a day but shelter means so much more when you feel you are getting a rest from a battle, as I changed clothing layers I noticed a painted stone covered in wee love hearts it was fair braw I picked it up the girl guides had put it there, apparently I should put a # hashtag on my social media with a photo, it made me smile I know there’s a lot of negativity towards this sort of stuff is it just more rubbish or is it art is it part of the problem not part of the solution? I don’t know! Maybe that’s about quantity one wee stone are a muckle stain at every shelter, to me personally it’s a small issue that made me smile the fields full of sheep are a much bigger environmental issue than a couple o painted stones, so I’m not entering that bun fight

Having a break inside the bus shelter looking at the time and the map? the Curry stool would be easily done, the pillar trig difficult but doable? I could potentially leave the curry go for the far away trig, or do the curry go to the shop buy beer then go back to B&B then catch the last trig in the morning? Maybe I could even pay someone to drop me and the daunder of at the road bend before the trig point trek?I decided to go to the shop so I had a beer to celebrate. there is only nine curry stools in the UK, I had now been to two, in theory I didn’t have to visit them as technically they are not pillar style trig points which was my objective, not all and any of the other landmarks and tools the O/S people used for mapping, maybe I should have ignored them on this day it would have meant getting the other pillar and job done on yell. But now I was heading back early, in the knowledge that it would be a lot of work to do the last one and perhaps not finish before sundown, I had told Anne I would be back for dinner at 18;30 my work was done for the day

Up early the weather looked great I packed all the panniers the two front and back also the back over bag and laid all my stuff out on the porch, paid my bill signed the visitors book and said I would collect my bags on my way south after my mornings work was done, I was lucky with the weather and the trek out to the final trig point of O/S map number one my final one in yell actually in the northern isles was a pleasant trek, just like my map finnish out at aiwick, I shouted loudly into the wind yahhhh beaaauty! The sheep looked at me a wee bit funny but unfortunately the world never noticed,

I was back at the bike quick enough and changed my watch GPS from hike to bike, just as I swung my leg over the daunder, it started to drizzle then rain then wind! Then proper wind in ma face and proper rain, NOT NICE the bike wasn’t packed yet and I had no signal for a weather forecast, it was still midday but at that point I was 45 miles from my intended destination that day of lerwick? By the time I had cycled the hard six or seven mile back to the B&B, I was soaked to the skin, even the best of waterproofs eventually wet through, with 35-40MPH winds on and the forecast said to stay on now that I had signal, even when the bike was unladen the wind was affecting my ability to hold a straight line on a main road! the thought of trying another 35-40miles on a fully laden bike was not a pleasant thought! This would not only be heart-breaking hard work but unsafe you truly need to feel the effects of passing traffic on narrow roads on a heavy bike on a windy day to truly appreciate how little control (regardless how strong you are) you have over a bike. I asked Rob and Anne at the B&B if it would be an issue for me to stay another night Anne said I’ve just put your sheets in the wash! But no problem would you like dinner yes please! I wasn’t leaving yell quite yet my bags soaked on the porch went back to my room