St Ninians isle

 

St Ninians isle

 

The largest active shell sand tombolo in the UK, that tells the story of Shetland’s fate following the retreat of the last ice sheets The island is connected to the Shetland mainland by a 500-metre stretch of glorious golden shell sand, perfect in its symmetry

What is a Tombolo?  A tombolo is a sandy isthmus. A tombolo, from the Italian tombolo, meaning 'pillow' or 'cushion', and sometimes translated as ayre, is a deposition landform in which an island is attached to the mainland by a narrow piece of land such as a spit or bar.

 it’s worth a visit for more than just the beautiful tombolo it’s also a place where a hoard of Pictish treasure dating from the second half of the 8th century was discovered, it was under a sandstone slab on the floor of an abandoned and buried medieval church during archaeological excavations in 1958. The treasure, including decorated silver and silver-gilt brooches and bowls, is now on display in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

I done the trig point which is right at the far end of the Isle as expected! It’s a beautiful place though even though it was cold I enjoyed the cycle out to the beach but the sand was too soft to cycle on I left the daunder tucked behind a sand dune I also had my first puncture on the bike this day it’s tubeless tyres and the nukeproof puncture repair kit worked amazingly well 

the 25th that is burns night

 

Everyone that knows me: knows that I love  burns night and all things burns related three times I have delivered the immortal memory at events and cannot wait to do it another time, this year for everyone it will be different even the event held in Dumfries the big burns night a weekend long festival for the bard is going to be a virtual event this year

 Scotland’s largest contemporary Burns celebration joins forces with Scotland’s much loved comic hero of 2020, Janey Godley as Big Burns Supper goes digital for 2021. Marking the festival’s 10th anniversary, Janey Godley’s Big Burns Supper dishes up a very special broadcast connecting Scotland to the world with contributions from local, national and international artists to help celebrate Burns Night in a way that helps give everyone a much-needed lift and a laugh.  

hopefully next year we can get back to normal burns night celebrations, i shall just make the best of it here have a wee dram fir oor rabbie an hope fir auld lang syne the worst is past for us all 

I have managed to score a hotel for the night so I shall be raising a glass to the bard in the comfort of a bed warm for a change ! It’s icy as today ! My gear is just not good enough for sun zero the spiggie hotel is a godsend 

First night

 I enjoyed cycling over the runway at sumburgh also enjoyed what I seen of jarlshof and the Iron Age broch near sumburgh everything was shut though and it was cold I cycled on 

The second trig of the day was near the road not too high I left the bike at the road and walked up then discovered had I cycled further I could have taken a track with the bike! 

Time was marching on its short days here at this time of year and I didn’t want to pitch the tent in the dark! I stopped at a shop and garage area to study the map there was no way I was going to get up the hopes for third trig this day it was time to find a pitch 

   I spoke to a fellow cyclist at the shop and told him what I was up to he said I could camp in front of his hotel? This was perfect I jumped at the offer and it worked out extremely well 

This was the first time I had used this tent it was very draughty I shall have to find out why and fix it as the cold disturbed my sleep earplugs in for the wind plenty layers on it certainly wasn’t glamping 

proper start Sumburgh

Sumburgh

I should be on that plane 

I couldn’t count how many times I have flown over Sumburgh head lighthouse? at least once a month for over seven years that's over a hundred times I’ve seen it from the air, only once previously did I visited it as a day out with work colleagues during the commissioning of the gas plant days, that was way back June 2014 that was a visit to see the puffins,  it was the wrong time of year for puffins on this visit, and I was on a different mission, it was the chosen kick of point for the trig pointing adventure 

I took this photo during a flight

Sumburgh airport runway shares a section with the main road into it,  the only other airport runway like this in Europe is Gibraltar I have enjoyed a few sideways landings at Sumburgh but no longer will as I have pledged to go flight free for 2021 minimum maybe forever! 

It was a fun feeling to cycle across the runway           I love lighthouses doesn’t everyone? Shetland goes a step beyond and many of the lighthouses here can be hired as accommodation, Shetland Lighthouse Holidays offer visitors three historical and spectacularly situated lighthouses. From the very tip of Shetland's southernmost point in Sumburgh, to the dramatic North West cliffs of Eshaness and the exposed outcrop of Bressay; each location offers a unique and unforgettable holiday destination.The now automated lights remain under the control and care of the Northern Lighthouse Board. The lighthouse keeper’s cottages are owned by Shetland Amenity Trust to hire your self-catering holiday

https://www.shetlandlighthouse.com/

Built 1821 sumburgh is the oldest lighthouse in Shetland. It replaced a fog bell which had been presented after the loss of the Royal Victoria in 1861. The light was automated in 1991 Designed by Robert Stevenson, the grandfather of one of my favorite authors Robert Louis, the famous family of lighthouse engineers, on his first visit he declared it as a suitable site for a lighthouse. He visited Shetland in 1814 with Sir Walter Scott, who later published his novel 'The Pirate', which was set around the nearby areas of Jarlshof and Fitful Head. 

A cold start and the lighthouse all shut

Trig point adventure begins it was a cold wet start I shall do another blog post on how the rest of the day went due to this update being done one finger typing on my mobile phone in a cold tent brr 

what is an adventure

 

the adventure begins today Friday 22nd I'm all packed with one last nightshift (possibly my last ever nightshift) done , the daunder is in her locker I nearly said his locker there! but there is no way I am riding a male bike, the panniers were all packed in my room, i just required to snatch some sleep and some breakfast before departure on the bus to the airport with the lads going home, I off course would not be joining them on the flight home as i have pledged zero flights in 2021 

  What sort of adventure is this my Shetland trig point cycle tour? One of my favourite authors and an all-round good guy Alistair Humphreys has written a few books on adventure his most famous one being called microadventures a word he is attributed to inventing, I personally loved this book it was very inspirational I give it and him a mention in my own book which is now at the stage of going to the editor, Alistair’s other book grand adventures focuses on much bigger adventures but due to covid he is now stuck to doing nano adventures much like the rest of us! I don’t think I have coined the name nano adventure. I just up with it while I was thinking of a scale for my own adventure? Some of which will be in my book here is my personal scale of adventure making/taking

1.       Mega adventure – go into space the deepest part of the ocean the poles via human or wind power only

2.       Grand adventure – sail cycle or row around the world climb Everest or all the highest peaks on all the continents

3.       Big adventure – skate run hike the length of a continent Europe Americas Africa Oz etc, run an ultra the MDS the cape wrath ultra, row the Atlantic

4.       Life adventure – take a motorhome campervan motorbike boat around the world over a year or three

5.        Box ticking adventure – do all the Scottish Munros or all the trig points in the uk all peaks over a certain height in the uk or Europe, (this is harder than some grander adventures but can be done while still holding down a job or quitting your home)

6.       Medium adventure – cycle the LEJOG the M2M or the C2C maybe one of the European vello routes up the rhine down the Danube? (I’ve done all of these for fun holidays)

7.       Lifestyle adventure – become vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, get married get divorced, have children change career or job go to uni

8.       Micro adventure – see Alistair’s book

9.         Small adventure – hire a tandem for a day, go to a climbing wall take a ski lesson run a half marathon

10.   Nano adventure – walk to the highest point you can see from your front door cook a Caribbean fruit curry ( yes I think you can be adventurous with your food it’s a subject in my book) eat something you have never ate before learn a new language, bake a cake, take a cookery lesson do some foraging, brew some beer

My latest adventure could be placed anywhere between a six to a three I think, obviously all of this is just my own perspective from many others perspective what I am doing is not adventurous at all from others it would seem ludicrously adventurous, the important thing for me is to get out there and never stop learning/growing

Beau Miles made an adventure out of eating nothing but beans for month

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2AwuUV0Jjg

this covid19 does not have to stop us from having a wee adventure, yes big adventures are out and minimise all risks as the emergency services need to focus on people with corona virus, it’s gonna be the year of the micro adventure I would say, I once paid for a yellow fever vaccine so I could travel from Ecuador through to Peru Bolivia and chilli, this proof of vaccination was kept in my passport but never got checked at borders but if i had been asked and never had it then i would not have been allowed into that country! perhaps we shall have to be the same with corona to travel  

Why the daunder?

sometimes poetry or prose can get the point across better!

 

I bought my blue Daunder

To go on a long saunter

Cycle off into the great blue yonder

Free of life and work Satisfying a lust to wander

 Ben Page does a better job of saying it on this wee video 

https://vimeo.com/133177167

 

                   reading back at A few of my older blogs from cycling up the Rhine and down the Danube also the one from the time i cycled the length of Ireland plus the one from cycling the HEB way, at the end of both these blogs i wrote a page dedicated to lessons learned future plans and how the bikes I used fared, these lessons learned developed grew and changed for example at the end of the Irish end to end (the malmiz) I had decided I would not require a new touring bike, that I would strip down and rebuild my old Raleigh classic like the German fella I had met in Ireland, this changed entirely after I dumped my old tourer (the auld dear) in my brothers log barn in Bulgaria after the Danube cycle, That's when I decided it was time I treated myself to a shiny new tourer, leaving the Raleigh classic hanging in the garage with the auld dear in retirement in Bulgaria,

      

kelpies on auld dear

    Why did I end up with a Shand daunder? A big expense for a frugal factory worker when at that time I had six bikes - a racer a tandem a mountain bike my cyclocross an old classic and the auld dear tourer out in Bulgaria, I suppose you could call it a splurge which is something I had only done once before, when i bought a trek mountain bike my first ever cycle a brand new one over twenty five years ago, that bike got stolen from my hut along with my ex-wife’s rockhopper that night, gutted doesn’t come close! since then I never bought expensive bikes I’ve never owned a new car or motorbike as a matter of fact I would go as far as to say I’ve bought mostly scrappers, this bike was the equivalent of a two wheeled customized VW camper something I couldn’t really afford but I was buying into a dream,

          I had given a friend some advice about which type of bike to buy maybe ten to twelve years ago, I recently realised he still held a grudge about that advice! I would like to set the record straight a bicycle is about the person and their agenda, if anybody asks me advice please remember I am not a teacher I am not a paid and qualified instructor for a certain style of bicycling, you need to be specific about what style of cycling you are likely to do, when the legendary Bruce lee asked his friend if ten dollars an hour was too much to ask to teach his Hollywood friends kung fu, his friend quiet rightly said hell no if you charge as little as that they will view you as cheap along with your advice, its like a burger Bruce if you charge fifty cents for it people will taste a cheap burger, charge fifty dollars for the same burger and It becomes the best burger ever, (this is true about most things in life Hans Christian Anderson was correct with the emperors new clothes) people are stupid, in my case I am even worse than the fifty cents burger my advice is free! which actually makes it totally worthless and its sometimes regarded as such which I have no problem with, right up until a grudge is felt.

 Here is my guidance on what bike to buy remembering of course I have made plenty mistakes myself and I am not a teacher I am no more than a sign post pointing down routes of a journey, it is up to you to choose which route you take based on a style and agenda that suits you, marrying both style and agenda is the key as Bruce lee also said no single style suits all,

cyclocross and auld dear

            My cycling heroes all have different bikes - Danny McCaskill’s bike would be useless to Graeme Obree  whose bike would be useless to  Jenny Graeme  whose bike would be useless to Chris hoy whose bike  would be useless to  David Millar whose bike would be useless to Fiona Kolbinger whose bike would be useless to Philippa York! (Robert Millar) whose bike the totally legendary mike hall, would have adapted any or all of them into a race winning machine, well accept maybe Danny MacAskill’s! Even Mark Beaumont’s penny farthing or Mr ed Pratts unicycle have their benefits to a certain person`s chosen agenda and style

      

my mountain bike

    I wanted something I could load up with bike packing carrying ability and long distance maintenance free touring ability something sturdy yet comfortable, some of the choices I made on the daunder have turned out okay others I am already unhappy with, that is not the manufacturers fault or anyone else except my own, I wasn’t specific enough with what I required because I didn’t truly know at the time, the bike is beautiful it suits my character but the front end is too light and the gearing is too low, I have a very low top speed, the super low gears mean I can cycle up any hill but then the front end gets light so it is a bit of a Daunderer which I am ok with but I couldn’t use it to race in, if I ever wanted to enter my favourite bicycle race (the transcontinental) I would need another bike,

my tandem

after getting the paintwork scratched between home and Shetland, I can’t blame baggage handling, but I think that’s where it was scratched? I never checked before and after and my wrapping was rubbish so regardless where it happened it was my fault, I sent Shand an email for some touch up paint which they posted out for a fiver, it was easy touched up,

I have been unhappy with the seat since I bought it so I ordered a new seat, I’ve always dreamed of treating myself to a leather brooks saddle but my new found ecologist ethos would no longer buy leather, I opted for a soft tourer in wiggles sale, I’ve also bought a bar bag to fit below the Jones handle bars bike packing style hopefully it will add a bit of front stability to make sure it does I have bought a set of front panniers which was never on my agenda when buying the bike, or ever actually! 

I added a side stand for standing the bike up to take photos, stupidly bought a kids stand it was a fail I ordered another, I bought new front and back lights and some reflective stuff to be more visible, the rest of the new stuff will be listed under another blog for touring equipment, if I'm lacking in something I can buy it along the way and you always get by,

Thursday morning I type this up and it looks like ALL is going to plan for tomorrows start of for me what is a big adventure the Shetland cycle touring camping trig point ticking adventure begins 

third set and trig info

 

On the Thursday I borrowed transport, with a plan to get two trig points done on the east side of the main road north, if I achieve this it would mean I would not have to revisit that side of the road on my big main attempt to do them all come January/ February

Trig types & Info
Trig pillars were used as the basis for a method of measuring the shape of the landscape so that maps could be created. The maps that were created with the trig pillars in the UK are the ones many of us know and use, OS Landranger and Explorer maps.

·  It was on April 18, 1936, that the first trig pillar was installed in a field in Cold Ashby, Northamptonshire. This was the start of the "retriangulation of Great Britain".

·  Triangulation is a mathematical process that makes accurate map-making possible. It works by determining the location of a point by measuring angles to it from known points at either end of a fixed baseline and, in this case, the many thousands of trig pillars.

·  Between 1936 and 1962, around 7,000 trig pillar being built across Britain, including thousands in Scotland as OS surveyors took on the huge task of mapping the entire country.

·  There are still thousands of trig pillars left in Britain although No one is sure of the exact figure it’s thought to be around 6,190.

·  The highest trig pillar is obviously  Ben Nevis, Scotland, at 1344m.. and the lowest? It's at Little Ouse at -1m in Cambridgeshire,.

·  it took a guy called Rob Woodall 13-years to complete his mission to bag all of Britain’s trig pillars recently

Hotlines

Muckle roe

Most trig points on Shetland are of the iconic triangulation pillar, designed by Brigadier Martin Hotline and commonly referred to as a hotine pillar.Notable features on hotine pillars are the Flush Bracket, Spider, Plug, Upper centre mark and Sighting Tube, Mass production of these pillars commenced late in 1935.only minor modifications were ever made to Hotine's original design. Such as a small change to the centre cap's Allen screws was made to make it harder to remove or tamper with it

'Vanessas

big Tube

At a late stage, around 1958, the secondary triangulation had progressed to the Highlands of Scotland, it was necessary to design a new and lighter pillar, cylindrical in shape, in order to avoid excessive transport costs. These round pillars, usually called 'Vanessas', were considered "less aesthetically satisfying" than the standard pillar, so they were only placed in inaccessible locations to "reduce the risk of criticism from the more sensitive element of the population

Stonebuilt pillars,

  

  often found on more inaccessible locations, these were constructed using whatever materials were to hand, obviating the need to carry too much heavy concrete mixture to the top of the hill, or so constructed to fit in better aesthetically in certain locations. Pillars were occasionally built out of local stone at the landowner's request, "in order to avoid attracting pilgrimages of hiker

On the Thursday 22/10/20 I borrowed transport, with a plan to get two trig points done on the east side of the main road north, if I achieved this it would mean I would not have to revisit that side of the road on my big main attempt to do them all come January/ February

Ward of outrabister

                As usual getting away early nearly always comes with last minute issues and this day was no different. an isolation on some boilers gave issues with HVAC pumps I was a wee bit later getting away. BUT I was all prepared with my gear and could drive straight to the first trig area, the weather was perfect no wind or rain a bit cold but that’s a bonus if you wanna run bits, I drove the scenic route towards voe missing out Brae, then headed toward Vidlin again now knowing where the left turn was, then a long single track road with plenty passing places a beautiful road, I would have liked to stop and look at the historic church outside vidlin it was very picturesque, but no time I was on a mission to get two trigs done before full darkness came, driving as far along this road as I possibly could I passed a silver and a black pair of trucks, two blokes had stopped for a chat, they moved to let me pass,

 When I parked up at the end of the road, I started to take of my jacket put on my running jacket backpack waistcoat, and remove my external trousers for running when the silver truck that I had passed made a turn near, the driver got out, he was a typical older island male coveralls on talking slow and quietly, he lit a fag and asked politely waur I wis aff tae rah day? I knew he was just being nosy but polite with it, I told him he leaned back on his bonnet wanting a wee chat! I got stressed I was in a rush islander`s like him will never get a heart attack they are so laid back. I am hard of hearing I hardly heard a word he said, but hope I said Aye at the right bits and made the correct assumptions to his questions with my hurried answers, I rushed to get away from him stressing about how I never had time for idle chit chat if I was gonna manage two trigs before blackness came.

I dashed of jumping fences and boggy areas but it was a pleasant run I didn’t want to stop and fix some music or an audiobook(wish I had) I wanted up there get it done and get back to move on, once at the top I put my can of Brewdog on the trig for a photo( a new project to be developed) right phone out for a photo, I had the tripod selfie pole in hand with the remote switched on raking all pockets and bag twice I had left the bloody phone/camera due to stressing at the set off!

Light was fading I dashed of back to the van thinking I had left the phone in my trousers, when I got back to the van, I noticed it at the first fence- it had fell out my pocket! Memo to self always zip pockets even when harassed and stressing! Now I had a choice to make? By the amount of daylight I had left there was no chance of two trig points if I went back for a photo, but potentially no chance of two anyway darkness was coming and it was a fair drive between points, I had photos of all the others it would be a shame not to photo this one, the actual route was recorded on my watch and on strava but I opted to go take some pictures, I would have to make it just the one trig that day. I ran back for a trig top photo for my records