Shetland 2

Here is a photo of the most Northerly point in the UK, the lighthouse at Muckle Flugga (one of many great place names around here) which is just off the N. coast of Unst at the top of Shetland. It was a very windy day and cold, with intermittent sun and hailstorms. Wind is a big feature on Shetland. People here refer to the weather as good when it is grey and misty, if it isn’t windy; and now the wind is back I can see why. A hill nearby, Saxa Vord, holds the unofficial British record for wind speed which in 1992 was recorded as 197mph (317km/h), just before the measuring equipment blew away! So I guess the true maximum is bigger. 

We visited an abandoned village of Framgord on Unst, at one time a Viking settlement and successively settled by people combining crofting and fishing to make a living. In 1861 there were 100 households; now there seems to be only one inhabited croft, and otherwise just the remains of houses, farm buildings, field boundaries etc. All set behind this fabulous beach – with nobody there but us.