Trondra
I went to visit friends of a buddie in Brighton; Trisha and Chris Brown, who have been here for 16 years. They live in a spectacular location on an island within view of Scalloway, Shetland’s second largest town.
When choosing where to live, their criteria included sunset side, therefore west. Good choice. I think I would do the same. So every clear evening the setting sun streams directly into their living room; so much so the blinds have to be drawn. At this time of year there are so many hours of sunshine, if it indeed makes an appearance. It barely gets dark.
After the sun had set, I continued down to the end of Trondra and over the bridge to Burra. I am so pleased I made it to Burra. Everyone has been telling me for months how bonnie Burra is and they were not exaggerating. Burra consists of two fingers of land that stretch into the Atlantic and at practically any location within Burra the view is composed of constantly shifting vistas of mounds of gentle rolls of land in front of mounds in front of mounds: peninsulas, islands, tombolas, beaches, cliffs and water everywhere. There are so many “grounds” – fore, mid and back-grounds, that the eye is overwhelmed, and each one a variant of the same shade. Absolutely stunning. If only photography could capture this.
Grouting 2
Monday 14th June
Yes! It is sunny today. Perfect weather for grouting. I arrive at 8 and the tilers have already uncovered the tarpaulins and tents we put up to protect the structures on Friday.
They work throughout the day, grouting first the tops, then the sides after peeling off the backing paper. It is interesting to note that they use the same cement for grouting as they used for adhering the tiles. It is quite difficult to ask them technical questions, because of the language barrier, but I think I understand that Peter uses the cement in a situation like this because the gaps between the tiles are quite big and it is the same colour, and will therefore look the same as any exposed cement, which matters in areas where the cement has come right up to the surface in between the tiles. This is particularly true of the sides, where it oozed up beneath the backing paper.
By the end of the day all the grouting has been done and they tell me they are coming back tomorrow to do the cleaning and the painting. Painting?! I nod and smile and hope for the best.
Yell
Yell is the island in between Unst and the mainland and one of the teachers in the school, Rachel, lives on Yell, so I went to visit her on my way through.
It was a lovely afternoon and we set off for The Old Haa, a community museum in Burravoe, where I learnt all about Yell’s history and checked out the local knitwear. At least I feel I have a pretty good excuse to get really excited about the knitwear!
Following that, we went for a walk to the top of the Ness of Burravoe, which was stunning and one of the most delightful walks I have done in Shetland. The shining sun probably helped!
We went back to Rachel’s for a delicious dinner that had been slow cooking in the rayburn for hours and went for an after-dinner walk along West Sandwick beach, where we watched the sun set over the water.
A wonderful weekend.
Unst
Frances, my coordinator, invited me to Unst, where her partner lives. Unst is the most northerly island in Britain, save Muckle Flugga, a rock just off the north tip of Unst, which is home to Britain’s most northerly lighthouse.
After two ferry rides from the mainland to Yell, then over to Unst, we went to eat at “The Camp”, otherwise known as the ex RAF base of Saxa Voord. Gorgeous food. There are several places to eat in Unst now, all of which serve very good food, but I was interested to find out that this has only been the case for the past few years. Before then, there was takeaway café or something similarly paltry. So I felt privileged to have the choice.
Saturday morning Frances and I set off for Hermaness, one of Shetland’s nature reserves, famous for its puffin colonies. We had been told by a reliable source only the day before that very few puffins were to be seen the week before, and having had similar experiences on Ness and at Sumburgh Head, two other places known for puffins, I did not have high hopes. But luck was on our side and we saw loads! They are so cute, especially when they fly, with their little orange feet sticking out!
So that was brilliant. I then went to visit the Heritage Centre and spent most of my time inspecting (and purchasing) the knitwear. I’m hooked now! (‘scuse the pun).
The following day we went to visit a few beautiful beaches before catching the ferry over to Yell.
Grouting 1
I arrived at 8am on the Friday to find the tilers scratching their chins and looking at the sky and muttering. It wasn’t raining. Eventually I managed to coax out of them that it had been raining in the night and so the cement would be wet and therefore we could not grout. The night before I was about to cover the structures in plastic, but they stopped me saying it wasn’t necessary. I bet they wish we had now. Hey ho. What surprised me was that they thought it was necessary to put it off. If it had been me, I would have considered it fine to grout. This just shows that the professionals know their stuff. These guys are very good and very thorough. I trust that they really do know what they are doing. It makes sense that if the cement is completely dry, the grout will adhere better and the whole thing will be stronger. So although it was annoying that we had to wait until Monday, I was happy that the job was being done properly.
