In-hoose at the Lighthoose

 

We drove down to Scousburgh Sands and set off southwards from there on the bikes.  Followed a sign to Quendale Water Mill.  It looked great but, unfortunately, it was closed till July.  We had already noticed several ruined structures with square holes in several places which turned out to have been "horizontal" mills, where the water turned the paddles in the horizontal plane.  Both of these were much better ideas than the quern stones which we saw several of at Jarlshof, they looked like a lot of hard work.

As we cycled on, we had to cross the runway for Sumburgh airport; that was a bit surreal.  It was a busy little airport; we saw and heard several planes and helicopters coming and going.  We stopped at Scatness Broch which looked interesting but it was closed too, so we cycled on to Jarlshof.  It was open but unmanned (apart from a friendly workman painting the gable end of the office), so we got in for free.  We wandered round reading the various signs about the different buildings over the ages.  Another couple pointed out the eclipse - we had stopped earlier to have a look with a make-do pinhole but it got cloudy at that point and we'd forgotten all about it.  But now, the clouds were a bit thinner and, amazingly, we could see the eclipse through the hazy cloud - brilliant.

Following a tip from the friendly workman, we headed off on foot to the lighthouse.  It was a cracking walk along the coast and up to Sumburgh Head.  We spotted some puffins on the cliffs along with the other sea birds - fulmars, cormorants, guillemots, oyster catchers, great skua.  Shetland is the place for sea birds; despite trying to be careful, we have been mobbed by various species after getting a bit too close to their nesting sites: artic terns and oyster catchers with their distinctive cries and the more threathening bonxie and black-backed gulls.

We had some hearty soup with fantastic views in the cafe at the lighthouse before walking back along the east side of the peninsula.  We cycled round to Scatness and walked down to the Ness of Burgi and then to the beach at the bay of Quendale where we had a cuppa with a fruit scone baked in the caravan this morning before paddling along the mile long beach.  Cycled back to the car at Scousburgh and went for another walk on the beach there before heading back to the caravan.