Scalloway Ancient Capital of Shetland

Its getting to be the windy month  with several Force 8 's passing through. Our new individual wheelie bins, which are tied to the fence even got blown over on Monday. Driving become difficult and a lot of people don't even go out 

Scalloway is a lot quieter than Lerwick with a population of about 1,000. Its a place where trees do well, growing in many sheltered gardens

Its an interesting place and offers many photo opportunities if you look 

Its the small things that make a good photo

Fishing such an important industry in Scalloway

The coloured houses just remind me of  Mull and it has the same feel to it.

Outdoor concerts?

We have been to the Accordion and Fiddle Festival this month and as always enjoyed the event although there seemed to be less people attending this year. I would like to see more local people play rather than bringing up Scottish musicians

Always good to see cats around and this  one came over for a photo. 

The castle, next to the very popular museum is a great place to visit. Although Earl Patrick was not a popular person and a number of people died building it. It was an ammunition dump for the Shetland Bus in WW2. This is only one of two Castles in Shetland, the other can be found at Muness in Unst.

You can book now for the above Photography course due to start in January

Russians come for a look at Shetland

Shetland is the most northerly point in the UK and has always been a strategic place for any military activity, During WW2 (see ww2preserved.blogspot.co.uk) Shetland was invaded by over 20,000 British servicemen. On Unst, a new radar site was built and became operational recently and its already picked up a number of Russian planes

The latest threat came yesterday when 6 Russian Bombers set off flying over Scandinavia and down the coast of Scotland. Both British and French fighters intercepted the planes ,  three TU-160 supersonic bombers and three TU-95 propeller driven bombers. This is the norm now, the Russians testing the UK defences on a regular basis.

The Drongs

Hillswick

Lots of interesting rock features at Hillswick

While Shetland missed the worst of Storm Ali it did get up the 75mph in places with a roof ripped off at Sellaness and a flying trampoline caught up in pylons in Lerwick

The rain has been falling the last few days and the reservoir at Sandy Loch, Lerwick now filling up after a warning a few days before to be careful using water. Shetland had its driest summer since 1984

It was good to get out and see a different view of the Drongs, just a 40 min walk from Hillswick

While everything looked great in the sun news came out this week that Shetland had been hit by at least two Tsunamis in the last 10,000 years

The 9th Shetland Wool week starts this weekend and at least 600 people are due to attend from various parts of the world. Its a big attraction and growing each year, not far behind this is the Accordion & Fiddle festival. We have always attended this since moving to Shetland and it showcases a great variety of music, mostly from Shetland but also Norway, Scotland and Ireland.