Storm Brendan hits Shetland

Better later than never

Storm Brendan hit Shetland around lunch time on Monday 13 January with the worst of the weather arriving late Monday night.

Both the Lerwick - Aberdeen and all inter island ferries were cancelled and on Tuesday the North link ferry set off 2 hours late, at 9pm

For anyone living on an island winter weather can be very disruptive, no ferries mean no food arriving and going round Tesco's can be a very quick trip with empty shelves.

On Tuesday morning, we woke to find a wheelbarrow and a trampoline in the field in front on the house. Some people never learn.

I headed up to Eshaness around 10am on Monday just as the wind was picking up, the light was looking good with the sun coming out.

Passing the Drongs, the light shone down in shafts creating a nice orange over the rock sculptures. It was disappointing to find that at Dore Holm the sea was calm.

I headed up to Eshaness where the sea was getting rough and it continued to get better around lunch time just as I had to leave.

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.