Its all go

It was off to Eashaness with Wendy and Dave and the weather was good, sunny intervals and a bit warmer. It was good to see a number of cars heading away from the Lighthouse , lunch time at the weekend a good bet. the carpark at the cafe was full so it was no surprise to see the lighthouse carpark nearly empty.

A number of climbers prepared their kit as we moved on for a walk around the extinct volcano.
Larva can still be seen encasing large rocks while a number of other interesting rocks presented themselves along the walk. I am no geologist so I will have to search a few books and let you know what we came across some other day

Skylarks sang along the way and we saw two Puffins near the top of the cliffs, the first i have seen here. Lots of Herring, Common  Gt BB and Fulmar appeared but few walkers. We headed back towards Hillswick seeing the coast guard helicopter passing overhead. Later we found out that a girl climber had fallen from the cliffs.

                                                                                 Wendy, Diane & Dave

At Hillswick we found a mermaid, perhaps the only one to visit the UK and to look around the unusual garden, where toilets had been filled with flowers. On the way back we stopped at Mavis Grind to look at the narrowest gap in Shetland, just a few meters. Lots of anti tank traps can still be seen.

We finished off the day with an excellent meal at a packed Sumburgh hotel.

On Sunday the weather had turned but we still went up to Aith Lifeboat gala, which as usual started with the procession of Viking squads. Mr Stripy was busy with ice creams despite the weather but most people had decided to join us back in the centre having tea and homebakes.

In the evening we managed to get the last tickets for the New Rope String band, a brilliant funny act which were making there last appearance in Shetland.

Wendy and Davids last day was spent in Lerwick, buying presents, but one that Dave wanted the Haggis Pakoras, had sold out !!, he could have taken Haggis Crisps though.

We went down to the pier to wave them off in glorious sunshine before we headed off to the Happy Haddock - for some great tasting fish and chips. To follow this we headed up to Islesburgh for the first  Shetland Showcase concert.

The following day it was back to work for me but Diane had a trip to Whalsay for a guild event. Lucky they had booked the ferry two weeks before as many travelled from the mainland. Later in the week I took the Royal Voluntary Service Lerwick Lunch club down to Sumburgh Head for an outing. The weather was excellent and a few people even saw Puffins bringing sandeels

                                                                       RVS lunch Club at Sumburgh Head