Day 4 - The South - Scatness and Sumburgh Head

Well, it's day 4 of the trip - Saturday, July 22. We've settled into a routine -- up for breakfast starting at 7:30. Some of the party go out early for a run or a long walk up into the hills surrounding Busta House. Some get up early to knit before we get on the bus. Some of us sleep in!!!! Then we scurry down for breakfast, and jump on the bus at the last minute! We even learned that there was a back door on the bus -- easier to sneak on and not look like the last ones to arrive!!!!

Today we headed South, down to the most Southerly point of the Shetland main island. Sumburgh Head is where the main Shetland airport is. This is also where two of the most amazing archeological finds have taken place - "Jarlshof" and "Old Scatness Broch and Iron Age Village". The fog down here is really thick this morning -- we stop in at the Airport to check the gift shop out while waiting for the "Old Scatness" dig to open.

We were fortunate to have a knowledgeable guide to take us around the dig....and explain what we were seeing. Here's an aerial shot of the dig itself.......

It seems there was even then jealousy among the neighbors......this is a shot of the floor of the main Broch in the neighborhood -- probably the big guy around town......my Broch is bigger than yours type of thing......all the other little Broch's are around it......On site there are two "replica" Brochs on site, and you can go in and see how the Picts and Vikings lived back in the Iron Age.

check out the Bradford University site for more information on the project.

Also, the Shetland Amenity Trust has a great web site.

After visiting Scatness, we went off to the Sumburgh Hotel for lunch -- this was our first up-close and personal visit with Shetland Ponies......isn't he cute - and he knew it too! Always on the scrounge for a sugar cube.

The Sumburgh Head Lighthouse is located in an area of bird colonies -- but everyone seems to be interested in Puffins. How could anyone resist. Somehow, they remind me of David Suchet playing Hercule Poirot! It was still foggy.....have I mentioned the fog? Well, because it was so warm, we were constantly going in and out of fog......one minute it would be clear and bright, go over a rise, turn the corner, and you'd be in fog. Unfortunately it was foggy at the Sumburgh Head -- we could still see the Puffins, and it made for some interesting photographs.....but I got some really amazing ones of the coastline down there in 2003.

It was a long uphill walk to the lighthouse....but it was worth it.

After all of this history and widlife, it was time for some shopping! We stopped at "The Shetland Collection", Doreen Brown's lovely shop, which is the first sweater shopping opportunity for visitors arriving by plane to Shetland. Again, I didn't take any photographs -- it was hard enough to watch -- if you picked something up, don't dare put it down unless you really don't want it -- someone might be stalking you waiting for you to put it down -- and then it's gone!

After the shopping, Doreen graciously allowed us to visit her work room -- we saw her book of motifs, her drawers of colorway swatches, and her computerized knitting machines. It was amazing!

On the drive back to Busta House, Robert our driver, stopped for a photo opportunity when we saw these gorgeous ponies! This Mom wasn't shy at all......while the little ones were definitely not too sure of us.