February's photograph from my Shetland calendar was taken at Walls. Also known by its Shetland name Waas, it is on the west side of the island and is a lovely peaceful place.
The boat is resting in a boat noost which is a hollow sometimes surrounded by stones. The boat is tethered on to boulders and the hollow provides some shelter from the Shetland storms. Boat noosts are common around the Shetland coastline. I like the patterns of the peeling paint on the boat.
The day we visited the sea was very calm but in the winter the seas around Shetland can be very stormy.
The ferry which travels between Walls and the island of Foula, 14 miles west of mainland Shetland out in the Atlantic is often cancelled due to rough seas and high winds. The island can now be reached by air but when boats provided the only means of access, there were times during the winter when the island was isolated for periods of six to eight weeks at a time. Up until the 1930s there was no wireless communication either, difficult in our age of instant communication to imagine how that must have felt.
For any other fans of Shetland and Scottish islands, Simon King's Shetland Diaries, a series of three one hour long programmes about Shetland and its wildlife is to be broadcast on Thursday evenings starting tomorrow(4th February). I will definitely be watching
4 comments:
As always--beautiful! And so intriguing. I love learning more about the customs and landscape that surrounds you, so I appreciate you being willing to share. Hope you're having a wonderful hump day! :-)
i enjoy your pictures, especially since we have friends up there. The tv special sounds lovely! Too bad I can't watch it over here.
Swoon..... as ever! Love your boat photos. I would happily go and live on some remote Scottish island.
Sad I won't be able to see the bbc programme you mentioned.
Thanks for sharing your calendar :)
nadia
(shadowsandclouds.blogspot.com)
The Shetland TV programme was very good, lovely photography especially the footage of otters.
Nadia, I would like to live on an island too my husband wouldn't be so keen though and the boys would be a long way away so I'll have to just look forward to spending holidays on islands.
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