Arriving in Shetland

berth on the Northlink Ferry

My grandfather left Shetland more than 100 years ago by sea. I'm certain that his Merchant Navy accommodation was not as comfortable as our was on the Northlink Ferry. I have never sailed to Shetland before but I thought it would be an experience for Daughter. Our relatives advised us to take a motion sickness tablet in preparation for the 12 hour crossing. Boarding at 5:00pm, we shared and order of haddock and chips, downed a Scapa Scotch whiskey and retired early to our beds. 

Shetland is a very welcoming place.

My cousin and her husband generously offered to pick us up at the ferry terminal and to take us to our rental flat which is located on Park Lane which is a narrow passageway that leads from Commercial Street,  the central market street of Lerwick. Many of the buildings in this area date from the 1700's.

My cousin has a shop on Commercial Streetthat has been operating since 1894.

a display of hand-knit sweaters from Wool Week.

The shop has been in operation since 1894.

My cousin, whose late father had the shop before her, showed us some murals that she had helped to select. Artists from Scotland and other countries applied to paint the murals in Lerwick.

one of the Lerwick murals

Ever since Ann Cleeves wrote the Shetland mystery series which has been made even more popular by the BBC television series, the Lodberry, a seaside house dating from 1772, has been known as Jimmy Perez's

house. A lodberry is a seaside house with facilities for loading goods from different sides according to the tides. This lodberry was built by a merchant nam James Linklater. The lodberry housed a marine store, a fish shop and  storage area for masts and sails. 

Shetland lodberry

We are settled in our peerie flat and today we will visit with some family and explore the town of Lerwick.