Day 60: Voxter Voe to Vatster, Shetland

Virtual Walk: Scotland 2021

 5th March 2021: 112.88km walked today taking the total to 6193.58/8868km. 16% of 95 entries submitting 705.53km.

Today we passed 6000 km so well done everybody. Our walk continues round Shetland passing Mossbank, Vidlin and Lunna Ness.

Route 19: Shetland

We pass the smaller Voxter Voe, where inland there is a circular walk from Voxter Quarry going up the Burn of Valayre. Walking up the burn, we find a hidden valley where there are native trees of alder, aspen, downy birch, rowan and willow.

After this walk, we return to the road and walk past Voxter Outdoor Centre, a former manse with a walled garden and a small wood. We then pass the Loch of Trondavoe and Scatsta Airport. The airport was first developed in 1940 as RAF Scatsta and was the most northerly base in Britain. It was abandoned after World War 2 but became a civilian airport in 1978 to support the Sullom Voe oil terminal and thus the Shetland oil industry. Just past Garths Voe we turn right to go inland (or as much as you can go inland in Shetland!) through Graven.

We pass near the village of Mossbank, where there is a memorial to commemorate the Delting Disaster, where 22 fishermen in 4 boats (out of 7) were lost during a storm on 21 December 1900. An inscription on the memorial reads, "You see dey wirna mine, Da Loard gae dem tae me fir a time and dan he took dem back ageen".

Now we head back down south towards the A698, climbing the Hill of Swinister where there is a great view across to Fora Ness. Before reaching Fora Ness, however, we turn left to walk down towards Firth Ness, with its views to the Islands of Linga (meaning heather island) and Fish Holm across the Lunna Sound.

Walking back, we can see the grass and heather covered island of Fora Ness. It is joined to the mainland by a 300-metre-long gravel tombola, called South Ayre. There are 2 other barriers which extend out from the mainland towards the island, but neither of them quite join the island, one of these is called North Ayre. The area between the North and South Ayre is called The Houb, a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, and it contains submerged tree stumps and peat deposits which have been dated as being over 4500 years old. They were submerged due to rising sea levels at the end of the last Ice Age.

We now head west along the narrow Dales Voe before heading south back towards Voe. We take the next left turn over Easter Hill of Dale to bring us to the village of Collafirth, where the landscape hasn't changed for hundreds of years.

We retrace our steps, and at the south end of the Loch of Voe, we head east towards Vidlin and then past the small loch, Sae Water. Here we can walk on the old road for parts of the route, which runs alongside the B9071 rather than on the main road itself. Soon we are able to see the east coast again with Dury Voe in front of us. At the next junction we reach Laxo (from the old Norse for salmon) which lies on either side of the Laxo Burn, a great place for fishing. We keep straight on here, still heading for Vidlin. On the left, we soon reach the Cabin Museum, started by Andy Robertson with a small collection of medals, but is now full of information and items from both World Wars, as well as from Shetland’s maritime past.

Walking on, we reach Vidlin which lies on Vidlin Voe which has a marina and a ferry terminal, used when the ferry can’t reach Laxo due to bad weather. Vidlin is an ancient settlement with an Iron Age broch which lies under the foundations of the Methodist kirk.

Heading further north, we can see the Hunter Monument up on the hill, a watchtower built by the Hunters. They used it to spy on their tenants when they were farming or fishing offshore and also kept watch for custom officials as the Hunters were also smugglers.

At the point where the East and West Lunna Voes nearly meet, almost making Lunna Ness into an island, we find the Lunna Kirk, the oldest church still in use in Shetland. The kirk was constructed in 1753 on the site of an earlier mausoleum, and 2 inscribed slabs from the tomb were built into the porch. The church is unusual in that both side walls are supported by large buttresses, and there is a lepers’ squint, designed to allow lepers to hear the service and see the altar without coming into contact with the congregation.

Heading further north and uphill we reach Lunna House, the 17th-century mansion of the Hunter family. It was built over a medieval hall which had in turn been built over a Viking longhouse. During World War 2 Lunna House was requisitioned by the UK War Office and became one of the bases of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). Following the invasion of Norway in May 1940, the house became the original base for the Shetland Bus before it was moved to Scalloway.

We continue towards Lunna Ness, turning right just after Mooradale passing the Loch of Grutwick before we reach the shore. Turning left along the coast we reach the Loch of Stofast where we can see the Stanes of Stofast up on the hill. These are made up from a huge glacial erratic boulder carried here by a glacier, which has since split due to the frost.

At the end of the loch, we head towards the top of the hill called Ward of Outrabister which is the highest point on the peninsula. There are good views from the trig point. We then head north before reaching the track which will take us west to Hamnavoe. From Hamnavoe we retrace our steps back to Vidlin. All of this area is great for walking with ruined crofts from the Clearances dotting the landscape and lots of seabirds, seals and the occasional otter.

At Vidlin we turn left and cross the end of the Vidlin Loch before heading south round Burga Water, where the remains of a broch or dun can be seen on an island, before returning to Laxo. At Laxo we turn south and head down the west side of Dury Voe.

Past Dury, we turn left to go to Billister on Lax Firth, a small hamlet where there is good fishing for sea trout. It was where the ferry used to leave for Whalsay before it was moved to Laxo.

Just after Loch of Bellister there is a Word War 1 watchtower on top of the hill on the right. with one of the finest views on Shetland. It is also a good place to see mountain hares and red grouse. Going down the hill to Brettabister, we pass the war memorial where we turn left to go to the Neap Headland along the rocky north shore of South Nesting Bay. At Neap there are views across the sea, north east to Whalsay, northwards to Unst and southwards to Bressay and Noss.

Returning to Brettabister, we continue south to Skellister along the coast. Before reaching Skellister, we pass a nearly 3-metre-tall prehistoric standing stone, known locally as the Auld Wife, as its silhouette resembles a stooped old woman. It is a grey sandstone boulder with large veins of white quartz and is thought to have been quarried locally. Turning left at this junction we head to Skellister itself and then past Garth and Brough to arrive at Eswick. All around this area there are lots of remains of ancient settlements, brochs, burnt mounds etc. Just past here is the Moul of Eswick Lighthouse where there is another panoramic view of Walsay to the north and Bressay to the south. The original Moul of Eswick Lighthouse was destroyed by a landslip in 1994 and replaced by a box-shaped lighthouse.

We retrace our steps back through Brough, then turn left at Loch of Bentson where you could go down towards Gletness where there is a stud of Shetland Ponies. Shetland Ponies originate in Shetland and have lived here for over 4000 years. They are the smallest of the pony breeds found in Britain, no taller than 107 centimetres, but are amongst the hardiest breeds and, relative to their size, they are the strongest of any horse breed.

However, we keep going west, between Loch of Benston and Vassa Voe before we reach the Burn at Quoys and then Catfirth. Catfirth was the site of a naval air station for seaplanes during the World War 1. It also has all that remains of the woodland which covered Shetland thousands of years ago: willows, rowans and the only surviving hazel tree on Shetland. Ruined Catfirth Haa was the birthplace of the Shetland poet, James Stout Angus, and nearby is Quoys, the home of Dempster Laurenson, a famous 19th century boatbuilder.

Reaching the A970 we turn left and follow the Loch of Girsta, named after Geirhilder, the daughter of the Viking, Floki Vilgeroarson. In 870 AD, he was sailing to Iceland with his family when he stopped to spend the winter in Shetland. His daughter fell through the ice at the loch and drowned. Tradition says that she is buried on the small island in the loch. This loch is the deepest in Shetland at about 20 metres in depth and is where a fish unique to Shetland, the Slender Char, lives. This is a relative of the Arctic Char which was marooned here following the last Ice Age. It adapted and changed and is now only found in this loch.

We pass Wadbister Voe, then leave the A970 at Vatster to head towards Lax Firth.