Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
SHETLAND ISLANDS
Adrift in the North Sea and close enough to Norway geographically and historically to
make nationality an ambiguous concept here, the Shetland Islands are Britain's most north-
erly outpost. There's a Scandinavian lilt to the local accent, and streets named King Haakon
or St Olaf remind that Shetland was under Norse rule until 1469, when it was gifted to
Scotland as the dowry of a Danish princess. The setting of this archipelago of mighty,
wind-ravaged clumps of brown and green earth rising from the North Sea is still uniquely
Scottish though, with deep, naked glens flanked by steep hills, sky-blue lochs and (of
course) sheep on the roads.
One of the great attractions of Shetland is the birdlife; it's worth packing binoculars even
if you're not fanatical about it.
