Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
wood-panelled café on the ground floor. From May to August, you'll find thousands of
sea birds
(including pu
ns) nesting in the cliffs above Ladies Hole, less than a mile
northeast of the village.
Mid Yell and around
he island's largest village,
MID YELL
, has a couple of shops, a pub and a leisure
centre with a swimming pool. A mile northwest of the village, on a hill above the
main road, stands the spooky, abandoned eighteenth-century
Windhouse
; skeletons
were found under the floor and in its wood-panelled walls, and the house is now
believed by many to be haunted (its ghost-free lodge is a camping böd; see p.560).
ARRIVAL AND TOURS
YELL
By ferry
T
01595 745804,
W
www.shetland.gov.uk. Ferries
to Ulsta (Yell) from Toft on the Mainland are very frequent
(every 30min-1hr; 20min), as are ferries from Gutcher across
the Bluemull Sound to Belmont (Unst) and Hamar's Ness
(Fetlar) - and there's free wi-fi at both ferry terminals.
By bus
An integrated bus and ferry service from Lerwick
goes all the way to Gutcher (Mon-Sat 1-2 daily; 2hr
10min).
On Yell, buses from Ulsta run to
Gutcher (Mon-Sat
2-4 daily; 30min).
Guided tours
T
01806 577358,
W
shetlandotters.com.
Local otter spotter John Campbell takes groups of two or three
in search of otters (£125 a day for a couple) - book in advance.
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Pinewood House
T
01957 702092,
W
pinewood
houseshetland.co.uk.
Great option on the east coast of
Yell: rooms are plain but comfy, and the guest lounge has a
real fire, views over to Fet
lar a
nd lots of books on the local
area. Full board available.
£70
Wind Dog Café
T
01957 744321.
Quirky café in a prefab
at Gutcher, offering soup, baked tatties and filled bannocks,
and hosting the odd local event throughout the year.
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat & Sun 10am-5pm.
Windhouse Lodge camping böd
T
01595 694688,
W
camping-bods.com; April-Oct.
The Windhouse
gatehouse, on the main road near Mid Yell,
has
a
wood- and peat-fired heater and hot showers.
£10
/
person
16
Fetlar
Fetlar
is the most fertile of the North Isles, much of it grassy moorland and lush green
meadows with masses of summer flowers. It's known as “the garden of Shetland”,
though that's pushing it a bit, as it's still an unforgiving, treeless landscape.
Sir Arthur
Nicolson
cleared much of the island's population at forty days' notice to make room for
sheep. Today, Fetlar's population of around sixty lives on the southern and eastern sides
of the island.
Houbie and around
At the tiny, main settlement,
HOUBIE
, in the centre of the island, there's the
Fetlar
Interpretive Centre
(May-Sept Mon-Sat 11am-3pm, Sun 1-4pm; £2;
T
01957
733206,
W
fetlar.com), a welcoming museum with information on Fetlar's
outstanding birdlife and the archeological excavations that took place near Houbie.
For a sandy bay in which to relax, head to the
Sand of Tresta
is less than a mile to
the west. Britain's most northerly religious community, the
Society of Our Lady of
the Isles
, occupies an Anglican nunnery in the modern lodge on the edge of the
cliffs to the east of Houbie.
Loch of Funzie
Fetlar is one of very few places in Britain where you'll see the graceful
red-necked
phalarope
(late May-early Aug): the birds are unusual in that the female does the
courting and then leaves the male in charge of incubation. A hide has been provided
overlooking the marshes (or mires) to the east of the
Loch of
Funzie
(pronounced
“Finny”); the loch itself is also a good place at which to spot the phalaropes, and is a
regular haunt of red-throated divers.
