Shetland - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 387

Skeoverick T 01595 809349, E skeoverick@btinternet
.com. Bargain rates at this lovely modern crofthouse B&B
which lies a m ile or so north of Walls. Residents' lounge and
free wi-fi. £50

Voe House T 01595 694688, W camping-bods.com.
This five-bedroom camping böd is the largest on Shetland,
with its own peat fire. Note that Voe H ouse is confusingly
not in Voe but in Walls. April-Oct. £10 /person

Papa Stour
A mile offshore from Sandness is the rocky island of Papa Stour , formed of volcanic
lava and ash and subsequently eroded into some of the most impressive coastal
scenery in Shetland. In good weather, it makes for a perfect day-trip, but in foul
weather or a sea mist it can certainly appear pretty bleak. Its name, meaning
“big island of the priests”, derives from its early Celtic Christian connections,
and the island was home, in the eighteenth century, to people who were mistakenly
believed to have been lepers (it seems more likely they were suffering from
vitamin deficiency).
The land is fertile, and in the nineteenth century Papa Stour supported a community
of three hundred, but by the early 1970s there was a population crisis. With just
sixteen inhabitants, and no children, the islanders made appeals for new blood to revive
the fragile economy and staged a dramatic recovery, releasing croft land to young
incomers. Papa Stour was briefly dubbed “the hippie isle”. A new harbour and
roll-on-roll-off ferry in 2005 gave the island some hope, but the school is currently
closed, there is no accommodation apart from wild camping and internal feuding has
brought the population down to single figures.
Papa Stour's main settlement, BIGGINGS , lies in the east near the pier, and it was
here that excavation in the early 1980s revealed the remains of a thirteenth-century
Norse house or “ stofa ”, thought to have belonged to the future King Haakon V of
Norway. In 2008, the house was partially reconstructed; an explanatory panel
explains its significance.

8

Cribbie

PAPA STOUR

Lamba Ness

Willie's Taing

Virda Field
(285ft)

The Horn

West
Voe

North Ness

Quida
Ness

Fogla
Skerry

Lyra
Skerry

Aesha Head

Dutch
Loch

Gorda
Water

Housa
Voe

Christie's
Hole N

BIGGINGS

Brei
Holm

Breigeo Head
Galti Stacks

School

Kirk
Sand

Hamna
Voe

Airstrip

Forewick
Holm

Scarvi Taing

Swarta
Skerry

0 1/2

Shepherd's Taing mile