Shetland - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 399

Unst
Much of Unst is rolling grassland - a blessed relief for some after the peaty moorland
of Yell - but the coast is more dramatic: a fringe of cliffs relieved by some beautiful
sandy beaches. As Britain's most northerly inhabited island, there is a surfeit of
“most northerly” sights, and many visitors only come here in order to head straight for
Hermaness, to see the seabirds and look out over Muckle Flugga and the northernmost
tip of Britain, to the North Pole beyond. The island's population recently plummeted
following the closure of the local RAF radar base at Saxa Vord, which used to employ
a third of the population.

Uyeasound and around
On the south coast, not far from the ferry terminal, is UYEASOUND , with Greenwell's
Booth, an old Hanseatic merchants' warehouse by the pier, sadly now roofless. Further
east lie the ruins of Muness Castle , a diminutive defensive structure, with matching
bulging bastions and corbelled turrets at opposite corners. It was built in 1598 by the
Scots incomer, Laurence Bruce, stepbrother and chief bullyboy of the infamous Earl
Robert Stewart, and probably designed by Andrew Crawford, who shortly afterwards
built Scalloway Castle for Robert's son, Patrick. The inscription above the entrance asks
visitors “not to hurt this vark aluayis”, but the castle was sacked by Danish pirates in
1627 and never really re-roofed. A little to the north is a vast sandy beach, backed by
the deserted crofting settlement of Sandwick.

Baltasound and around
Unst's main settlement is BALTASOUND , five miles north of Uyeasound; its herring
industry used to boost the local population of around five hundred to as much as ten
thousand during the fishing season. As you leave Baltasound, heading to Haroldswick,
be sure to take a look at Bobby's bus shelter ( W unstbusshelter.shetland.co.uk), an
eccentric, fully furnished, award-winning Shetland bus shelter on the edge of town.
he Keen of Hamar , east of Baltasound, and clearly signposted from the main road,
is one of the largest expanses of serpentine debris in Europe, and is home to an
extraordinary array of plantlife. It's worth taking a walk on this barren, exposed,
almost lunar landscape that's thought to resemble what most of northern Europe
looked like at the end of the last Ice Age. With the help of one of the SNH leaflets
(kept in a box by the stile), you can try to identify some of the area's numerous rare and
minuscule plants, including Norwegian sandwort, frog orchid, moonwort and the
mouse-eared Edmondston's chickweed, which flowers in June and July and is found
nowhere else in the world.
From the Keen of Hamar to Haroldswick, the main road crosses a giant boulder field
of serpentine , a greyish-green, occasionally turquoise rock found widely on Unst, and
which weathers to a rusty orange.

8

Haroldswick
Beyond the Keen of Hamar, the road drops down into HAROLDSWICK , where near the
shore you'll find the Unst Boat Haven (May-Sept daily 11am-5pm; T 01957 711809;
£3), displaying a beautifully presented collection of historic boats with many tools of
the trade and information on fishing. If you want to learn about other aspects of Unst's
history, head for the nearby Unst Heritage Centre (May-Sept daily 11am-5pm; £3;
T 01957 711528), housed in the old school building by the main crossroads, where
they also put on have-a-go activities such as spinning, knitting and potting.

Saxa Vord
Less than a mile north of Haroldswick is SAXA VORD (also, confusingly, the name of
the nearby hill), home to the eyesore former RAF base , now containing a restaurant,
bar and hostel, but also a chocolate factory (Mon-Sat 11.30am-5pm, Sun 1-4pm;