Shetland Isles Accommodation

Typical North Mainland Shetland landscape - peatbogs galore!

Scandinavian influence is noticeable in the place names and styles of houses

Ferries for the Northern Shetland Isle depart from North Mainland

Lunna House - base of the Norwegian Resistance's operations during WWII

Lunna Kirk with the lepers squint hole

The Cabin "Museum" full of wartime memorabilia

The stunning Eshaness Coast is excellent for coastal walks

Keep an eye out for the strange stacks & rock formations off the north Shetland coast

North Mainland Shetland Islands Northmavine Sullom Voe

North Mainland includes two sections of Mainland linked by the thin isthmus of Mavis Grind â€“ that separates the Atlantic and the North Sea and where it is said you can throw a pebble from ocean to sea. Northmavine is the most northerly on the west of Mavis Grind 17 miles long and 11 miles across.

Lunnasting is the eastern part of North Mainland and where the Pictish Lunnasting stone was found in the ruins of an old croft house. It bears an inscription in Ogham - an early medieval alphabet believed to be an old irish language. This is now displayed in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. Ferries leave Mainland from towns in Lunnasting at Vidlin and Laxo.

North Mainland Tourist Information

North Mainland is a wilder area of Mainland almost split in two by the Sullom Voe, more famous for its oil terminal. On the north west is Northmavine and the stunning rugged coastline of Eshaness, and on the northeast, Lunnasting, moorland and rocky shores harbouring seals and otters.

There is a choice of hotel and B&B accommodation on both Northmavine around Hillswick and Lunnasting around Brae. On the Lunnasting side, Voe is a pretty village in the centre of Mainland that has a Scandinavian feel to it. It forms a junction for the two major roads that take you further north to Northmavine or Mossland and the Yell and Unst ferries. It's an old settlement dating from the eighteenth century and was an important port for the herring and whaling business. The striking red painted Sail Loft was originally used by fishermen and whalers for storing their gear and was later used as a knitwear workshop where the jumpers for the 1953 Mount Everest expedition were made. It is now a large camping bod (tel: 01595 694688). Across the way is the Pierhead Restaurant and Bar that occasionally has live music with bar food or restaurant meals featuring locally caught fish and shellfish.

Busta House was built in 1588 in Brae and is said to be haunted by Elizabeth Gifford whose son drowned in 1748 while crossing Busta Voe. He had declared his intention to marry his orphan cousin to which his mother, Elizabeth, said she would rather see him dead than him marry his cousin. When his body was recovered it was set at his mother s feet and it is said that she died of grief and her ghost roams Busta House. Today Busta House has been renovated into an upmarket country house hotel with a bar, restaurant and afternoon teas.

Hillswick is the main settlement on the Northmavine side which was formerly linked to North Scotland by steam ferries of the Orkney and Shetland Steam Navigation Company. They were responsible for erecting the timber-built St Magnus Hotel for their customers. It still stands today overlooking St Magnus Bay. On the shore, Da Bod was once the oldest pub in Shetland, believed to have been started by a German merchant, Adolf Westerman, in 1684. It is now a cosy veggie cafe. Open from 11am until late every day except Monday between June to September, its profits go to support the seal sanctuary, The Booth, next door. The Booth forms one wing of the attractive eighteenth century Hillswick House. At Esha Ness is Johnnie Notions camping bod (tel: 01595 694688). It has no electricity. Johnnie Notions, (John Williamson 1740-1803) so called for his inventive mind, designed his own inoculation again smallpox which he administered by lifting the skin without drawing blood, placing the serum underneath and dressing it with a cabbage leaf and a bandage. It saved thousands of locals in the eighteenth century much to the amazement of the medical profession.

North Mainland Walking & Wildlife Eshaness Coast

The stunning northern coastline, particularly around the north west Eshaness coast, is well worth taking your time over. Northmavine is joined to the rest of Mainland by the thin isthmus Mavis Grind and has Shetland's highest hill, Ronas Hill, dominating North Roe at 450 metres high. It has obviously played an important role in Shetland's culture as it is topped with a prehistoric chambered cairn. It is also important for wildlife with several arctic alpine plants that only grow in some of the country s more montane habitats. If you fancy a good long hill walk you'll be rewarded with fantastic views of the whole of Shetland and out over to Fair Isle in the south and across Yell Sound and Sullom Voe, Shetland's largest sea loch. If you've got a particularly clear day you might even be able to see other Shetland Islands like Out Skerries, Whalsay, Noss and Bressay. North Mainland is punctuated with dozens of freshwater lochs that offer some of best trout fishing in Scotland.

Most people visit this area for walking and there are several routes including The Ness of Hillswick which is particularly good for spectacular views from the cliff tops covered in summer flowers. Evidence of past civilisations are found along the way with Norse and Neolithic remains. Don't miss the jagged silhouettes of The Drongs, a series of stacks rising up out of the turbulent sea. The Eshaness circular walk takes you further around the coast starting at Eshaness lighthouse built by more Stevenson's in the 1920s. There's handy information boat at the lighthouse detailing the geology of the area. Views of steep cliffs, stacks, blowholes (gloups), coves (geos) and sandy beaches are some of the most spectacular in Shetland.

Over on Lunnasting there is more wild walking country North of Lunna, around Lunna Ness you ll see the ruins of croft houses left empty from the Clearances in the 19th century to make way for sheep! This is a good area for wildlife watching where in summer you can see a constant stream of seabirds passing the headland including gannet, common guillemot, razorbill, kittiwake and puffin. It's also a good place to spot migrant birds such as pied wagtails, waxwings, and redwings. In autumn and spring geese stop here on their migration. Lunna Ness and the many lochs and streams are good places for otters where there's a thriving population but they're somewhat elusive so you may not spot them. Common and grey seals can often be seen on the skerries.

For more information on walking on Sheltand, including walking itineraries, check the Walk Shetland website, link right and Shetland author Peter Guy's guidebooks including "Walking the Coastline of Shetland".

North Mainland Tourist Attractions Tangwick Haa Museum

Travelling towards Laxo you'll find The Cabin, a collection of wartime memorabilia collected by the owner, Andy Robertson. When the flag is flying it's open to the public.

Three miles north of Vidlin is the listed Lunna House dating from 1663. Its claim to fame is as the fist Norwegian Resistance's base for the Shetland Bus operations during World War II. It continued to have a role during the war as a base for the planning and execution of submarine raids to sink German battleships. Today the house has been restored and provides B&B accommodation. It has also been features on several television programmes. Check their website for more info and pictures from their webcam. Down the hill is Lunna Kirk, a small chapel built in 1753. Note the "lepers squint" on the outside wall which was provided for those who had a hereditary (non-infectious) skin condition caused by malnutrition, not leprosy, so they could watch the services going on inside. Several unnamed Norwegian sailors are buried in its cemetery who were torpedoed by the Germans during the War.

The 17th century building housing Tangwick Haa Museum just north of Hllswick has been laid to tell the story of the Northmavine people through the ages. It is run by the Northmavine History Group and a range of photographs, documents and fishing gear gives you an insight into the life of islanders here who relied on fishing and whaling for trade and survival.

The "Gunnister Man" is also is displayed here, a man preserved in peat discovered in 1851. There's not so much left now but his clothes are still in good condition which included a knitted purse with in which were three coins, one Swedish and two Dutch. There are also rooms laid out as they would have been when the Cheyne family lived here from the late 1600s through until the nineteenth century. Parish and census records are also held here if you re researching Shetland geneology. Open May-Sept Mon-Fri 1-5 pm. Tangwick Haa Museum, Eshaness, Shetland ZE2 9RS. Tel: 01806 503 389. Tangwick Haa Museum also acts as a Tourist Information Point for local information.

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