Category: Travel

Muckle Roe Walk

Seals, a lighthouse and slabs of pink rock.

Rock formations on Muckle Roe
Muckle Roe – South Ham
10.6km / 6.5 miles
4hrs including stops
Start – car parking on grass verge at end of public road at West Ayre
Grid ref HU322629
OS Explorer 469; Landranger 3

Muckle Roe is an island in the Northmavine area of the northwest Shetland Mainland. It’s found at the end of long single-track road and is joined to the mainland by a small bridge.

The Walk

The path is signposted between two houses for the Hams (4km) and for the lighthouse (2km) – I followed the path for the lighthouse which immediately dropped onto a little beach. Then it climbed up the other side and followed the coast along. After a while it moved slightly inland and took me to the very still Gilsa Water, a small loch.

Gilsa Water on Muckle Roe

Muckle Roe lighthouse
Heading upwards and away from the loch back towards the coast I passed pink and red granite rocks until reaching the small lighthouse. After this, rather than a clear path, there seemed to be just an expanse of boggy peat and heather with a criss-cross of sheep trails. According to my walk book I should have stayed close to the coast, but picking my way through the least boggy bits of the bog took me between several small lochs instead. I got divebombed by a frantic skua for a while and must have got quite close to its nest as it got very threatening and came really close. By the time it stopped I was getting arm ache from holding my stick above my head.

I could see Papa Stour really clearly as I walked along and when I got to South Hams at the far end of my walk I could also see the drongs in St Magnus Bay far off in the distance. The drongs are three huge stacks looming out of the sea which can be seen from Braewick cafe and campsite. I don’t know where the name ‘Hams’ comes from, but like to think it might be because all the big pink rocks look like slabs of ham.

Pink slabs of rock on Muckle Roe

I dropped down onto the small pebbley beach and could hear seals as I descended. A couple I’d met earlier said they had seen seals here. I made a lot of noise as I clamboured over pebbles and settled myself down to have lunch. Sure enough, the seals, which were in rocks to the right of me (the rocks were in the water so I couldn’t get to them) got curious and swam out to have a look at me. In all I saw three common seals and they came quite close.

A geo on Muckle Roe

Leaving the beach, after half and hour, I took the clearly defined track back to West Ayre. It climbed up and down a bit, but was very easy walking and passed another couple of small lochs.

Rock formations on Muckle Roe

Up Helly Aa

Learning about Up Helly Aa

I’ve decided to add attending the Up Helly Aa festivities to my list as it’s something that would be amazing to see, but quite difficult because of the time of year. Not school holidays. So whenever I find myself with time off for whatever reason, at the right time of year, I’m heading up to Shetland to see Vikings and burning boats.

The main festival is in Lerwick and is held on the last Tuesday in January, but there are others held throughout the islands until the end of March. The parade and boat burning is open to everyone and of course would be wonderful, but the real fun seems to happen in the evenings when the various Jarl squads (Viking gangs) go round lots of halls and basically party all night. The halls are private invitation only and so to get the most out of the experience I’d have to sneak an invite. This might be easier to do in the islands rather than in Lerwick.

As I’m in Lerwick,  I went to the Up Helly Aa exhibition in the boat shed. There were lots of costumes, shields, and part of a replica boat displayed. As well as Viking costumes, the various squads each choose a theme and people dress according to the theme, so there were also costumes in the shape of cartoon characters, chocolate bars and so on.

I watched a video showing the year long preparations for the festival and what happens on the day itself. The preparations involve the making of the boat, all costumes, shields and torches. During the day the squads visit schools, the old folks’ home, the hospital, etc so that everyone gets to be involved. Then they have the main march through misty, hazy, gloomy, drizzly, wintry Lerwick. It looked so atmostpheric on the film. At the end of the march the boat is burnt. It doesn’t get put to sea as I’d thought, but is burnt on dry land. All the Vikings toss their burning torches on to it. As they stand all around it I wondered what would happen if one tossed their torch too far and it sailed over the top into the crowd on the other side!

Some of the snippets of interesting info I picked up in the exhibition include:

  • The lead Viking is known as the Guizer Jarl – ‘Guizer’ comes from the word ‘disguise’ – the members of the various squads wear masks all day so no-one knows who they are. However, the members of the Guizer Jarl’s squad are all dressed as Vikings and don’t wear masks meaning they can be identified. They all seem to have beards though – do they grow them specially for the event?
  • Only men can go on the parade.
  • You have to live in Shetland for five years before you can join a squad.
  • You have to be chosen to be on the organising committee.
  • You work your way up through the ranks on the committee for 15 years – then in the 16th year you are Guizer Jarl.
  • You start as a ‘water-carrier’ making sure everyone in the squad has enough water in their whisky.
  • It’s very expensive – you need to save up to be Jarl and to raise a lot of money.
  • During the day the Guizer Jarl’s squads go round the schools, old people’s homes and the hospital performing, as well as performing and parading in the streets.
  • Each squad has a theme for their costumes and performance which is kept secret – only the committee knows to make sure there is no overlap.
  • In the evening, there is a torchlit parade through Lerwick ending with the burning of the boat.
  • Then the squads spend the rest of the night going round the halls, eating, drinking and performing.
  • Each squad goes to each hall in a pre-planned order. The Guizer Jarl’s squad goes the opposite way round to the others so they meet each of the others in turn.
  • Torches are made from 4ft long, thick pieces of wood. Three sacks are rolled round the end and nailed into place. A fourth sack is nailed over the top. Cement is put where the sacks and pole meet to prevent the pole from catching light.
  • The sacking end of the pole is soaked in parafin for about 24 hrs. The whole thing ends up weighing 14lbs.
  • After Up Helly Aa the Guizer Jarl joins the ex-Jarls and starts at the beginning again as a water-carrier. The job of the exes is to advise the others.
  • The halls are privately rented by people who invite their family and friends and prepare loads of food. As they are private you can only go to them if you have been invited.
  • The hall parties last all night.
  • The schools now have junior Jarl squads.

What a festival! And in one of my favourite places too.

Cycling Japan

Why cycling round Japan might be a good idea.

I’ve wanted to go to Japan for years. I have Japanese friends who returned to live there a few years ago and visiting them gives me even more of a reason to go to Japan. Why haven’t I gone already?

  • When I’ve had time to go on holiday I’ve been busy visiting other places instead
  • I’d like to go for long(ish) time and so haven’t had long enough holidays off work
  • It’s very expensive
  • It’s difficult to get around and really do anything without knowing the language and a lot about the culture.

So, if I’m going to get around to ticking this one off my list I have to get over these four main issues.

The first one isn’t so major. I’ll make time for it at some point. I have plenty of time to get to all the main places I want to visit before I’m 60 and still have time to visit others as well.

Now I’m a teacher I have 6 weeks holiday in the summer. Spring and autumn are meant to be the nicest times to go as I’d get to see either the blossoms or the autumn leaves. But I could cope with missing out on those as long as I got to see the country. I’m not sure if even 6 weeks would be long enough, but I may get even more time in the future if my hostel and freelancing life plans work out. So issue no.2 is fast disappearing. 

The expense is a problem I still have to really deal with. Some people say it’s not as expensive as I think especially if I’m not staying in luxury hotels. Which I definitely wouldn’t be. I recently read an article in a travel magazine about cycling round part of Japan. Now that would be a really cheap way to get about. I could camp (hopefully – I don’t know much about the camping situtation in Japan), carry lots of packets of instant noodles, and get to out of the way places without it costing me anything.

The problem with the cycling solution is I’ve never ridden really long distances before and never carried all my gear on a bike. I would like to do this though, which is why doing a long distance cycle tour is also on my list of things to do. By doing my cycle tour in Japan I could tick off 2 challenges in one go. So now, I need to think about practising and training. I bought a cycle rack for my car at Christmas so I can take my bike out to the Peak District and cycle some of the converted railway track trails. I do want to cover these as they are very scenic, but they make for boring walking. They will make a good start for my cycle training though. As I’m too busy to even get out walking or go to the gym at the moment I don’t know when this will happen, but hopefully before the summer.

The fourth issue with my going to Japan is the culture and language. I have a friend who is a Japanophile (is there a proper word for that?) and has studied the language for years. Even she had lots of difficulties when she visited. The language is written in a mix of Japanese, Western and Chinese characters. Although she knew the Japanese and Western characters, all the Chinese characters made things very hard to read. Also there are so many rules for every little thing you do. Because foreigners don’t know the etiquette it makes it very difficult to achieve even half of what a Japanese person can in the time, and there are many things you miss out on completely.

Starting my visit by staying with my Japanese friends may be a good move as I can learn a lot from them. Akiko is pretty adventurous and not your typical Japanese woman so she may even be persuaded to do a bit of travelling with me. I’ll need to learn a bit of the language, though I have no plans for that just now. I’m studying a couple of other things at the moment and need to get them out of the way before I take anything else on. I can make a start on the culture though. I’m not starting from zero as I already know quite a bit (not nearly enough, but more than your average British person). I’ve just bought The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture which is a bit out of date but still a good place to start according to the reviews on Amazon. I must also read my Josie Dew books about her cycle tours of Japan. I like her books but I’ve never got round to reading these two even though I’ve owned them for years.

And still on the cycling theme – I’ve just come back from the Netherlands which is the world’s most cycle friendly country. As I go there most years, I could do a bit cycle tour training there. There are plenty of places it would be great to cycle round for a few days and I could carry all my gear to practice. I’ve done some cycling there in the past (including this visit) so I know how easy it is. A great place to start.

So these are my Japan visiting and cycle touring plans so far. When I start writing them down like this I feel like I’m actually getting somewhere. When they are just ideas swimming around in my head it doesn’t feel like I’m actually doing anything towards my goals. But actually, they are all ticking over all the time in the back of my mind.