A stroll round Lerwick

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We spent our first few nights on Shetland in Lerwick, its main town. Our hotel (Kveldsro – pronounced Keldro, meaning “evening peace” in Old Norse) was very centrally placed, so let me take you on a clock-wise tour of the town from there.

A shortcut takes us down onto Commercial Street. Turning right, we first pass The Knowe, with an upturned boat for a garage roof, and continue along a coastal path to a rocky out crop known as the Knab.

Garage roof at The Knowe
The Knab

From there, we head towards the edge of town to visit Clickimin Broch. Last time I mentioned a broch (c 2000 year old tower home) I got some questions, so I’ve included the information board for this one.

Clickimin Broch
Clickimin Broch

From Clickimin, we head for Hay’s Dock, site of the Shetland Museum. This has relocated since our last trip to Shetland, and is one of the best museums I have visited for a long time. It also has an excellent café – we enjoyed our meal so much we booked to go back for dinner the following night.

Hay’s Dock
Boat Hall

Heading back into town, I can’t resist visiting the Library. Any library-lovers amongst you can find out more about it and its beautiful banners on my other blog, Adventures of a Retired Librarian, but a couple of photos will do here.

Shetland Library
Banner

Across the road from the library is the Town Hall. Dating from 1883, it has some rather unwelcoming fish at the entrance and some beautiful stained glass inside.

Lerwick Town Hall
Entrance
Stained glass

Heading downhill, we come to Fort Charlotte, built in the 1660s for Charles II.

Fort Charlotte
Fort Charlotte

Below that, we are back on Commercial Street and its associated Lanes. Coffee and Keetchin is a lovely stop for lunch.

Coffee and Keetchin
Commercial Street
Lanes
Lanes
Tourist Centre

From there, it’s a quick hop down to the harbour. What an assortment of crafts! A Viking boat, static ocean-liners housing the workers at a massive gas plant being built at Sullom Voe, and tourist boats.

Abovewater / Underwater Shetland
Viking boat
Accommodation ships

Shall we take a trip on the Galathea with Underwater Shetland? Why not? Alan and Robbi are fabulous hosts and introduce you to wildlife both above and below the water with their underwater video camera. Here’s Charlie, a veteran seal, and a bonxie (Great Skua) which flies in to take a biscuit from Robbi’s hand.

Charlie
Bonxie

Back on dry land, we head along Commercial Street again past the lodberries (jetties) and Bain’s Beach where (allegedly) smugglers’ tunnels run under the street, then return to the Kveldsro.

Bain’s Beach
Lodberries

Coming next: a lighthouse, puffins and an archaeological site spanning 3000 years of settlement.

Scotland, UK ,

23 Comments »

  3. Beautiful!

    Hey, I like that welcoming fish! 🙂

    There’s a very peculiar atmosphere in these photos that to me screams ‘Scotland’!
    I don’t know, maybe it’s me…

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    • Ha ha – I think you are the only person to like the fish! Scotland, maybe, but Shetland has some quite distinguishing features. Far fewer trees for one thing – the wind sees to that! However, the rugged coastline is typical of the Scottish islands and West Highlands. I love it.

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  4. Great photos and loved being on this virtual tour. I love these old buildings and that stained glass rose window is stunning. Can you go into the old tunnels or is that just heresay??

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    • Thank’s Birgit. I think it’s more than hearsay but you can’t see them now. I got enough scrambling in and out of dark places as will become apparent in later posts!

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  5. I never knew there was so much to see in the Shetlands. Now, I just have to go back to Scotland…so much more to see! I love the library vans!

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  6. All I know of Shetland is from the Shetland books /TV series by Ann Cleeves. I’d love to visit so thank you for introducing us to Lerwick. That black and white ship looks like the camouflage ones from the war! How odd.

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    • I don’t know why it was painted like that. There were several other accommodation ships in both Lerwick and Scalloway but the others all looked quite normal. Weird!

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  8. Thanks for this wonderful tour of Lerwick, Anabel. I only know of Lerwick from shipping forecasts (they always used to read them out on the radio when I was growing up!). I’ve loved the pictorial guide and would be fascinated by the Viking history of the area too. Looks like a lovely spot for a holiday 🙂

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