Friday, Sep 15, 2023 at 10:26 p.m.

Shetland! Finally!

Arrived early in the morning. Mum picked me up at the ferry terminal. So great to see her. We stopped at tesco to pick up some grub and drove back to the small cabin she'd rented with her partner, Kevin. Rested there for a bit and had sausage rolls for breakfast.

Later in the morning we drove to Esherness to see the cliffs. It's unbelievably gorgeous. I'll post some pictures on my Instagram later since I don't think I can upload images here - may switch platforms because of that...

Had a lot of fun gawking and doing cartwheels around the fields. Tried to make friends with some sheep. They weren't having it.

Stopped at another place with a lot of ruins and a good view of an island with an enormous arch in it. Kevin and mum were tired so I explored it on my own. In Shetland you can just walk through peoples fields. Still felt like I'd meet a farmer with a shotgun. The field I was in was a sheep pasture but it was attached to a beach. It was weird to see sheep on a beach... I guess they don't swim? I gave the ram a wide berth because they followed me with their heads down whenever I went near the sheep. It was quite windy and at one point I heard what sounded like shrieking from one of the islands nearby. Extremely eerie. I joked with mum about the crosses, rams, lack of trees, and howling wind giving the island a bit of a cursed feeling.

Got fish and chips on the way back. The restaurant had a label on it that displayed its certification from the fish friers association (or something like that). Quite good! I finished it but took forever. Kevin coined the term "tractor mode" - where you slow down eating but can eat a lot more - I.e. taking it into low gear.

We then stopped at a site to with the Shetland Bus - a WWII project in which fishermen transfered people and resources between Shetland and Norway. Big graveyard and church with Norwegian flags in it.

Headed back and fell asleep around 6:30pm.