As ever this blog is out of time and sequence as things are happening so quickly.
Here in Liverpool two weeks after visiting Unst I’m about to write about the visit there. I’m finding I need that time to really reflect on the place. The more profound the impact the longer it perhaps takes to write about, Unst was one of the most profoundly moving places I have ever visited – period.
Unst’s landscape and silence leaves a deep impression. The visit coincided with the most glorious sunny weather, the normal weather is wind or rain and most often wind and rain evidenced by the total lack of trees and the bleak open undulating landscape covered in grasses , mosses some ferns and heathers.
We took the Ferry from Aberdeen leaving the Bongo behind at the Airport car park, at the airport as it just wouldn’t fit in the Ferry’s carpark. The sea crossing was for me fine, sadly Ebun was quite seasick.
It was odd to look at the weather forecast for the crossing to see the trip would take us thru Cromarty and Fair Isles, how often have I heard them mentioned on Radio 4’s late night shipping forecast, sounding almost like poetry:
While staying on Unst the last island in the British Isles we spent some time purposefully visiting the last XXX in the British Isles where XXX = Pub, Post Office, Beach. In fact I did my Ice Bucket challenge on Britain’s remotest beach.
Life seemed to slow down on Unst with everything a little simpler and less hustled. From the petrol station - one pump pay at the shop – to the friendly acknowledgement received from every one, even passing motorists.
A walk on Unst was the antithesis of a walk in central London.
Central London has its very own aesthetic created by the density and variety of its buildings, its people, its transport systems , Unst’s aesthetic emotional response is the exact opposite to the acute arousal and intense awareness stimulated by all that makes central London. The difference is more than just city versus country as central London & Unst are extremes Unst’s silence is way beyond the simple clichéd ‘quiet of the country side’. It’s isolating. It’s dense. It’s intense. It’s nature’s sensory depravation where all you’re left with is yourself & nature - a great experience.
Here in Liverpool two weeks after visiting Unst I’m about to write about the visit there. I’m finding I need that time to really reflect on the place. The more profound the impact the longer it perhaps takes to write about, Unst was one of the most profoundly moving places I have ever visited – period.
Unst’s landscape and silence leaves a deep impression. The visit coincided with the most glorious sunny weather, the normal weather is wind or rain and most often wind and rain evidenced by the total lack of trees and the bleak open undulating landscape covered in grasses , mosses some ferns and heathers.
We took the Ferry from Aberdeen leaving the Bongo behind at the Airport car park, at the airport as it just wouldn’t fit in the Ferry’s carpark. The sea crossing was for me fine, sadly Ebun was quite seasick.
It was odd to look at the weather forecast for the crossing to see the trip would take us thru Cromarty and Fair Isles, how often have I heard them mentioned on Radio 4’s late night shipping forecast, sounding almost like poetry:
Viking, North Utsire, South UtsireForties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, DoggerFisher, German Bight, Humber, ThamesDover, Wight, Portland, PlymouthBiscay, Trafalgar, FitzRoy, Sole, LundyFastnet, Irish Sea, Shannon, RockallMalin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isle, Faeroes, Southeast Iceland,I hadn’t prepared my self for the size Shetland (note it’s not The Shetlands or Shetland Isles simply Shetland – this was pointed out to me very clearly!). It’s almost three hours by car from one end to the other involving two ferries.
While staying on Unst the last island in the British Isles we spent some time purposefully visiting the last XXX in the British Isles where XXX = Pub, Post Office, Beach. In fact I did my Ice Bucket challenge on Britain’s remotest beach.
Life seemed to slow down on Unst with everything a little simpler and less hustled. From the petrol station - one pump pay at the shop – to the friendly acknowledgement received from every one, even passing motorists.
A walk on Unst was the antithesis of a walk in central London.
Central London has its very own aesthetic created by the density and variety of its buildings, its people, its transport systems , Unst’s aesthetic emotional response is the exact opposite to the acute arousal and intense awareness stimulated by all that makes central London. The difference is more than just city versus country as central London & Unst are extremes Unst’s silence is way beyond the simple clichéd ‘quiet of the country side’. It’s isolating. It’s dense. It’s intense. It’s nature’s sensory depravation where all you’re left with is yourself & nature - a great experience.
....and then there was Dentdale a bit of Shetland - with trees - in England.
