How to Plan a Stunning Road Trip to Unst, Shetland

Summer 2020, Road Trip, Shetland

Summer 2020 saw a slight easing of lockdown restrictions in Scotland. In Shetland, because of our island status, we were lucky enough to have had no Covid cases for months. Our island was operating on Level 1 restrictions: cafes and restaurants; museums and the cinema; tourist attractions and hotels could all be open. Taking advantage of this my friend Kaleen and I decided to head off on a road trip to Unst. We loaded her car up with all the camping paraphernalia, intending to wild camp for a couple of nights. We brought my dog, Bean, along for the ride.

Unst is the most northerly island in the UK. You can have fun seeking out the most northerly beach, the most northerly tea room, the most northerly bus stop…. you get the idea 🙂

How to get to Unst

In order to get to Unst from our homes in Mainland Shetland, we had to take two ferries. It’s a pretty straightforward journey, as there is only one road that heads north. Firstly, you need to drive to the ferry terminal at Toft. The journey takes around 50 minutes from Sandwick, but if you’re staying in Lerwick, you’re a bit closer and it should only take you around 35 minutes. You then take the short 15 minute ferry ride to Yell.

The second part of the journey involves embarking on Yell and driving straight through the island, a distance of approximately 18 miles, to reach your second ferry terminal at Gutcher. Here you catch your second ferry to your destination, which is even shorter at around 10 minutes. You pay for both journeys at Toft; the price covers a return ticket, so no-one will come checking for your ticket on your return journey.

In addition, I recommend booking in advance, especially if you are bringing a campervan or motorhome, as the ferries are tiny and fill up very quickly.

Our Road Trip Itinerary

Kaleen is a native Shetlander and therefore hadn’t done much visiting to Unst since she was a child; we are all often guilty of living in tourist hotspots and never seeing the sights. I’d visited Unst the previous year for a day trip and was keen to spend a bit more time exploring the area.

Kaleen and I had a bit of an idea of some places we wanted to see. We wanted to visit the beaches, the Viking Longhouse and boat and Victoria’s Tea Room. We managed to fit lots into our 3 day trip. Here’s our itinerary

Road Trip Day 1

Belmont House

A colleague at work had recommended we check out Belmont House. So we made this oour first stop on our road trip. Coming off the ferry, immediately to your left you can immediately spot Belmont House, it’s the only large, Georgian house in sight. We wanted to have a look around, but, possibly because of Covid, the gate was locked and no-one was available to let us in. If you fancy pretending to be lord of the manor, you can hire the house out for weddings, parties or self-catering holidays. It has 5 bedrooms and can sleep up to 12 guests. Have a look at it here on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Belmont-House-Unst-153079381426454/ Rates are from just £25 per person per night (based on a short break with 10 sharing). If you manage to visit, let me know what it was like 🙂

I love the story around Belmont House’s restoration. As it fell further and further into ruin, the local community stepped in to fundraise with a goal of saving it. Local craftsmen carried out most of the restoration work on the ‘A’ listed property, which took around 15 years to complete, cost £1.2 million and has won national accolades.

The house looked great from the gate at the bottom of the driveway!! Our visit lasted all of 5 minutes, leaving us lots of time to continue our road trip exploring Unst.

Road Trip to Muness Castle

Our next stop was Muness Castle, the most northerly castle in Scotland. Muness Castle is free to enter and is actually pretty cool. It has corridors and downstairs rooms to explore, spiral staircases, open fireplaces and fantastic views. Exploring the castle was great fun, as you can see in the photos (or maybe we were just overexcited at the opportunity for a road trip!). I suspect Muness Castle is much more popular now, as a tourist destination, than it was when it was lived in: Laurence Bruce, the landlord, is remembered for his brutal treatment of local Shetlanders!

You can read more about the history of Muness Castle by clicking here: https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/unst/munesscastle/index.htmlhttps://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/unst/munesscastle/index.html

Road Trip to Burrafirth Beach

Shetland has an incredible almost 1,700 miles of coastline. Our coastal destination for the evening was Burrafirth Beach. I had visited the beach the previous summer and had spied an ideal wild camping nook, just off the main road and next to the Loch of Cliff. We pitched our tents in the shelter of the hill and enjoyed a campfire on the pebbly beach.

In order to access the beach you have to walk for 5 mins across a field. There is a right of access with a gate. We intended to finish our day with an evening walk on the beach. However, there were some fierce signs about no dogs being allowed, even though there was not a sheep in sight! (I know that this isn’t legal, but…). Not wanting to have a confrontation with a local farmer we headed back to our campsite. We retraced our steps to our campsite and instead climbed the hill next to the loch and were rewarded with immense views that stretched for miles.

The beach at Burrafirth is beautiful. On a cloudy day, it just looks a bit gray, but when the sun shines it transforms into a glittering paradise. Due to local minerals (or mica) that flake and disintegrate easily the sand sparkles like gold glitter runs through it. Geek moment alert… according to my Geologist friend, it means the sand on Burrafirth is local to Shetland, it has and therefore it is super tranquil; it’s a great place to stop for a picnic lunch.

Road Trip Day 2

Hermaness Nature Reserve: Dive bombing Bonxies and Tammie Norries

The weather continued to be good to us the next morning as we woke to more sunny skies.

We enjoyed the fresh morning air with a breakfast of bacon rolls (is there another acceptable camping breakfast??) we packed up our camp and drove north for all of 5 minutes. We were to meet our friend Emma at the car park of the Hermaness Nature Reserve, where we intended to go for a walk together to the cliffs in the hope of seeing some puffins.

Hermaness Nature Reserve is a wildlife sanctuary, with one of Britain’s largest sea bird colonies. From the car park you can easily follow the gravel path north to Winnaswarta Dale, where a boardwalk takes you across the reserve to the western cliffs. The path winds up through the rolling hills and rough moorland. As there are no trees to limit your views, you feel small against the backdrop of seemingly endless moor and sky filled with the cries of birds.

Bonxies

Bonxie is the local name for the Great Skua, it comes from Old Norse. The first time you see a Bonxie, you might think it is a Buzzard. If you imagine a cross between a really big Seagull and a Buzzard, you will get the idea: they are pretty big birds and very protective of their nests! You probably won’t see the nests as they’re cleverly camouflaged on the marshy ground. However, you most definitely won’t miss the Bonxies dive-bombing at you to stay away! They always swerve at the last minute, but the experience can be pretty scary! Especially as there are A LOT of them.

Tammie Norries

If you do this walk in the summer months, you will almost definitely be met at the cliffs by the sight of numerous Tammie Norries. ‘Wait, what is a Tammie Norrie?’ I hear you ask. Tammie Norrie is the local name for a Puffin – and so much cooler, I think! The colour red is attractive to Puffins, apparently. If you wear red socks and take your shoes off for a rest on the cliffs, let me know if they attract any attention from the Puffins.

Visit: https://www.nature.scot/enjoying-outdoors/scotlands-national-nature-reserves/hermaness-nnr/hermaness-nnr-visiting-reserve for more details on the walk and the nature reserve.

Muckle Flugga

You can continue your walk by turning right and following the cliff for another 4km to the end of the island to get a glimpse of Muckle Flugga, you guessed it – Britain’s most northerly lighthouse, designed by Thomas Stevenson back in 1858. (The name comes from Old Norse, Mikla Flugey, meaning large steep-sided island). In winter, waves crash over the top of the 200m high rock, records show. Imagine being the lighthouse keeper with that happening! On this summer’s day, reaching the cliffs was far enough for us. However, before I leave Shetland this summer, I’m determined to go back and complete the walk. The return walk out to Muckle Flugga is 12km and takes around 5 – 6 hours.

Road Trip Must Stop: Victoria’s Tea Room

On leaving Hermaness, we headed over to the west coast of Unst. Our destination, after all that walking, was Victoria’s Vintage Tea Rooms for a well earned coffee, . Unfortunately, the tea room was only open for takeaway due to Covid, but luckily it was still a lovely sunny day. (I wouldn’t go as far as hot, we are in Shetland after all!). I felt like a proper Shetlander at this point, as working in the cafe was a lady who had worked with us at our school. It turned out her sister, the lovely Victoria, owns the tearooms.

After a little catch up, Kaleen and I sat at the table out front enjoying ice cream and coffee. The view was another stunning vista of sparkling sea and craggy coastline as far as the eye could see. If you ever make it to Unst, you have to visitthe tea rooms. Victoria has got impeccable taste. She uses vintage mismatched china crockery to serve her cakes on; bunting decorates the light and airy interior and she has the best selection of cakes. They also do an amazing afternoon tea, which I 100% recommend booking in advance to avoid missing out.

Road Trip to experience a Viking Longhouse and Boat

Just down the road from the tearooms are the reconstructed Viking Longhouse and Longboat. Again, these historical reconstructions are free to access. You can enter the house and marvel, like Kaleen and I did, at the level of workmanship in the carpentry. The house is an example of how the people of the time lived, so it has a hearth, a sleeping area and some furniture, including a loom for weaving.

You can also climb up into the longboat. This boat has quite a story attached to it. A group of enthusiasts wanted to recreate the journey of travelling in a longboat, from Denmark to Scandinavia. Unfortunately, their mast was damaged during a storm just off the coast of Shetland. The team managed to make it to Lerwick harbour, but there bad luck continued. As the group had fundraised to fund the trip, they discovered they did not have enough money left to pay for the required repairs. The crew returned to Denmark, with the intention of raising more money to enable them to complete the journey. Sadly, this never happened and eventually they gifted the longboat to Shetland.

You can see the broken mast lying next to the boat. It amazed me how brave (or crazy???) one would have to be to cross a sea on such a boat. The decking area is so shallow, with no shelter from the elements and you can see just how big and heavy the oar is, in the picture below.

Bobby’s Bus Stop

Bobby’s Bus stop is famous, it even has it’s own website: http://www.unstbusshelter.shetland.co.uk/p/home.html Bobby creates a theme for the bus shelter each year and occasionally for special occasions. Kaleen and I were super happy with the Puffin theme. It is so cool! And yes, this is a real, operational bus stop.

Road trip to Skaw Beach

Next stop was a picnic lunch. We drove north again to visit Skaw beach, which is, yup, you guessed right – Britain’s most northerly beach. You get 2 for 1 at this destination, as Britain’s most northerly house is right on the doorstep of the beach. The next land across that sea is Bulandet, in Norway! Interesting fact: Shetland is equidistant from both Aberdeen in Scotland and Bergen in Norway.

We sheltered from the wind in the lee of a small hillock, then took a walk across the beach. It was the most beautiful day, the colours in these photos are not edited or photoshopped; the sea really is that blue.

We left Bean in the car for this walk, the beach is open to the fields and there were sheep around. If you do come to Shetland with your dog, please be super vigilant about keeping them on the lead. There are sheep absolutely everywhere and fields are not always fenced in.

Standing Stones

You will discover lots of standing stones scattered around Unst and just as many ideas surrounding why they are placed where they are. One such suggestion is that it was placed in the Neolithic period to line up with another stone to mark a lunar alignment.

Road Trip to Lund Church and Cemetery

Were were keeping an eye out for a suitable wild camping spot, when we arrived at Lund Cemetery and church. This historic landmark is only accessible along a bumpy farm track. We went through, I think, 3 gates to reach it. Kaleen got the short straw with the gate opening job as I was driving.

It looks like there is a fantastic walk around the entire bay of Lund Beach, which we didn’t attempt as the tide was coming in. Also, we were pretty tired and hungry by this time. So instead we were satisfied exploring the cemetery, which is still in use today and the tiny church, which has survived since the 11th Century.

Road Trip Day 3

We awoke on day 3 to grey skies and rain. I awoke to discover Kaleen had dismantled her tent and I found her huddled, waiting in the car for me to wake up. She’s the first to admit to being a fair weather camper! So, instead of heading to Eastings beach as planned, which involved a 2 1/2 km walk across fields to reach it, we decided to just grab the next ferry home. #Reasons to return!

Our road trip had taken us to the most northerly point of the UK. We had beautiful weather, incredible views, deserted beaches and such a laugh.

Wild Camping as a female

Is wild camping safe for a female? Whether solo or with a friend would you feel safe doing this? Let me know in the comments below.

I’ve tried both. I felt 100% safe when I was on this road trip with Kaleen. Maybe because I know how safe Shetland is anyway. Maybe because I had company. This road trip was a trial run for my North Coast 500 trip I was planning on doing solo that same summer. You can read about my experience on that trip here: https://travelingerelax.com/when-solo-travel-turns-out-to-be-no-hozhoni/ I began to feel uncomfortable wild camping whilst away on that trip and my anxiety about it was one of the reasons I cut my trip short. Would I wild camp again? Yes, absolutely. In fact I’m thinking about going this Easter school break back up to Unst.

What would my advice be? Plan in advance where you are going to camp. Make sure you have the ability to charge your phone. Don’t camp in places where there is no phone signal. Quieter places are less daunting in my opinion. Remember that most people in the world are good people and not out to harm you. Also, perhaps most importantly, check that you are allowed to wild camp in your country – not all countries are as easy going as Scotland about this, even in England it is not allowed.

Road Tripping as a solo female

Did I feel safe going on a road trip as a female? 100% As a solo female? Also, yes, 100% It probably helped that I was taking my first steps doing this in my own country. This is what I would recommend you do too. Go do that road trip; start in your country to gain confidence, then head out to explore Europe!

Shetland’s website: https://www.shetland.org/visit/plan/areas/unst is a great resource if you are planning a trip, or, like me, if you just like to explore places online. Would you make the journey to road trip on Britain’s most northerly island?

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If you would like to learn more about visiting Unst, drop me a message in the comments.

If you would like help planning an itinerary for your own road trip or booking accommodation email me at: tracy@travelingerelax.com