Shetland
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Overweight and unfit, I bought a treadmill. This wasn’t difficult, as there are always second-hand treadmills and exercise bikes for sale. One wee ‘wanted’ ad on Shetlink snagged a Reebok motorised Thighripper Mk 2, and for the last fortnight I’ve been using it every morning. Almost. I’ve always been heartily opposed to the idea of gyms…
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Clive Munro’s record shop has always been the last in Britain, or at least the northernmost. It has been my favourite, too, for the quarter of a century I’ve known and used it. That was mainly due to Clive himself, the same age as me, with similar tastes in music. His recommendations could be trusted.…
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Kudos to these guys. This was almost unthinkably hard and very, very dangerous. They were lucky with the weather. Get the Video Plugin
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One of those weird Shetland days when the morning starts cold and glowering, changes to mild and then warm, and by the time we got round to Eshaness, was actually, positively hot. I can truthfully say I have never sweated so much on a walk around the UK’s most spectacular peninsula (apart from Hillswick Ness).…
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Here’s the deal: The Faroese equivalent of BT, Faroese Telecom, has, at vast expense, laid a state of the art, undersea fibre-optic cable between the Faroe islands and the UK. It crosses Shetland, down at Sandwick. BT, however, won’t connect the local system to it, preferring to use a hopelessly outmoded, unreliable and deathly slow…
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…once the plumbing’s finally installed, and there’s furniture, it’ll be available to rent. And yes, there are windows onto the sea… It’s the seaward side of an 18th century steading (listed? Oh yes, he said heavily) which has one en-suite (!) bedroom, but can sleep four (there’s another bathroom). See that guttering? See that CAST…
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Fed up with wrestling The Mighty Isuzu through the White Hell, I decided to get the bus today. Which, despite the conditions, has never stopped running the 35 miles into Lerwick and the 35 miles back. £5.40 return. Ginny, intrepid driver, joined me in praising our gritters and snowploughers (ploughees?) for the fine job they’ve…
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I’ve already been out on the water more this April than in the whole of last summer – mainly due to the easiness of using the Bic Ouassou kayak. And the astonishing weather. This morning in Hillswick it’s like summer – genuinely hot in the sunshine. It’s flat calm, too. Bruce (local blacksmith and all…
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I am kind to our chickens. Or hens, as Monty Halls was sternly informed “we call them up here” during last night’s Escape To River Cottage (North) Only With a Marine Commando And His Demented Dog on the telly. Alas, our hens do not repay that kindness. Failing to lay eggs and, despite being fed…
