Shetland and Orkney it is… Earlier this week I carefully pieced together five train journeys and three ferry journeys, the combination of which will see me travel to Aberdeen, then Lerwick on Shetland, then Kirkwall on Orkney and back to Aberdeen nearly two week later. Whilst on Shetland – 6 nights – and on Orkney – 5 nights – I will head out across the small Scottish archipelagos, camping when I can, to seek out the wild attractions of Britain’s most northerly outposts. Including the two nights on the overnight ferries to and from Aberdeen, it will 13 nights – 14 days – of adventure.
More for my benefit than yours, here is the travel schedule:
| Train | Train | Ferry | Ferry | Ferry | Train | Train | Train | |
| 14/8/24 | 14/8/24 | 14/8/24 | 21/8/24 | 26/8/24 | 27/8/24 | 27/8/24 | 27/8/24 | |
| Halifax | 06:16 | |||||||
| Leeds | 06:52 | 07:08 | ||||||
| Aberdeen | 13:02 | 19:00 | ||||||
| Lerwick | 07:30 | 17:30 | ||||||
| Kirkwall | 23:00 | 23:45 | ||||||
| Aberdeen | 07:00 | 11:01 | ||||||
| Edinburgh | 13:22 | 14:04 | ||||||
| Leeds | 17:07 | 17:27 | ||||||
| Halifax | 18:06 |
As for the accommodation, I have reserved space in hostels for three of the nights: the first on Shetland at Islesburgh House Hostel in Lerwick and, after a late-night arrival on Shetland the following week, two nights at the Kirkwall Youth Hostel. This way I will have one day in each of the capitals in order to orientate myself and make plans for the remaining 6 days on Shetland and 4 days on Orkney. Probably not enough time to do either place justice but enough to explore at least some of the islands. More ferries will be needed…
Here’s my work-in-progress online map. Green – campsites, orange – hostels, purple – Rough Guide ‘highlights’, blue – anything else! If you think I should add anything or have any information about anything that is already on the map, please let me know through the comments section below.
I now need to re-listen to the latest episode of The Cycling Europe Podcast in which Tim Sanders, Anne Lawther, Jayne Moore and Martyn Howe reflected upon their own experiences of cycling on the northern isles…
…and then crack on with my own plan to cycle another short stretch of EuroVelo 12, the North Sea Cycle Route.
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