The B9071 road
from Vidlin rejoins the main A970 at the village of Voe, its trees and
bushes sheltered among hills at the head of Olna Firth. At the pier the
old sail loft is now a camping Böd. The attractive cluster of old
buildings here grew up around the 19th century merchant firm of T. M. Adie
& Sons, involved in fishing, hosiery and tweed. On the north side of Olna
Firth, the ruined Olnafirth Kirk is the burial place of the Adies, lauds
of Voe and the Gifford lairds of Busta.
The parish of
Delting has changed greatly since the discovery of oil off Shetland, with
new houses every where and wide, modern roads sweeping towards Sullom Voe,
the largest oil exporting terminal in Europe. But the district still has
many unspoiled and beautiful places. The road from Voe to the large,
modern village of Brae follows Olna Firth past modern shellfish farms and
an old whaling station from the 1920s. Brae, on the shores of Busta Voe,
has good social facilities, including the North Mainland Swimming Pool.
Across the water
from Brae, the 17th century Busta House is forever associated with the
tragedy of 1748, when Thomas Gifford's four sons were drowned while rowing
back from Weathersta. The eldest son had secretly married and his
descendants were embroiled in a disputed inheritance with legal costs
which eventually bankrupted the estate. Beyond Busta is the crofting
island of Muckle Roe, linked by a new bridge to the mainland.
The Hams of Roe, a
deserted settlement set among spectacular red granite cliffs at the north
end of the island, is a favourite destination for walkers. Just outside
Brae, on the 89076 to Sullom Voe, a former manse has been converted into
the Voxter Outdoor Centre.
A delightful walk leads up the Burn of Valayre from the Voxter Quarry,
revealing a hidden valley where native trees form part of a Millennium
Forest project. Sullom Voe is the longest and most sheltered sea loch in
the islands and, thanks to strict environmental controls imposed by
Shetland Islands Council and BP, still a wonderful place for birdwatching,
despite the huge terminal handling around 40 million tonnes of oil a year.
At Firth, where the
road branches off to the Toft terminal for Yell, Unst and Fetlar, the 'oil
boom' housing estates overlook ruins across Firth Voe. The crofting
townships here lost 20 local men in the Delting Fishing Disaster of 1900.
Heading south back
to Voe again, the A970 climbs the Hill of Swinister to reveal a Mural at
Firth detailing one superb view. The headland of Fora Ness is connected to
Swinister by a triple ayre enclosing a lagoon, the Houb, a designated SSSI
where the pollen found in the submerged peat indicates that large areas of
Shetland were once covered by a layer of thick scrub. There is one more
side road before Voe a steep climb over the Easter Hill of Dale brings you
to the secluded hamlet of Collafirth and a landscape little changed for
hundreds of years less than five miles, as the crow flies, from the huge
tanks and gas flares of the Sullom Voe Terminal.
