CATPUND QUARRY
A remarkable
Viking quarry is hidden away on the hillside above the main A970 road from
Sandwick to Cunningsburgh - where the ancient inhabitants of Shetland
worked steatite, or soapstone. The rock is soft and easy to carve but
hardens when subjected to heat. Along the Catpund Burn you can still see
the shapes left hundreds of years ago as bowls, urns and other utensils
were hacked out of the rock. A detour through the populous village of
Cunningsburgh, site of the annual agricultural show, brings you to the
quiet inlet of Aiths Voe, surrounded by flower meadows. To the east is
fine walking country on Helli Ness, with views of Bressay and Noss.
The next
side road goes through the old crofting township of Fladdabister, where
there are the ruins of a lime kiln used until the early 20th century. Wild
roses grow in the ravine leading down to the beach at Ocraquoy. Easter and
Wester Quarff lie at opposite ends of one of Shetland's few east-west
valleys. Here the ice burst through the grain of the landscape and carved
a classic glacial valley where the Atlantic and the North Sea are less
than two miles apart - Quarff means 'the portage' Old Norse.
SHETLAND PONIES
Just north of
Quarff, the lay-by next to the Brindister Loch is one of the best places
to meet Shetland Ponies bred at the farm nearby. Out in the loch, a tiny
island holds the ruins of a dun, a prehistoric fort. Returning to Lerwick,
the main road skirts Gulberwick where the Viking Earl Rognvald was wrecked
in 1148AD. Above the farm of Wick is the Hollanders' Knowe, a traditional
trading place between islanders a the Dutch fishermen in the 17th and 18th
centuries.
