WELCOME TO THE SUNNY SIDE OF SHETLAND
"West
is best". It's true - many a day when the east coast of Shetland is
smothered in sea fog, the Westside is gloriously sunny. It happens
particularly in summer, when south-easterly winds pick up moisture from
the North Sea: as the clammy air passes over the hills of Shetland it
warms and dries, clearing away the mist.
The West Mainland
offers many miles of hill and coastal walks, excellent birding,
seal-watching and otter-spotting, great angling and some fascinating
historical and archaeological sites.
There are hundreds of freshwater lochs, most of them in hollows carved
by glaciers out of the granite and sandstone rocks. The lochs and the
burns linking them to the sea are home to trout, ducks, wading birds and
plants such as bogbean and white water lily.
This is a classic
"drowned coastline", flooded by the sea at the end of the Ice Age, some
12,000 years ago. The shorescape varies from the dramatic cliffs of the
outer coast to long sea lochs, or voes, which extend far into the heathery
hills and green croftland. And, whatever the wind direction, you can
always find a sheltered beach.
