mef (edited)
Internet services are good, I'm told, in the Orkneys and Shetlands. I was only there once, and it must have been 15 years ago, but from what I've read, internet-based businesses are flourishing up there, where other employment is not what you might hope for, unless you're an oil worker or you farm salmon.
Wonderful islands up there. We were on a get-away-from-it-all holiday, and stayed mostly -- once we got up that far -- in a wonderful B&B on Yell and just went out and walked every day, with a flask of coffee the landlady sent with us. We'd pick a spot on the map -- and there aren't many up there -- and find whatever was there, often not a town, but just a landmark, like White Wife, which turned out to be the figurehead, a woman in white, of a ship that was once wrecked there, which had been stuck upright in the ground, with sheep milling around it. When we got back from whereever we'd been each day, the landlady would spread our jackets out above the peat-fired stove to dry.
There was one restaurant on the island, and it was heavenly. Our landlady asked us what we'd like to eat and we said we like whatever is local. In that case, she said, you'll be having either lamb or salmon. We picked salmon and she phoned the restaurant:
"Do you have the salmon on the menu tonight? Oh, you don't? Well, could you put it on the menu for some guests I'll be sending over?"
And they did. The next night we went back and had the lamb.
Could go on and on. The people were not old-fashioned, but right up to date, and with a global outlook -- one tiny little church in a tiny little hamlet was advertising a "Bake Sale for Rwanda" when we were there. The older people did speak a language of their own, if I remember correctly it's called Nairn, but also spoke English to us. Some people cutting peat were pleased at our interest and showed us the tools they use -- everybody was really friendly. But fresh food in the shops? That's a little harder there, or was at the time, could be better now.
Have always meant to get back there, and never managed it. My husband wants to go for Up Helly Ah, but I don't know that the dead of winter is when I want to go to the northernmost tip of the country.
The Shetlands looked tremendously prosperous, with all new roads and such, which our landlady said was the result of money coming in from Sullom Voe. When the oil gives out, which they are predicting will be soon, things may change...
If you like trees, though, go somewhere else. The winds are tremendous, and there are almost no trees at all. But around every bend is another wonderful view of hills and water and smaller islands -- we never got tired of just looking.
posted 1 month ago.