I have a friend on Shetland who regularly telephones me. Today he's just rung me from Unst (where he originally comes from), but he also telephones me from other places, mostly around north Mainland.

In the last year or so, regardless of the strength of his mobile signal, it's been very difficult to understand what he's saying because I only get about a third of the message. It comes in bursts of sound and cuts out. He can hear me perfectly clearly (he phones my landline).

His network is EE. Does anyone else have this problem phoning down south (I'm in Wales) from Shetland? Might it be something to do with the data link? Or should I tell him to buy a new mobile? It's fine when I phone his landline. I know I didn't have a problem last time I was on Shetland, but that was a few years ago.

For those of you who know Fetlar, I was walking down the Stakkafletts road towards the surgery, when I met a lady seemingly searching for something on the ground. She saw me and leapt up exclaiming that she'd found an unknown species of dandelion! She showed me 4 distinctly different types all lined up along the wall and then the one that was a new species that had a red stem( amending to the midrib being red). It was amazing (she was a dandelion expert) and all I could think about was how many times a dog had probably pissed on it going by... *sigh* there must be so much of this on the Shetland Islands (no, not things being pissed on) ;-) but in the most 'in your face' places you might find undiscovered gems.

https://reddit.com/link/1ggahg4/video/je4nmhol82yd1/player

Something is unearthed that should have stayed buried…

When a retired schoolteacher visits the remote island of Fetlar, in the Shetland Islands, she becomes obsessed with the mystery of a local man who went missing in 1965. While the island is plagued with strange events, she uncovers more than she bargained for. What is the true meaning of The AdderStane Prophecy? Who are the Papar, and why are they linked to Fetlar?

Received a glowing review from the Shetland Times. "Supernatural novel is excellent debut" - '...Kreska's first is an effortlessly entertaining and addictive read, with the conclusion of each chapter leaving the reader eager to move on to the next, unearthing a little bit more of the book's compelling mystery.'

Available HERE

Visit my author website HERE

Hi.

So, myself and a friend have been talking about moving away from our current location and Shetland is very much on top of our list - we're not criminals or anything so don't panic lol. The main reason is for the fact that it's so far away and remote (heaven if you ask me).

Collectively, we don't have much money to start off with (I won't say the exact amount), so I can't see us lasting long on that alone. In terms of work, we are both support workers, but my friend also has experience in childcare and myself in delivery driving. Although, neither of us are fussed about what we do for work when we start out. Housing - after looking online it appears that renting is pretty rare. Any advice/help on this would be appreciated!

So, yeah, I suppose we're relying on the kindness of strangers while planning our future.

I'm sure a few will say that we shouldn't do this but our personal situations are kind of telling us we should go for it.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer!

Has anyone here had any luck finding the A3 comet? Been searching every night with no luck. Thank you.

I became very interested in shetlandic from listening to poems and watching clips of the language being spoken in youtube

So I want to know if I can find a native speaker to practice talking with / or are there any websites that you guys recommend for learning this language 😀🙏

Also which dialect that you recommend the most ( Ex; Lerwick shetlandic / brae shetlandic / etc )

I'm thinking about visiting Lerwick for the 24th-26th of December again however I wasn't planning on leaving Lerwick last year so I have no idea how busses & ferries operate, weather permitting. Traveline is showing what looks like reduced services but I just wanted to double check :)

I have no real plan/sort of impromptu go where ever, so if there's any events or similar happening around those time, or cafes/restaurants to book a meal in for Christmas, I'd appreciate suggestions too :)

TIA

Hello everyone,

I work at the University of Glasgow, on a research study funded by Marie Curie. We're exploring the experiences of people living with serious advanced illnesses in rural, coastal, and island areas of Scotland. We are also interested in the experiences of carers.

We want to understand if people can access the resources and financial support they need in these challenging times. Your insights could help improve services and support for others in similar situations.

Who we're looking for:

• Individuals living with a serious advanced illness
• Or those caring for someone who is
• Living in rural, coastal, or island communities in Scotland
• Facing difficulties in accessing resources or financial support

What's involved:

• An interview lasting about 30–60 minutes (Can be in person, over the phone, or online—whatever suits you best)
• All responses will be anonymised (your name and exact location won't be shared), and we'll take every step to ensure confidentiality.
• As a thank you for your time, you'll receive a £25 high street voucher.

Interested or want to know more?

Please get in touch with me:

Email: Sam.Quinn@Glasgow.ac.uk

Phone: 07484 006217

Feel free to ask any questions here or reach out directly. Your story could help shape Marie Curie's campaigning and policy agenda.

I'm looking at relocating and one of the places I'm considering is Shetland. A couple of things I was wanting information about were what childcare is available and kids clubs(I have a currently 1 year old) from what I've seen the schools look good. I've also read about air/ferry discount for residents. Would I be able to buy a ferry ticket for say my dad with the discount or is it strictly for when I'm travelling and is the discount any good? Looking at flights its expensive but realistically I'm not going to be going all the time just to visit family a couple of times a year.

Hi there :) just wondering if anyone could advise me on whether the ferries back to Aberdeen are usually in time (7am) and whether it takes a lot of time to disembark (no car). We would need to be at the train station at 8am and not sure it is doable... any advice is much appreciated :)

Hello! I don't know if this will work, as there are a lot of you on Shetland, but I also know this world in general is very small, so here goes:

Last October my husband and I were visiting Skye (not Shetland, I realize. Just wait!) and we happened to misread the bus times returning from the Fairy Glen. We were stuck on the other side of the island on a Sunday afternoon, without many coins to our name and a perfectly good place to stay two bus rides away. We stuck out our thumbs, hoping for the best.

Not five minutes later two vehicles stopped and Jeremy and Heather popped out. If we didn't mind a detour around the north tip of the island they could take us back to Portree in enough time to catch our return bus to Broadford. We didn't mind.

This is where Shetland comes in: Jeremy and Heather were an older married couple on holiday and exploring Skye. They'd recently moved back to the mainland from Shetland where they'd lived and raised their family for many years. Skye reminded them of what they'd left, and the wife had done her midwife training on the island back in the 70s, so they were touring the place. Jeremy had hitchhiked around the USA in the 70s, so he was happy to give us a ride. Heather gave us some oatcakes, which were gratefully gobbled up. They drove us around while we shared life stories and took pictures of the lovely scenery.

When we got to Portree, we hugged and said goodbye, and I wished I'd asked for an address or email, but I didn't. That's why I'm posting here. I'd like to find a way to send them a thank you note and tell them how much we enjoyed their company and how they've turned into a fun story we tell friends.

Here's what I know about them: Jeremy and Heather. They have five (maybe six) grown children. They might live in Fife now to be closer to their grandchildren, however they used to live on Shetland and raised their children there. I think he was English and she was Scottish, not from Skye or Shetland originally. She was a midwife (maybe practicing during her time on Shetland?). They both have white hair and glasses, and are probably in their late 60s or early 70s. Hers is short and a bit more grey I think. They drive a red hatchback auto. They're practicing Christians. They told us this twice on our trip and coming from the Southern part of the US we thought we were about to be evangelized at, which is not uncommon, but they did not. Jeremy reminds me of some missionaries I've met in the past and I would not be surprised if he was employed by a church (not C of E. More like the evangelical or bible churches we have here).

I realize this is not much, but perhaps someone grew up with a friend who had parents that fit this description? Perhaps they can point me to where I can look next? Thank you for any help you can give, and we look forward to the day we get to hitchhike our way through Shetland. Or better yet, drive!

Does anyone know of any places to rent for a business that's pretty cheap. Preferably in lerwick. It doesn't have to be big or a shop front just a place where I can get on with some work that has electricity and running water.

I've been looking online and most places are way too expensive or not on the mainland so I was hoping someone here might have the inside scoop on private rent somewhere.

Hi!

Just came back from visiting Shetland and had a great time. During the trip, we went to Unst boat haven, and there is a viking map of Shetland iirc, somewhere on the left of the entrance of the museum... I wanted to buy a print or a replica of it but they don't buy that, and I stupidly didn't take a picture, would anyone be kind enough to send me one? Or to send me a link from where I could buy a replica or something of this map?

Thanks a lot

Ok so I know this sounds stupid but I've recently been travelling around shetland and Orkney and I wanted to ask locals about what the spiders are like on the Shettland Islands. I am phobic of spiders but I'm working on it and I'm now pretty good with them when they're outside but I noticed a distinct lack of spiders inside buildings when I was there. Albeit I was there in summer so I wanted to ask if you get many house spiders on Shetland at any point in the year and how big are they if you do?

So I'm travelling to Shetland for a week on 24th aug. My plan is to live out my van (work van with bedding etc). I won't be booking into accomodation as I'll be travelling all the time and seeing as much as I can. Are there places I can pop into for showers/laundry without booking into campsites, bnbs etc?

And does anyone have any recommendations for "must sees" or "must dos" while I'm there?

I wondered if anyone would be able to tell me a place that does piercings in Shetland? Aurora seems to have shut down so I wondered if there was anywhere else? :)

Hiya, two friends and I are visiting Shetland from 29 October to 3 November this year. We want to hire a car for the duration of our visit. We are all above 26 years of age. However, we have held UK licences for less than 12 months. We are all originally from another country (non-EU) and have driven for more than 10 years so we are not new drivers. But we have just recently passed our tests in the UK. Is there any car rental option for us? TIA!

I was coming up to visit my friend but she split on the ferry so now I'm not sure what to do. But young adults as in drinking age and weekend as in the day after tomorrow

Hello!

SHORT VERSION I'll hopefully spend the night between July 18th and 19th in Shetland and I have an accomodation in Lerwick, where do you suggest to see the sunset? I would use public transports to go there and I could take a taxi to come back to Lerwick, I can go up to 125£ for taxi to get a cool spot for sunset but I have no clue of prices (and if I manage to spend less than 125£ I would be happy).

And after 1 or 2 hours of sleep I might consider to see the sunrise somewhere near Lerwick, in a ~5km radius (an hour of relaxed walk), any suggestion for that?

LONG VERSION That's my second post here, I posted to know what to do in 10 hours in Shetland but thanks to comments to that post I discovered that there is an airport so I managed to go from 10 hours to a whopping 37 (assuming I won't face bad wheather with the flight to get to Shetland or with the ferry to get to Aberdeen), yay!

I think that summer sunsets and sunrises could be a very nice thing to see in Shetland thanks to its location, so I would like to take advantage of it and I hope that sleeping just a few (quarters of) hours in the night makes me collapse on the ferry I'll take to Aberdeen.

For sunset, I think that I have to look for coasts towards west: just looking on Google Maps, Scalloway Lighthouse might be good and it's pretty near to Lerwick, also something around Dale and Sandness seems cool but from there it's a 44km ride to Lerwick, I don't know how much the taxi would cost (if there is any willing to accept this ride), and Google Maps does not give any solution for getting there by bus in the afternoon (only a solution in the morning).

For sunrise, assuming I'll have energies to do that, I would like something near Lerwick, Ness of Sound or Easter Nova Head seems good to me for the distance (I'm not afraid of walking 45-75 minutes and if I get tired I can just stop and stay wherever I arrive).

I assume that it is safe and easy to reach these places, but please tell me if there are some dangerous points and if I absolutely need to wear shoes with a strong grip! By now I see that the weather will be cloudy (so maybe the sunset and sunrise won't be at their full beauty but I'll take whatever, nature is good, including clouds) with maybe weak rain, in these conditions I will still take the suntrip. If the rain will be moderate or heavy I'll change plans.

If you have any suggestion about this, please tell me!

Thank you for reading

I’m born and bred in Glasgow and hardly ever been in the northern parts of Scotland, and have always wondered what it’s like to live up there. So what is it like? Is it just farms and the odd cafe and petrol station or is there a few villages and towns?

Hi, I know it's a very long shot but does anyone know where I can find this jumper? I thought it could well be an "Shetland" producer/ maker? It's the one he was wearing in the police interview. Have looked all over including Google Lens but can only find similar ones. I love the ragged endings at the neck!

Thanks

https://preview.redd.it/9vbctboa4xad1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=b02f8b00f5d6b3ebfe62f91194ea4fb952f72289

Is there a place not too far from the airport where one can park for free and walk to the terminal? Up to 25-30 mins walking would work. Thank you all.

Heya! If ya don't remember me I made Shaetlan translations like, a long while back and since my education is done now, I can get back to it so I made this one: The first verse of the national anthem of the Faroe Islands

Shaetlan:
Ma laand, oh maist currie an ma acht maist dear,
Du draas me closs til dee, haddin me near,
Dy islands sae beautifil laek a draem,
Sainit by da faader, oh, God sain dy naem,
Da naem at men gied dee, whin dey ir fun dee,
God, sain du da Faroe Islands!

Intended English meaning:
My land, oh most pretty, an my possession most dear,
You draw me close to you, holding me near,
Your islands so beautiful like a dream,
Blessed by the Father, oh, God, bless your name,
The name which men gave you when they found you,
God, bless the Faroe Islands

So, I debated between "currie", and "boannie" after finding out "braali" moreso means 'fairly' as an adverb
I finally managed to engrave the whole -s ending for "du" into my head, as well as putting the pronoun after the verb for the imperative
As always, I used I Hear Dee for reference and vocab help (I had to learn a lot of new words with this one lol)
I'll always keep learning! <3 (pls don't be too harsh on me when correcting, i'll cry ;-; just kidding jkjkjk)