Shetland

Hi,
Anyone been to Shetland in a coachbuilt recently?

We went in 2017 with a AS Suffolk coachbuilt and again in 2019 with a Warwick Duo. Is that recent enough? 

We’re in Shetland at present, having spent almost 3 weeks here. It’s been an excellent trip and we’ve found it very van friendly. We’ve seen a Broadway up here, and bigger vans too. 

We’ve been out to the northern isles of Fetlar, Unst and Yell but booked those ferries ahead. Vehicles longer than 5.5m are advised to book, which has to be done by phone rather than online.

It’s currently fairly quiet up here and we’ve booked no sites in advance, just turned up and found plenty of room, but this might be different in high season. We’ve wild-camped about 30% of the time but have happily paid for local community-run sites, which have all been brilliant and excellent value for money … typically £20 per night including EHU.

If you have an underslung LPG tank or refillable bottles then bear in mind there is no option to refill them in Shetland or Orkney. We topped up in Tores on the Black Isle over 4 weeks ago and have been careful in using gas. It’s been chilly all the time we’ve been here so have been able to turn off the fridge overnight to conserve our use. I’m interested to see how much LPG we fill up with when we get to Aberdeen on Saturday.

Tim

Tinwheeler wrote:We went in 2017 with a AS Suffolk coachbuilt and again in 2019 with a Warwick Duo. Is that recent enough? 

Hi,
We have a Gloucester (7.3M) and our concerns are access to all areas and small ferry ramp tail dragging. Could you advise. 
Andy

Hogmeister wrote:
Hi,
We have a Gloucester (7.3M) and our concerns are access to all areas and small ferry ramp tail dragging. Could you advise. 
Andy

Our Sprinter based Suffolk was 6.4m so shorter than yours but we had no trouble at all and, as Tim said, there are much bigger vans touring the islands.

We too went to Yell and Unst and used the inter island ferries without incident. We booked some sites such as Braewick, Delting Marina, Skeld and Buravoe on Yell but, otherwise, just turned up at community sites. Tbh, the majority of sites were unmanned with nothing to indicate reservation of pitches so there would be little point in booking.

The pic is taken at Buravoe. Note the size of the hire van and, also, the caravan outfit.
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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]Tthis one in Ireland and even our very short Exec grounded slightly. If I had a 7m with typical tail overhang I'd not even consider some quite large ferries....

I would say you’ll be fine, don’t worry about it. Looking at Ian’s pictures above we’ve not seen any ramps as severe as that on the inter-island ferries. The transition from ramp to vessel is much less acute.

As for access generally, many roads are single track with passing places but in reality are far easier to drive on than most country lanes in mainland Britain. The visibility is better as there are no hedges and few blind bends. Speeds are much lower, drivers are very relaxed, but just remember to pull into a passing place to let the locals past.

We’ve had 4 weeks in Orkney and Shetland so we’re probably in for a very different driving experience when we disembark in Aberdeen on Saturday morning!

Tim

I echo Tim's thoughts and observations.

Agreed re Shetland, but all small ferry ramp angles are a function of tidal height at the time of em or disembarking.

Single track roads have proved more common here than we thought (Norway) and with disciplined natives have not been an issue at all. Many, many, rented vans here too... Don't seem to be having the issues reported on here re NC500.

Tim..... bear in mind that Aberdeen is now an LEZ officially as of end of May.    Probably ok with your age of van but might be worth a check.    Glad you enjoyed the outer isles.

Bob, thank you, that’s very thoughtful of you. 

We were chatting with one of the staff at Jarlshof this morning and he happened to mention Aberdeen’s new LEZ. 

We’re Euro-6 so it’s not a problem. Planning to head up to Fraserburgh and explore the Moray coast, which will be new territory for us.

Sad to be leaving Shetland tomorrow, it’s made quite an impression on us!

Tim

Ah!   You'll really enjoy that coast, like many of us have done ...a fouvourite....spectacular.   renowned as one of the best climates in Scotland...hope it lives up to its name for you.

Thank you all.

We are booked on the Aberdeen ferry mid July.  The objective of the trip is to see wildlife as my wife is a keen birder.  Also be nice to see cetacean, particularly Orca.  Parking up near coastal viewing points is a concern
Narrow roads no problem we live in Cumbria.

One more question - what is the best mobile network to use?

Again, Many Many thanks and if you have any more info we would be very grateful.

Regards Andy & Diane.

We use O2 and got a signal everywhere except at Skeld but they had site WiFi so we managed well.

We went for the wildlife too, birds mainly, and were delighted with what we saw, although we didn’t see Orca. In one of her Shetland videos Kate Humble says she’s been there 5 times and still hasn’t seen them, just the luck of the draw. 

As an example, one of the best locations we found to see Puffin was at Sumburgh Head. Ironic really as it’s one of the least isolated spots, easy to access and to park. We chose a day when we knew there would be no cruise ships in Lerwick, as Sumburgh is very much on the cruise ship itinerary.

Two other highlights were Noss Island Reserve, accessible by a small rib boat from Bressay, and the Hermaness Reserve on Unst. Both are Nature Scot reserves. 

On Bressay we stayed at the boat club marina (many marinas in Shetland have site facilities for vans) and drove to the embarkation point for the rib. Recommend you get there in good time before first ferry departs as parking is limited, but there a bigger parking on the access road a bit further away. As a general point we frequently checked out parking areas on Google satellite imagery and Streetview to check access and capacity. Check the Nature Scot website for ferry details as it doesn’t operate every day and is weather dependent. Link below.

At Hermaness we stayed overnight in the parking area for the reserve, location shown on search4sites. It’s busy in the daytime but overnight it was just us and one other. 

Of all the islands we visited Unst was my favourite in terms of scenery, points of interest and wildlife. Its Heritage Centre is particularly good.

As for cell coverage, we use the Three network and it was rare not to get 4G throughout Shetland. 

Have a great time up there, you’ll need at least 2 weeks to do it justice, ideally 3. 

Tim

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That’s Tim,
Much appreciated. Orca are pot luck. We did manage to see them three times a few years back at John O Groats for ten days taking part in Orca watch. 
Andy.