SHETLAND Challenge by way of a change, this week's diary is going to stray from the veterinary theme and for added excitement it is being composed on location, so to speak.
As I tap away at my laptop keyboard, the gentle roll of the overnight ferry sailing back from Lerwick in the Shetland Islands to Aberdeen gives a hint of my weekend activities and this week's subject matter.
To celebrate midsummer and the longest
day, myself and an old friend, ably supported by our better halves, cycled from Sumburgh Head at the southern tip of those remote Scottish islands to The Skaw at the top of Unst, the most northern island in the British Isles; the two points separated by some 90 miles of undulating road broken only by two short inter-island ferry hops.
Anticipating a long slog, we decided to start early, though our planned departure was delayed by the stunning scenery at Sumburgh. The cliffs that surround the lighthouse situated there were awash with seabirds and our attention was held by intimate encounters with that most picturesque of birds, the puffin.
We were fortunate to be blessed with fantastic weather and with daylight stretching to just about 24 hours a day at these latitudes we felt under little pressure to tackle our journey. However, we had ferries to catch and at around 7.30am on Sunday we pushed off on the road north.
Some 40 minutes later, having already struggled up several severe and long inclines, we were slightly less optimistic about completing our task; though still not rushed enough to pass up a cooked breakfast, lovingly prepared by our wives as we passed the campsite at Levenwick, our previous evening's resting place.
With the full English eagerly consumed we returned to the saddle for the next leg, continuing up Mainland, the largest island within the group, past the capital Lerwick to the tiny port of Toft from where we were to catch the ferry to Yell.
The surrounding vista was far too beautiful for me to do proper justice.
As the immaculate road wound its way through sunlit meadows flushed with blooming wild flowers including swathes of iridescent yellow irises, we were aghast at the teaming wildlife.
Immaculate oyster catchers with their formal plumage graced every field, invariably accompanied by the ubiquitous Shetland ponies with their overgrown fringes encapsulating that Thelwell look.
Peddling slowly onward, we would turn a bend only to be greeted by remote bays isolated by plunging cliffs and populated by playful seals and elusive sea otters.
With nearly 50 miles under our belt and breakfast just a distant memory we arrived at Toft, only to find that we had an hour's wait for the next boat.
Once again, our wives came to the rescue and as we rested our tender behinds on something slightly more comfortable than our road bike saddles, we tucked into a tasty lunch washed down by a glass of fruity Rioja.
Revitalised, we were soon on our way to Yell, the middle island in our adventure. Landing at Ulsta, we were quickly back on the bikes and unfortunately back on the hills.
