I’m clearly on a roll here in Shetland. Today has involved visits to three more of the smaller lights on Mainland and Yell.

On Monday’s boat trip we could see the lighthouse at Whitehill, near Vatsetter, on Yell from a distance. Today was the day that we were going to attempt to get even closer. It was an overcast morning with a bit of rain in the air, but you can never let that stop you. After all of yesterday’s rain I thought it might have topped up the bogs a bit just to make them a bit more hazardous.

We parked up at Vatsetter towards the end of the public road and set off across the field. Although we could see the lighthouse at the start of the walk I knew that it was further than it looked. The ground was boggy in places, but not too bad as long as you looked where you were walking. There were a few leaps across damp channels, but that was it really. We headed down towards the beach and decided to follow the coastal route, which clearly caused a little distress to the nearby arctic terns and oystercatchers, but I told them ‘we come in peace’ in the hope that it would make a difference – it didn’t. There were a couple of old ruins by the shore and the remains of an old wrecked boat lay on the stones nearby. The walk was interesting enough that it didn’t seem like long until we arrived at the lighthouse.

Whitehills lighthouse is a flat-pack affair and it has the usual solar panels that accompany this kind of structure. One thing we noticed about the solar panels was that they had a thick sheet of perspex over them, which may be an indication of how wild it can get there. It was certainly rougher around the coast there today than it has been in recent days with the wind having moved around to the south east. It was nice to see the location of the old Whitehill tower, which can now be found (painted red) at the side of the road on the approach to Arbroath.

On our way back to the car we went cross country a bit more until we spotted some bonxies, which are fast becoming the bane of my Shetland lighthouse bagging days. They didn’t appear to be too aggressive, but we made our way back towards the coast just to steer well clear of them. Once again the terns and oystercatchers “welcomed” us on the way back and only a little while later we were back at the car. I remember looking at the OS maps and the locations of some of the lighthouses in Shetland last year and thinking ‘how on Earth am I going to manage to get to all of them with the distances and terrain’, but over the last few days I’ve realised that not all of them are so inaccessible. I’m not going to lie, there are a few that instil a sense of dread in me at the thought of it, but not so many as there were last year.

After stopping for lunch in Mid Yell, we moved on to our next endeavour, reaching the Ness of Sound lighthouse. I’d seen this one a number of times as it is visible from the main road in Yell as you travel north. It sits on a ‘tied island’, also known as a tombolo, in Yell Sound. Fortunately the sun had come out during lunch time so we were greeted with a beautiful view after we parked up in a lay-by on the main road to the north of Ulsta. It was fairly steep walking down the track which passes alongside a house. It’s always a little unnerving walking so close to someone’s house, but it appeared to be deserted. A great location for a house, just a stone’s throw from the two strips of land that lead you over the the Ness of Sound. It is, in fact, a double tombolo because it has these two strips rather than just one. We opted for the stoney stretch to cross over to the island that’s not really an island. It was fairly steep walking up the grassy, bogginess on the other side, but fortunately not too far before Yell Sound opened up in front of us.

The lighthouse beckoned, as they so often do, so we wandered down to it. Again it was a flat-pack and most definitely one with stunning views. As we walked down a lone bonxie lingered around a short distance away, but he/she flew off before we reached the lighthouse. There were wonderful views from every side of this one and after a while I sat down with my dad on the rocks in front of the tower taking in the view, while Bob looked into the intriguing concrete “lava spill” (as we called it) on the rocks, which also contained some old rope leading down to the sea from the lighthouse. We could see all the way up to the Point of Fethaland today and I imagined it would have been a wonderful day to have been up there, but Ness of Sound was certainly not a bad alternative. We eventually dragged ourselves away and headed back.

Our final stop of the day with Firths Voe. We’d seen it from a distance on our last visit in November, but obviously wanted a closer view. We parked up at the side of the road and wandered down into a farmyard before passing through a couple of gates and then crossing a field down to the lighthouse. To me this is a very recognisable lighthouse. I think it is partly because the ruins of an old building sit behind it and that makes up part of its profile.

We upset a few gulls and terns here and my dad was quick to point out that one of my “favourite” birds was flying over. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to bonxies, I don’t think you can really. I’d had enough of the “bonxie fear” today so it was lucky that there was only one and it flew off as quickly as it had arrived. What I like most about Firths Voe lighthouse is that it is still going strong when so many others of its kind have been replaced by flat-packs (not that I have anything against a flat-pack, of course). From memory, the last few of this kind that I had seen were the old Muckle Roe tower near Sumburgh Head and the former Sandaig Islands tower which is now in Glenelg. The latter two are no longer operational so it is fairly rare to see one of these still doing what it does best.

The tide was out while we were there so we could walk around on the rocks and get views from the full 360 degrees. It looks wonderful from every angle. I was a little disturbed to see that the land and rocks on which the concrete base of the tower sits appears to be wearing away underneath and I hope this won’t continue or have any impact on the lighthouse. We also spotted a little pier nearby, which was presumably set up to serve the lighthouse from. It’s a beautiful place and although the tower is relatively new in terms of lighthouses, it is great to see that the last generation of Stevensons were successful at building long-lasting towers just as their ancestors had been. Once hundred and ten years down the line it’s standing proud, just as it should be.

A great bagging day and definitely a few lighthouses to remember. 🙂