Phew, what a day it’s been, out on a boat on Yell Sound picking up more lighthouses and islands.

Leaving the cars at Toft we crossed to Yell on the ferry and met Michael the skipper and the boat just over the other side in Ulsta. We passed the very beautifully-located Ness of Sound Lighthouse as we journeyed up Yell Sound.

We made our way right up to the north entrance and around Point of Fethaland. This was a perfect chance to see this very unique lighthouse from the sea where it looks so small compared to the dramatic natural surroundings. On the return later this morning I thought it looked rather Faroese from a certain angle. It was particularly good to see from the north east with the jagged rocks in the foreground and lighthouse sticking up on the top of the cliff. I don’t know anyone who has been to Point of Fethaland that has anything bad to say about it. The walk is superb.

Joe the Drone also took a spin here too.

Heading around also gave us a chance to see Gruney, which was a reminder of the scary landing on a flat, sloped rock there back in 2019. However it did also bring back memories of the stunning views from the island that day too.

After some island bagging around the corner from Point of Fethaland, including a tidal island which had proven to be rather tricky to reach by land, we returned to Yell Sound. We were heading into the wind now and it was clear from the water conditions that the sea was getting a little more interesting. The skippers weren’t sure what we would manage from this point and a couple of group members set off to set foot on three islands, but only managed one before the swell was getting too heavy causing them to return to the main boat.

Then it was well and truly onto the lighthouses. The first stop was Muckle Holm, which was one I’d visited in 2019, but my lighthouse pal John had yet to do. I decided to go ashore for a revisit and I’m so glad I did. I’d forgotten how fascinating the island is with some stunning geos in both the middle and the west side and a fairly narrow section of grass leading to the east section of the island. Of course it was good to see the flat-pack lighthouse again.

What I found upon returning from the island was that, while sitting to move down the rocks, I managed to tear my waterproof trousers in two places. Normally this would be a pain, but I actually didn’t mind it as it made me feel like a proper island bagger. So many of them have holes in clothing from their exploits!

I stood aside for the next two islands, Little Holm and Brother Isle, as – although they both have lights on them – I have been to them before and there were others who hadn’t. Due to the sea conditions we could only really take three in the tender at one time so I settled for a view from the main boat with these two.

Next we got to the really interesting bit, the lights I’d not been close to before. The first of these was on Tinga Skerry. I wasn’t sure what to expect here as I recalled when I last saw it from a distance that it was just very low-lying rock and I didn’t know if landing would be possible. I was nicely surprised to see it was actually far more substantial than I’d given it credit for. After wandering up towards the lighthouse we spotted a male otter dashing away across the rocks. It was fantastic to see and a great start to a small, but interesting little skerry. The lighthouse isn’t the most interesting of structures, really just practical, but as I’ve said many times before (and particularly in this post) it’s so often the places these lights take you to that makes visiting them so enjoyable.

Then it was something entirely different with a visit to Little Roe. I’d not known about Little Roe until my last visit to Shetland, which thankfully occurred before my book was published. This was also a little unexpected as, contrary to what its name suggests Little Roe isn’t very “little” and certainly not in comparison to many of the other islands in the area. From the landing area at the rocky beach it was quite a walk on ground that alternated between long grass and squidgy moss, which fortunately was dry today. As we reached the highest point of the island we spotted the top of the lighthouse appearing ahead of us and set off for it. This is the first one of this type that I’ve been too and it’s bright orange paint was a real contrast to the grey skies at that point. It’s a very strange light, similar in shape to the one on Gruney. I always enjoy seeing these different style of towers though as seeing the same thing all the time could get a bit tedious. Just to the south of the lighthouse was what I originally thought was a single geo with beautiful cliffs. Walking a bit further on though I discovered there were two geos next to each other, resulting in a wonderfully shaped promontory in the middle. I also spotted a great little arch in one of the geos. Walking back was slightly easier with much more downhill, and rather strangely the remains of a fence. There are ruins of a building on the island so my guess would be that it was once home to someone who dug the peat and may well have had a fence! Back at the landing it was nice to have a sit down and enjoy the area while the first pair were taken back to the main boat. I found a fun bit of sloped grass to slide down. With the Balta seesaw and Little Roe grass slide I really do seem to be behaving like a child while out bagging these days.

The final two stops of the day I was very keen to get to as it would save a particularly long walk at another time. The reason there are so many lights in Yell Sound is because it is used as an entry/exit route for Sullom Voe oil terminal. To get to these next lights involves walking around the coastline to avoid Sullom Voe, which is surrounded by fencing anyway so there is no shortcut. There are two lights at Skaw Taing and the skippers were very pleased to find some relatively calm water for a change where the boats weren’t constantly drifting unless underway. After a smooth landing we made the short walk to the front light, which would have been a twin of Little Roe, except it had a directional sector light on the front as well as the light on the top, which was also different to Little Roe. The rear light was a bit of a slog, but a fairly short slog so not too bad. This is an entirely different type of structure, stone-built and with an entrance hatch on top rather than a door on the side. Again there was plenty of soft ground to walk on here, but that didn’t stop me from just being glad that I didn’t need to undertake the very long and boggy walk around the coast.

There was one final stopping point and that was Mio Ness. Very similar to the light on Tinga Skerry, it wasn’t the most beautiful, but it was easy enough to land nearby with an even shorter walk than Skaw Taing to reach the lighthouse. I’d seen this one from the ferry before as well as a chartered boat in 2019, plus from the coastal road on Yell – it’s very easy to see from a distance, but not so easy to get a closer look. It seemed like a very successful end to today’s trip for me which involved achieving more than we thought we might given the gusting wind.

It was just great to have seen these ones closer now and spent some time exploring some of these very different islands and skerries 🙂