Rob-n-Hild Take the High Road!

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Lerwick - Aberdeen ferry

The morning of our last day in Shetland had arrived. We woke up and had the usual breakfast at Scalloway Campsite: orange juice, porridge with maple syrup and a mug of milk and cup of tea. Then packing up Percy Tetris-style. Everything fits nicely, and there would be space for more! Rob the master-packer.

We then drove in to Lerwick and spent a few hours in the library. We felt very much like locals as we even have a library card! We wanted to sit and chat about the trip and debrief about our favourite Shetland experiences. There was even a nice comfy sofa to relax in.

Heather had drawn our attention to a book written by Janet Halcrow, from the branch of the family that emigrated to Australia - descendants of Gilbert Halcrow (1855-1893) and Margaret McPherson (1855-1934).

Our branch of the family descend from Adam Halcrow (1853-1928) and Janet Smith (1887-1954). Adam and Gilbert were brothers.

Janet Halcrow's book "Our Shetland Heritage & Emigration to Australia" includes Gilbert Halcrow's World War I diaries. She describes life in Shetland and what life was like for them in Australia. Several events from the war are also included. There are many stories that include our guys including Uncle Gilbert as Guizer Jarl at Up Helly Aa.

The book was published in 1998 with ISBN number 1 876315 03 2.

After grabbing some lunch at the New Harbour Cafe - again - we still had some time before our ferry was leaving for Aberdeen. So we drove to Tingwall Church in search of another gravestone. This time we found the grave of James Pottinger (1894-1981) and his wife Margaret Sutherland. James lived on Asta Farm where our campsite was in Scalloway. We had done some research to see if our Pottingers are linked to this one. However, at this point we have not found a link. We will keep looking and maybe ask for help from Shetland Family History Society now that we're members.

On our way from Tingwall back to Lerwick we stopped to mail some postcards, and we met these guys who had recently had a close shave: "We'll Call Them Shaun".

Then the time was right. We got in line at the ferry terminal in Lerwick and soon boarded onto Hrossey of Kirkwall. Again we ended up in the lower card deck and again Rob had to climb many many stairs to get to our reclining POD.

When we located our allocated POD, Hild was concerned that the room was without any windows. It felt claustrophobic especially if we were facing the rough seas we had when sailing to Lerwick. So Hild asked the staff if there was a an available POD with window seat. She was happy to receive new keycards for a much improved POD location. We actually think our PODs are the best on the ship.

* The best POD location: Lounge 3 PODs 9 and 10 * OK POD location: Lounge 1 PODs 3 and 4 * Not so good POD location: Lounge 2 (no window in this room)

Rob enjoying his POD - while doing some work. We were happy to have a USB port for charging phone, but wish that there had been a normal power plug for the computers too. Can't have it all.

Hild settled into her POD with the giant window.

While we had a very rough ride from Aberdeen to Lerwick, the return trip was very smooth. There were some waves just south of Shetland and then almost nothing. So great to not get motion sickness.

The journey was 344 km. It took 11:46 hours with an average speed of 29.2 km/h.

Coming up: Aberdeen

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