Viking Unst or Rain Rain Rain
Posted: Thursday, 26 July 2007 |
Annual family holiday in Unst - brilliant as usual. how could it be anything else?
Weather - rubbish
Scenery - superb
Folk - brilliant
Accommodation - top class
Shopping - fantastic
We go up to Unst every year - this time no Ruthodanort. Remind me - where is she? Oh yes, last seen sailing in a easterly direction!
We visited every archaeological dig we could find - Unst is full of culture and heritage at the moment. there are ancient finds all over the place. There's a new dig at Hamar - a Viking longhouse - and its amazing. Julie Bond of Bradford Uni showed us round - you can see so well what it represents. A tiny house and a big byre - well - priorities were different then. They did really clever things with drains and running water - the water was drained from round the house, the clean water was used for household purposes, the rest drained through the lower end - the byre end - and cleaned away the muck. How sensible. There are also digs past and present at Underhoull, Belmont and Da Easting (da aest ane) is a fab beach with wide flat white sand full of Viking remains. It is not repeat NOT called Sandwick as it says on the map and all the archaeologists insist on calling it. (not their fault of course)
There are literally hundreds of Viking remains in Unst - its going to be a big part of the Viking trail that stretches across Europe. We visited the Skibladner - the Viking longship situated in Haraldswick, they've put a shelter roof on it and installed two handsome Vikings who were awfully glad to see us on a rainy Tuesday, they have not had much publicity so folks don't know they're there! They made me a Viking bracelet, they showed us some carving and weapons, we made rope, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. There had been a Viking feast on last weekend, which sadly I missed by one day - but it sounded brilliant, they had a fight over a princess, and drew blood (he showed me his scar...)
As usual we shopped - Ethel's - and bought loadsa stuff. this time I bought some stainless steel bits - a colander, a tray, and a bowl. (no, I don't really need these items) a CD of Ike and Tina Turner, some coffee, noodles, and some dipping sauce not available on the mainland, and a handbag. (a HANDBAG, she said in the tone of the importance of being Ernest)
On the beach I had a funny experience - a friendly dog appeared, complete with spherical object - hmmm - looks familiar - MAC! - usually accompanied by Muness view and/or Ruthodanort - complete with temporary owner - was that Damadcoo in those wellies?
My sister had a more exciting experience on the beach - as we scrambled over rocks in a lonely isolated spot - she came face to face with ... a RAT! oh my GOD! did we run!!!
Weather - rubbish
Scenery - superb
Folk - brilliant
Accommodation - top class
Shopping - fantastic
We go up to Unst every year - this time no Ruthodanort. Remind me - where is she? Oh yes, last seen sailing in a easterly direction!
We visited every archaeological dig we could find - Unst is full of culture and heritage at the moment. there are ancient finds all over the place. There's a new dig at Hamar - a Viking longhouse - and its amazing. Julie Bond of Bradford Uni showed us round - you can see so well what it represents. A tiny house and a big byre - well - priorities were different then. They did really clever things with drains and running water - the water was drained from round the house, the clean water was used for household purposes, the rest drained through the lower end - the byre end - and cleaned away the muck. How sensible. There are also digs past and present at Underhoull, Belmont and Da Easting (da aest ane) is a fab beach with wide flat white sand full of Viking remains. It is not repeat NOT called Sandwick as it says on the map and all the archaeologists insist on calling it. (not their fault of course)
There are literally hundreds of Viking remains in Unst - its going to be a big part of the Viking trail that stretches across Europe. We visited the Skibladner - the Viking longship situated in Haraldswick, they've put a shelter roof on it and installed two handsome Vikings who were awfully glad to see us on a rainy Tuesday, they have not had much publicity so folks don't know they're there! They made me a Viking bracelet, they showed us some carving and weapons, we made rope, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. There had been a Viking feast on last weekend, which sadly I missed by one day - but it sounded brilliant, they had a fight over a princess, and drew blood (he showed me his scar...)
As usual we shopped - Ethel's - and bought loadsa stuff. this time I bought some stainless steel bits - a colander, a tray, and a bowl. (no, I don't really need these items) a CD of Ike and Tina Turner, some coffee, noodles, and some dipping sauce not available on the mainland, and a handbag. (a HANDBAG, she said in the tone of the importance of being Ernest)
On the beach I had a funny experience - a friendly dog appeared, complete with spherical object - hmmm - looks familiar - MAC! - usually accompanied by Muness view and/or Ruthodanort - complete with temporary owner - was that Damadcoo in those wellies?
My sister had a more exciting experience on the beach - as we scrambled over rocks in a lonely isolated spot - she came face to face with ... a RAT! oh my GOD! did we run!!!
more photos from rainy cold shetland
Posted: Monday, 30 July 2007 |
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