Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1534783
Clockwise from top left: Kirkwall's St. Magnus, Britain's northerly cathedral; wild Shetland ponies; an ancient burial stone; the Ring of Brodgar, majestic standing stones Shetland, but the music however, was a complete revelation. Turns out that Lerwick is basically the Nashville of Scottish fiddle music; on the High Street in Lerwick, a couple of teenagers in jeans and t-shirts, not busking, but competing with each other for fun – a joyous pair of Duelling Fiddles, toe-tapping doesn't do them justice. Everywhere modern, melodic music with an ancient soul drifted out of shops, bars, pubs, open windows and created an unforgettable soundtrack to my Shetland experience. I may have finally made friends with Shetland, but with Orkney, it was love at first sight. e polar opposite of its Presbyterian It's architecturally and emotionally strong, no frills, muscular and enduring – the perfect creation of form and function for a challenging environment. Suddenly the sweaters and Hamish's intransigence began to make sense. e treeless landscape is sparse and spectacular, soaring cliffs, hundreds, possibly thousands of fabulous seabirds swirling through Spitfire skies, rising and falling on Atlantic thermals, houses huddling into the landscape and mile after mile of fields dotted with the providers of those childhood sweaters. So far so about two inches further up my head than they would have been without that daily tug of war. en there was Hamish. He was a birthday present, a pony from the Shetland Islands, I was three, what could be more perfect? Almost anything actually. Hamish had more tricks up his sleeve for dealing with under fives than a whole battalion of Norland Nannies. He was also more determined to do things his way than even Frank Sinatra. We never had a battle he didn't win, these dual formative experiences taught me that Shetland should be treated with caution. I couldn't have been more wrong. Shetland is magnificent. Shetland is magnificent – the perfect creation of form and function for a challenging environment 30 VIKING