Loks like the Falkland islands! And, why did they build all of those walls? No people around.
The fields are filled with stones that you have to take away and you need somewhere to put them.
Wall-building is a traditional Shetland sport. They have one of the world’s strongest teams.
But they’re nothing against the farmers in Southern Sweden: stengärdsgård småland - Google Search
If you can get nineteen hours of daylight near the summer solstice (and twilight for the rest), how much daylight do you think you’ll get near the winter solstice, and how high will the sun be even for those few hours?
Of course, that does make it all the easier to spot the Aurora Borealis, though even as far north as the Shetlands you can’t guarantee it during, say, a two-week stay and the tourist websites suggest you go there with something else in mind and take the light-show as a bonus if it does happen.
There’s wildlife, of course - and winters that are surprisingly mild for latitude sixty north.
Has anybody been to the Up Helly A" festival? You get to dress up as Vikings, drink mead, and burn a Viking ship!
I’m still waiting for the Miami-San Juan, PR expressway. You could have two lanes - one for people who forgot their passport that goes straight back and forth over international waters and another that has exits for the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, and the Dominican Republic and is staffed by immigration officials. Let’s also connect all of the Virgin Islands with PR while we’re at it.
You obviously never met any Scotsmen.
I’ve never been, sadly. There are some tremendous photos of it from the Boston Globe’s Big Picture here:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/fiery_european_festivals.html
For anyone interested, here are some good links from a cruise site.
I want to go because basically all of the things that stir my soul are there: Iron Age ruins, dry stone walls, stormy seas, Shetland wool/knitting, and the aforementioned burning ship. It would be a pilgrimage for me.
I think Floater’s point, as a fellow inhabitant of Southern Scandinavia, was that “hardly any daylight in winter” is a relative term that for those of use familiar with conditions further north seems absurd to use about daylight at 60 North. At the absolute worst, at solstice, there’s still 5 hours and 40 minutes of sun. (Of course, Shetland is at 61, and gets 10 minutes less, but still.)
Mange takk, that’s exactly what I meant. The days are a bit shortish at this time of the year, but I’m used to it and wouldn’t say “hardly any daylight”.
If you like to read crime stories I can recommend the Shetland Island quartet by Ann Cleaves.
There’s a good live webcam from Shetland here.
It currently isn’t showing much at all (snow over the lens? Giant sheep blocking the view?) but here you can see pics from the last few days.
I was there a few years ago. Took the overnight ferry from Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands (approximately 7 hours) and flew back to Edinburgh. Absolutely the most amazing place ever. Expensive to get to, yes, but worth every penny.
By miniature boat, of course!