Lunna Ness and the Stanes of Stofast

 

A friend and I decided to take the afternoon off to make the best of the continuing calm cold weather before the return of wind and rain at the weekend.  I've been around Lunna ness several times and even camped a the stanes, but it's not a place he's been and being a collector of veloviewer tiles we thought we'd grab him some.

It was very frozen ground, but a lot less snow than our last walk up north.

The north Loch of Stofast with  the stanes ahead...

Looking out to the point of Lunna Ness and Lunna Holm...

And as I seem incapable lately of a blog post without a video, here's a video of our wintry wander...

A winter wonderland walk from Nibon to Mangaster

Today I met up with a friend for a winter wonderland walk along the coast from Nibon to Mangaster, about 9km or 5.5 miles. The weather was amazing with light easterly winds, clear skies and 0c, though without the wind it felt lovely.

Gunnister Voe with Ronas Hill in the distance...

The ground was frozen solid and often sheet ice under a light covering of snow so we had to be very careful on downhills and with all the cross hill walking too. I sometimes wish I had crampons for walking, but it's so rare I need them, other than now!

Looking north from Wilson's Noup to Hillswick Ness...

The Loch of Scarvie was frozen solid and covered in snow, with the winter sun it looked amazing. Still we didn't walk on it.

It wasn't too long before we were at Mangster Voe and nearing the end of our walk.

The end in site at Mangaster...

And you can join me on my walk in this short video...

Thanks for popping by and stay well until next time...

Baltic bathing at Bellister

 

A friend and I tried a new spot for a dip at Bellister in North Nesting today. It's pretty sheltered other than from the north and today was a northerly! Still it had great access, so we thought it'd be rude not to try it out.

Even life ring!

Great scenery above water, and great underneath too....

A wintry circuit from the Brig o' Fitch

 

The amazing calm icy weather has continued this week an having taken the day off Clare and I planned to make the most of it with a wintry walk to take in a couple of waterfally burns off The Brig o' Fitch. We ended up doing a 10.5km or 6.5mile walk around the area, probably half of which was pretty rough going.

John Boyne's Burn was our first to visit with a succession of part frozen falls and cascades leading up to the moor top. It was a bit too icy to get too close, but we enjoyed it none the less.

Once on the moor top we headed for a frozen solid Gossa Water for a pit stop.

Next was the Hill of Dale with a short pause to watch 8 mountain hares on the hillside.

We carried on towards the A970 above Frakkafield and followed the old road down to Dales Voe and back up to the A970 above Tingwall at Windy Grind.

Another pitstop.

Then it was the slog up to the Burradale turbines before heading down to The Burn of Njugals Water and back to the car.

And here's a little video of our grand day out!

Fladdabister Mills and Lime kilns

 Last weekend Clare and I got out for a bit of a walk on a dry, but cold and breezy day. We headed over to Fladdabister for a walk round a favourite spot of ours. The banks past the Loch of Fladdabister are a bit soggy, but it's worth going past them for the great coastal views, mills and kilns.

The meandering run of old mill remains down the burn is quite something.

And they made a nice place to get out of the wind for a bite to eat.

After the mills the burn continues down to the coast. It's really quite a lovely spot giving the feeling of being miles from anywhere.

Looking across to Bressay.

The walk we took back to the Lime Kilns takes you along an old track where there used to be a busy crofting life. Now there's largely ruins of old stone houses. The kilns are great to see and afford more amazing views. we've swum off the beach below them too.

And here's where we walked. About 5.5km or 3.5 miles

A wintery swim in South Nesting

 Today was a bit more wintery than I expected, but never the less I had plans to check out a new swim spot in the West Voe of Skellister, one half way between us and friends who've just moved to Brae in the north.

I passed through some heavy snow and sleet showers on the way there and hoped I'd get a clear spell for my swim!

I was lucky and the showers held off and there was a nice sandy spot to get changed and enter the water.

It was so calm and quiet. It was lovely to be in there for a short explore.

And here's a little video of the swim...

Thanks for looking in!

Muckle Ayre; a January dip!

 

We've had a lot of cold and still weather this Christmas and New Year. We been out for a few swims, wanders and a ride up the valley while it's nice. Today we decided to make the most of it before we're back at work with a trip up north to Muckle  Ayre, a lovely beach at the end of the road on Muckle Roe.

Sadly Frankies was shut, so it was just a flask of hot chocolate on the beach and then back home for a lazy afternoon.

Here's short video of the beach and the swim...

All the best for the New year!