still the 21st

We got off the ferry at 7:40 and knew the bus left for Brae art 8:00 so we hustled to the bus stop. Sara has a knack for mis-adventures & well, they happened again! The bus was pulling out just as we got there - it left early & hardly ever does.



The nice lady at the ferry terminal called a taxi for us & we took it into town to the bus terminal where there would be another bus going to Brae at 2:00. Sara phoned Jan from the terminal & the new plan is that Pete will pick us up in Brae at 2:45. Jan and Pete are the couple who we will be staying with. We will be helping them with projects (they have an organic garden & they are the primary site on the island for rescued sea life - they rehab and release).

So with our spare time in Lerwick we took photos and went to a museum there & had tea and a light lunch. Here are some photos:





















We caught the 2:00 bus and on the ride we saw sheep, fields of peat, mussel farms and lots of open space. The ride was about 40 minutes. We got off at the Brae Co-op (a tiny old fashioned grocery store) and Pete was there to pick us up. He drove us to his place in Hillswick (another 15 or so minutes). Here's a map to show you where we are:



I think if you click on the photo above it will enlarge it. If you look on the far left side of the map you will see the words Papa Stour. Go north of that and a bit east and you will see Hillswick...that's where we are.

When we arrived, Jan was there to greet us. They showed us around their place (of course Sara had been here before). The house is amazing. They are not sure when the house was built, but the first records of someone living there was a John Anderson in 1668. Now that's just hard to comprehend...we're staying in a house that's older than our country (although the Native Americans had it before that).

Of course the first thing we did was have a cup of tea & visited. They have 3 dogs - a very large Great Dane named Odin who likes to carry around his teddy bear



and then there's Ertie...the basset hound who is conniving and oddly dominates Odin



The third dog is a collie named Titch (no photo).

We also got to see the baby seal they have rescued. They are Shetland Islands' only wild life refuge. The seal was found by some fishermen. Sadly it had just been born and was separated from its mother. It still had the umbilical cord attached. I didn't take photos but I promise some in a day or 2.

We visited until around 9:30. They are so very nice and kind to open their home to us. They cooked a wonderful meal of mushrooms, cheese, rice, and a salad & for dessert Pete went out to the garden & cut some rhubarb & Jan made a rhubarb , strawberry, gooseberry crumble. We had champagne with dinner - it was their 18th wedding anniversary too!

After dinner, Sara and I went for a walk along the little road by their home. here are some views: By the way...it was about 10:30 PM when the photos were taken (thank you Simmer Dim!)





this is the side view of Jan and Pete's house:









a back view of their house:








On our walk we saw a wild peacock & heard his loud call. Sara took a photo of him as he took off in flight - a rare sight apparently. Here are my pictures:













And here's Sara's photo of the peacock in flight....amazing!!



We walked the beach across the street from their house until around 11:00 PM or so - the sun had dropped just behind the horizon and then just hovered there - simmer dim.....I swear I'll tell you about that soon.

So we walked the beach in nearly full light finding amazing pieces of sea glass.

Taken about 11:30:


We came back to our room in this amazingly old stone house and went to bed. Here's a photo taken out of the window of our bedroom looking towards the water at close to midnight:

Location:Shetland