Day Eight: Shetland Pony Sighting in the Shetland Islands

Today we took yet another tour called “Rugged Coasts of the North.”  As you must realize by now, we are tirelessly in pursuit of adventure. We are at port in Lerwick on the main island, which along with the rest of the islands is the setting for one of my favorite mystery series, aptly named The Shetland  Murder Mysteries.   Jimmy Perez is the enigmatic, handsome, yet shy, local detective in the series.  Why am I telling you all of this, you ask?  Well, reading the six book series is one of the reasons I wanted to visit the Shetlands.  Seeing what you have read about brings the pages alive.  

What caught me about the Shetland series is how much the weather on the island shapes every plot line.  The islands have about fifty gales a year with winds recorded up to 190 miles per hour, so there are no trees.  And in the summer, it stays light something like eighteen hours a day.  A misty fog surrounds the island and the clouds hang low, dark and heavy (there is a film version on BBC if you would  like to see the countryside).

All of this for background for our tour today (TMI?).  We had a lovely Scottish tour guide who was born here and has lived here her entire life.   She was actually an extra in a couple of the films, so she knew where one guy was shot and thrown off a cliff, where Jimmy’s girlfriend lived and even where Jimmy lived.  I took a picture of the cliff and and of Jimmy’s house.  I didn’t care for Jimmy’s girlfriend, Fran, so I skipped that.  

Going on these tours makes me realize that at least 75% of the people on this ship are older than us.  Yesterday, on our “rather strenuous” walk, the ladies in front of me were discussing their knee surgeries and subsequent rehab.   Today a lady came over to the steps in the back part of the bus where I was sitting and asked if the restroom was occupied.  There was no restroom, so I said, “Yes, it is.”  There’s a lot of jostling for being first in line, which I don’t get involved in for fear someone will hit me with a cane.  And everone falls asleep on the buses on the way back from a tour.  

I got so involved in Jimmy Perez, I almost forgot about the Shetland ponies.  Yes, we saw some and Doug took a picture.  Our tour guide pointed them out and a bunch of people yelled “Ponies!”  every time one was sighted.  Kind of made me mad because I was trying to nap.  🙂

Jimmy Perez’s House

The Cliff

Above:  Jimmy Perez’s house and the cliff from which the already dead body was thrown.