A Shetland adventure
Yoel is a 10-year-old with severe haemophilia A. He lives in the Shetland Isles, which are closer to Norway than mainland UK, and his nearest haemophilia centre is 200 miles away in Aberdeen! With help from a TravelFactor grant he decided to explore the islands and raise money for the Haemophilia Society.
We started our walk on 1st July with a trek exploring the seashore and sand dunes. We got soaking wet in the sea! It was lots of fun, but very cold!
One of my favourite walks was to Sumburgh Head. This involved a steep climb to the lighthouse at the south end of Shetland. The best part was seeing the puffins, which were all around the cliffs and some only a few metres from where we walked. They are small and cute, have multicoloured beaks and make a “moo” sound!
Discovering ancient history took me to Quendale Water Mill (a museum and water mill built in 1867), the archaeological site of Jarlshof (a multi period settlement) and best of all the Iron Age village in Old Scatness, where we dressed up as Vikings and Picts, carved shapes in soapstone and played Iron Age games.
My main aim when planning the walk was to go to Fair Isle. This is a little island 25 miles across the sea from where I live. I can see it on the horizon from my house. It looks like a giant pterodactyl sitting in the sea! With the travel grant I was able to fund air tickets for my dad and me to fly there.
We flew in a tiny Islander plane. It only has seven seats and is soooo noisy! I called it “the bone shaker!” Fair Isle is only three miles long, with a population of around 70. It is a non-doctor island and is totally “off-grid”, producing its own electricity by wind turbines. I took a good supply of Factor with me, and all my Port-a-cath equipment, as sometimes you can get stranded on the island!
We walked all around the island, up a steep hill (Malcolm’s Head) to the lighthouse and passed the bird observatory to the north. Lunch was eaten overlooking a cliff as we watched the “Good Shepherd” sail away loaded with sheep! It was a very hard walk and I had a joint bleed in my knee the next day.
We also used the TravelFactor grant to buy a gigantic 12-man tent (there are 8 of us in my family!) which helped us to explore further afield. Camping was so much fun!
We headed to Eshaness, in the north of Shetland, to camp. We ‘recycled’ the old plastic dressing pack containers from my port infusions and used them as camping plates!
In Eshaness, we walked along the cliffs which are actually an ancient volcano! The next day we went from there by ferry to Yell, another island, and had a walk to the Old Haa - an old Laird’s house. Other fun walks included kite flying on the moors, bird-spotting (which we sketched) and exploring St Ninian’s Isle - the best example of a tombolo in the UK (where a beach links two islands) and site of the famous treasure find!
Our very last walk took place at the end of September, when we went to the crofthouse museum and saw how people in Shetland used to live a long time ago. I got my fingers caught in an ancient mouse trap - ouch!
I was very pleased to finish the 100 miles. It was hard work, but a lot of fun! And we were able to raise a few hundred pounds for the Haemophilia Society.
ADV10/3057B Prep 05/10
