St Ninian's Isle, Helli Ness Headland - Shetland Mainland

 Shetland Day 1

A morning walk around the stunning St Ninian' Isle and then an afternoon walk around the Helli Ness Headland on Shetland Mainland.

St Ninian's Isle is a small tied island connected by the largest tombolo in the UK to the south-western coast of the Mainland, Shetland.

The tombolo, known locally as an ayre from the Old Norse for "gravel bank", is 500 metres long. During the summer the tombolo is above sea level and accessible to walkers. During winter, stronger wave action removes sand from the beach so that it is usually covered at high tide, and occasionally throughout the tidal cycle, until the sand is returned the following spring.

Stonehaven, Dunnottar Castle, Balmedie Country Park : Aberdeenshire

After a long drive up from Manchester I pitched up at Stonehaven for the night ahead of the ferry from Aberdeen the next day. With the ferry not leaving until 7pm, I had a chance for a morning walk from Stonehaven to Dinnottar Castle. Then, In the afternoon I visited Balmedie Country park beach just north of Aberdeen. Then it was an overnight ferry arriving at Lerwick, Shetland Mainland at 7:30 am on Tuesday morning.