Round about 6 Miles south of Gunnister is my next interesting locale, well it is if you are me 😁.
Next up is Mavis Grind. This is the narrowest point in Shetland. One one side is the Atlantic and the other is the North Sea. Why is it interesting, well, apart from the actual geography, the history of the place is pretty cool too.
As mentioned above, the Shetland Islands (never, never call it ‘The Shetland’s’ up here) sits with the North Sea to the East and North Atlantic to the West.

As Vikings colonised this part of the world they took advantage of this narrow strip of land… rather than sailing all they way around they would drag their boats across from one side to the other. The name is from the Norse and means something along the lines of: ‘Gate of the narrow isthmus’ . This method pretty much carried on for centuries especially in the winter months when coming round either end of the islands was asking for trouble.
In times gone by the ground level was a lot lower, the main road built it up. Supposedly at the narrowest part it is something like 33m (110 feet) from high water to high water.
in the late 90’s the BBC or someone similar did a test…
They did indeed pull a boat from the sea to the ocean. Not sure why they needed to try as in the archives there are lots of pictures and testimonies of people doing just that. http://photos.shetland-museum.org.uk/index.php?a=ViewItem&key=SXsiTiI6MTE2LCJQIjp7InZhbHVlIjoiTWF2aXMgR3JpbmQiLCJvcGVyYXRvciI6IjEiLCJmdXp6eVByZWZpeExlbmd0aCI6IjMiLCJmdXp6eU1pblNpbWlsYXJpdHkiOjAuNjUsIm1heFN1Z2dlc3Rpb25zIjoiNSIsImFsd2F5c1N1Z2dlc3QiOm51bGx9fQ&pg=54&WINID=1558564105627#ZIk6J2xfZQ8AAAFq4ajpUA/130428
Okay it isn’t as big as the one above but they did indeed do it up until relatively recently.
No models, painting or nothing tonight as I am sitting in a hotel room in Edinburgh eating salt and vinegar Pringles and drinking tea… what a rock and roll lifestyle I lead!
Back to Shetland on Friday morning…
That is a great bit of local trivia. I’m curious now what is the familiar term that the Shetland Islanders use to refer to their home islands then?
Cheers,
Pete.
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They simply use Shetland or their specific Island..Whalsay, Foula etc
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Ever since I read some of your earlier accounts of life on the Shetland Islands it has been on my list to visit. It is still on the list and will happen at some point!😊
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Cool, I had better get onto Promote Shetland and let them know I have succeeded. We just got 6th best place in Europe to visit 😁. When you get here you can have your own personal tour guide… don’t ask me to take you to see the Whales…when I just leave somewhere they arrive!
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Nice picture and story! You sound as though you do what I do if ever I’m away on business – I hate eating on me own so I just get sandwiches and pasta salad and crisps etc. and scoff ’em in me hotel room! At least I drive everywhere, so I try and take my pre-packed plastic toolbox full of paints and figures with me!
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