dansk
Saturday 6 July 2002
Today we are bound for Gruting on the Western Mainland, and the road seems to be forever going up-hill. Of course, there are long descents in between, but somehow they don't count, it's the hard work of going up-hill that sticks in the mind. The expression "push-bike" really comes into its own here. But again, wonderful landscapes to look at, while you push upwards, and whenever you stop, and there's not a car in sight, there's a chorus of birds of many kinds. After a gruelling day, we find our next B&B which is situated with a view of Gruting Voe, an inlet from the Atlantic. Our hostess cannot give us dinner, but we get a nice bowl of soup which is really all we can manage. Later on, our host invites us for a drive in his Landrover with the object of seeing a broch on the coast which is very difficult to reach by ordinary roads. And it's really extraordinary what a vehicle like the Landrover can do in a difficult terrain. The broch, when we reach it, the last ascent on foot, is very imposing. A huge circular building of stone where the top has crumbled down to lie at the foot of the structure. It seems to be untouched by archeologists, unlike the broch at Clickmin outside Lerwick which looks very tidy in comparison, but without the spectacular situation of this one. After this expedition we're ready for a good long sleep.