When we came back from the cliffs, there still was some time to explore the remnants of Rackwick.

Some decades ago, Rackwick was a small village with real people and all the things that belong to the every-day life of a village. As the years went by the village grew smaller, its people older and the younger left for the city, until only one old man was left, who lived there until the end of his time.

Today the stones of Rackwick’s old houses crumble under the wind. In certain places you see a new bungalow or a mobile home, which, we were told, belong to the people of Orkney’s mainland, who like to come here for the summer.

Although there is no one living permanently in Radwick, the people of Hoy did not leave this village to its fate. A small street sign led us to a house, looking relatively new, with white curtains in its windows and an open door. It is a strange feeling to enter a house in a place that is empty of people.

We stood in a single room, almost a living room, with a chair under the window and an old cupboard. In this we found hundreds of old pictures of Radwick, ordered meticulously by year. You could make yourself comfortable in the old chair and delve into Radwick’s past. I’ve never seen such a calm and tender  memento to a gone place.

We also found the old school house, or rather school room, where they even had preserved the last teacher's table.

If I remember correctly, the bus driver told us that the school of Rackwick sent of its last pupils in the 1950s. The old man, the last villager, died in the 1980s.

While walking around the bay, I imagined the old man sitting at the beach or in front of his house at night, counting the thousand stars and watching the ghosts of his past.

Punctually in the afternoon the little red bus came over the hill to pick up our small party, with the same cheerful guy who fitted so well into the curiousity and uniqueness of this place and day.

The Ring of Brodgar

... or "Orcadian Stonehenge".... 

A mysterious 5000 years old stone circle.
It's a very impressive sight when you drive along the wide mainland of Orkney towards these stones, 

whose edged silhouettes poke into the low hanging clouds.

I wish I had more time to capture all these colours: green of the already fading thistles, the purple-blue of the moorland, hints of yellow, shades of red...

Sitting here, watching one of these amazing Orcadian sunsets must be mesmerizing.

Mr Isbister. 1881.

 And you are never really alone. :)

of smiling sheep and poking ponies

Here's a kind of my personal Best-of of those animals, which you will find all over Shetland: sheep and ponies. There are meadows, but you also meet them taking a walk on the street or climbing through old stone houses. They are almost everywhere and they are allowed to. And since they are so free in their movements they aren't really bothered by curious tourists. But if you come too near they turn around. It's like with little children: you are not there when they can't see you!

If I was a sheep, I wanted to be a Shetland sheep!

If you visit the Shetland Islands you will also come across some Shetland Ponies for sure. 

They are only waist-high, but they made it up with loads of self-confidence and a bit of naughtiness ;)

We met a whole gang lingering next to the street when we visited Hermaness.

Unlike the sheep, they are very curious and when they saw us coming, they became instantly interested in us and mainly our bags.
One of them, I think he was the leader of the gang, didn't let us through until he had poked his nose into every bag we had.

Finally he felt our bags where not worth his while and decided to let us pass. Not without following us with a reproachful look for quite some time ...

The northernmost point of Britain's northernmost islands

The longest journey we took while we stayed in Shetland was the trip to Hermaness. It is located in the north of Unst, which again is the northernmost island of the Shetland Island, making it the northernmost point of Britains northernmost islands. By the way, Unst also has Britain's northernmost bus shelter (which is always decorated with much love and even has its own website). In short, Britain's northernmost everything is in Unst :)

Our journey began early in the morning, when we took the bus from Lerwick and started to hop from island to island. It is all really well and smoothly organised: there's the busdriver on the Mainland taking you to the ferry, where you are instantly picked up, on the other side another (smaller) bus waits for you, driving you cheerfully across Yell, next ferry, and then you are in Unst. The even smaller bus (8 people max, I think) that waited there drove us all across Unst up to the Unst Heritage Centre, where we were warmly greeted by the wonderful ladies who work there. The centre once was a school house, and now serves as a little museum with stories about the famous lighthouse Muckle Flugga, life on Unst and of course artefacts of the beautiful lace knitting. The ladies working there are mostly teachers, who once taught there when it still was a school. They impressed me very much, they were so enthusiastic and put so much love and effort in their exhibition and workshops - if you ever happen to be in Unst, don't miss this lovely centre.

The staff of Lerwick's tourist bureau reminded us to tell the bus driver in Unst that we want to go back the same day, so that he or she picks us up again in the afternoon and drive us back to the ferry. So we had a few hours for our stay in Unst. Hermaness was still some kilometres away from the centre but one of the ladies suggested to drive us up to Hermaness so that we only had to walk back. Did I already mention how friendly and lovely Shetland's people are...?

I lack the words that describe this wonderful place Hermaness. There was sunshine and colours and a landscape that reminded me of a science fiction story so unearthly it seemed to me. So instead of trying to put this into words, I let my pictures speak. Come with me...

The sheep's television: watching fishing boats float by...

These whitish blobs are sheep - just to put the vastness of these amazing cliffs into perspective...

Once this was

... one of the busiest fishing stations in Shetland. A little information plate tells you this when you arrive there. It creates a weird feeling to know this and to look around. We took a walk around, sheep our only companions. It is somehow sad to imagine that this place was once buzzing with life and now most of the abandoned houses are reduced to a pile of rubble and there is a lot of trash that is constantly being washed ashore by the sea. The whole place tells about decay and transience and also about us humans, about what stays when we leave a place.

We left the harbour behind and turned southwards where we wanted to see the Elephant. This is a rock, which has its name - of course - for a reason, but this reason doesn't become clear instantly.

And while we were chasing the elephant, we met this guy, who danced in the sea but too fast for the shutter - but at least I got your nose, seal!

While we walked, it became apparent why this rock is called the elephant...

But we saw another elephant, can you see him, too? It even has a rider on its back. To be honest, this picture always give me the creeps.

We also made a stop in Hillswick, a small village we visited on our way back to Lerwick.

On the beach of this village there is the St. Magnus Bay Hotel,  a wooden pavilion built some hundred years ago in Norway for an exhibition in Glasgow, which found its home as hotel in Hillswick.

We didn't meet many people on our way that day but that only added to the somewhat strange, melancholy and mysterious atmosphere of these places.