By David G. Molyneaux, editor, The Travel Mavens
One of my favorite European port tours was a long hike in Scotland's Shetland islands. While other cruise passengers from our ship, the Crystal Serenity, milled around the town of Lerwick on our one day in port, shopping for wool like a herd of sheep, we were walking with the sheep, exploring the dramatic hills and grasslands of a tiny island nearby.
The folks at VisitBritain had helped us find and book a local guide. On a sunny July day, we followed guide Niall Cruickshank along well worn dirt paths toward the dramatic windswept western coast of the Isle of Muckle Roe.
"Shants's is pony from now on," said Cruickshank as we left his car and began our hike. He meant that our legs would be our carriers, like the famous Shetland pony, as we traversed the challenging 5-mile circular route to the craggy cliffs at the edge of the islands where the North Sea ends and the Atlantic Ocean begins.
We explored the hills and coastline, up and down and around masses of granite on ancient paths used mostly by the sheep, grazers of the grasslands, and occasionally by a man who tends a lighthouse, warning ships away from the hulking chunks of granite that stand guard offshore.
By mid-morning, the Atlantic coast lay before us. We did not see another hiker. We felt far away from the rest of humanity, communing with the sheep and the birds -- arctic terns, gannets, ravens, gulls, kittywicks and great skuas -- all pointed out by our guide.
At lunch time, we plopped onto a tablet of granite facing the sea and munched on sandwiches and fruit. Hundreds of feet below, the ocean washed with whooshes against granite cliffs.
To the west lay the water's path familiar to Vikings a thousand years ago as they sailed their way from Scandinavia toward what would become known as the Americas, stopping for rest and supplies at the North Atlantic stepping stones -- the Shetlands, the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, Baffin and Labrador.
The only sounds were the crashing surf below and the wind wafting through the grasses. We sat and stared at the ocean for nearly an hour. The sheep didn't seem to notice.
VisitBritain has links to tourist boards throughout the United Kingdom. For hiking Scotland's Shetland Islands, VisitBritain recommends Elma Johnson's Island Trails.
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