VisitShetland

Exploring Bressay

Exploring Shetland's Most Accessible Island

North

The road north from Maryfield passes Bressay's most imposing building, Gardie House, a laird's mansion built in 1724 and noted for its walled gardens.

From the old wartime gun emplacements on Hill of Cruister there's a grand panorama of Bressay Sound and Lerwick, with the ruins of the Ha' of Cruister in the foreground. A little further into the hill is a standing stone, the Stane o' Cruister, perhaps a navigation mark for prehistoric mariners.

Below this vantage point you can see traces of early 20th century herring curing stations, dating from the time before the 1st World War when Bressay Sound was the premier herring port of Europe, with thousands of migrant workers busy gutting, salting and packing fish in barrels for export to the Baltic and Russia.

Another other little road north passes through the crofting hamlet of Crueton (with its very 'birdy' copse of willows) and over the hill to the townships of Beosetter and Gunnista, overlooking Aith Voe which is one of the best birdwatching spots in the island, noted for waders, divers and sea ducks. Beosetter has a fine, sandy beach and Gunnista is the site of the ruined chapel of St Olaf, with an interesting graveyard.

South

The coastal road back from the ferry terminal to Mail passes Leira Voe (meaning, 'the muddy inlet'), which dries out at low tide and is a good place to see gulls, sea ducks and wading birds, including Redshank, Ringed Plover, Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit.

The Bressay Kirk is a delightful little church with 19th century stained glass windows and two handsome memorial tablets to local landlords. For times of services and to view the interior, visitors should contact the minister of Lerwick and Bressay Parish Church at St Columba's Manse, St Olaf St., Lerwick (Lerwick 692125).

On the shore in front of the Kirk, the Bressay Marina is usually the best place in Shetland to see Common Seals at close range. Up to 60 of them bask on the rocks right next to the road, oblivious to passing cars, boats and schoolchildren. Use your car as a hide and you're sure of some superb seal-watching.

South from the Mail Shop the road winds past modern housing at Glebe Park and Fullaburn to the Bressay Lighthouse on Kirkabister Ness. Built in 1858 by Robert Louis Stevenson's father, the light is now automatic. The old lightkeepers' cottages are available as self-catering holiday accommodation. Details from Shetland Amenity Trust.

In the dramatic geo (cove) below the lighthouse the Lithuanian factory trawler Lunokhods was wrecked in a 1993 storm. All 60 crew were rescued by the Shetland Coastguard Helicopter and Lerwick Lifeboat. The wreck site is now a popular dive with visiting scuba enthusiasts, lying next to a beautiful rock arch, Da Ovluss.

East

East from the shop the road rises to Uphouse, a group of croft houses on the crest of the hill, with grand views across Bressay Sound. There it splits in three; south to the crofts of Pettifirth and the track into the Ward Hill; east to the Loch of Brough, Ander Hill (with its ruined lookout tower) and Noss Sound; and north-east to the Loch of Setter and the deserted township of Culbinsbrough (pronounced "Cullingsbroch"). The ruin of the ancient church, St Mary's, is the only cross shaped pre Reformation chapel in Shetland. It contains several ornate gravestones, including that of Captain Claes Iansen, of the Dutch East Indiaman Manhaetten, who died of a fever while anchored here in 1636.

The old kirkyard lies partly over a ruined broch. Here was found the Bressay Stone, apparently the memorial to the daughter of a Pictish chieftain, Naddod, and inscribed with Ogham script which has never been fully deciphered. There is a replica on site but the original is stored (but not yet displayed) in the new Museum of Scotland at Edinburgh.

Built into the old stone bridge at the end of the road leading to Culbinsbrough are the remains of an otter trap. In the early morning or late evening, you may see the Otter here, these days unmolested by hunters and so plentiful that they have even been seen in the town of Lerwick.

A short walk up the Burn of Setter is a good place for a close look at the distinctive, vertical-shaft Shetland watermills. There are several on this burn and many more throughout Bressay. Once an essential part of every crofting community, these miniature mills have long fallen into decay but there is a restored one in working order at the Dunrossness Crofthouse Museum and others, in poorer condition, at Huxter, Sandness, and the Westing in Unst.

A walk around the west shore of the Voe of Culbinsbrough brings you to the old stone and slate quarries in Aith Ness, topped by the remains of a six-inch Naval gun from the 1st World War. Like the gun on Bard Head at the southern tip of Bressay, this one as installed in the last year of the war and never fired in anger.

A Walk in the Empty Quarter

If you have only a little time in Shetland, one of the best ways to sample most of what the islands have to offer is to spend a day on this glorious walk round the uninhabited coast and hills between Noss Sound and the Bressay Lighthouse, taking in some of the wildest scenery in the islands.

Follow the tarmac road to Noss Sound and then head south along the coast, past the volcanic vent of the Muckle Hell and its colony of Herring Gulls, until you come to the waterfall below the ruined watermill on the burn from the Loch of Grimsetter. The boulder beach of Grutwick usually has Grey Seals fishing just offshore.

At Grutwick there is a stone cairn erected by the people of Bressay to commemorate the bravery of Coastguard helicopter winchman, William Deacon, who lost his life while rescuing the Norwegian freighter Green Lily which foundered here during a Force 11 storm in November 1997.

Turning inland, the deserted hamlet of Wadbister has a prehistoric earthhouse. Across the Loch of Grimsetter is the croft of Gorie, an oasis of trees and bushes in the hill.

South of Wadbister the cliff walk gives superb views of caves and natural arches, including the remarkable triple arch of the Stoura Clettstack - another favourite haul-out for Common Seals. Here too is the ruined medieval settlement of Stobister, where legend has it that the inhabitants fled when a violent storm sent fish raining down the chimneys - perhaps the same tidal wave that opened Noss Sound.

Walking on past the collapsed sea cave of the Gore's Kirn you come to the breeding territory of Great Skuas and Arctic Skuas; then the wild, lonely loch of Sand Vatn where Red-throated Divers nest (please avoid disturbance). Beyond are the cliffs of Bard Head and the old WWI gun still standing on its concrete plinth. Two hundred feet (61m) below is the tide race of the Bard a strom, a favourite fishing ground for Gannets and other seabirds.

Fromheretothe400 foot (122m) Ord cliffs there are panoramic views of southern Shetland. The Ord is Fulmar territory, with thousands of these graceful birds wheeling in the updraft, but here and in many corners of the Bressay cliffs you will also see Puffins, Guillemots, Razorbills and Tysties.

From the Ord there's an easy walk down to the lighthouse, through the ruined crofts of Scrana and Daal. Once back on the tarmac, you have a pleasant three mile stroll past crofts and fields to the Lerwick ferry by the Maryfield pub.

WALKING NOTES:

Safety First!

Remember, all the cliffs are extremely dangerous, particularly in the wet. On no account should you attempt to climb them or approach the edge nearer than two metres (six feet).

Heed the Birds

Please be careful not to walk through nesting colonies of gulls and terns or you may cause them to desert their eggs.

No dogs, please!

The owners and tenants of the land have given permission for these recommended walks to be included in this guide, on condition that visitors do not bring their dogs, even on a leash. The best behaved dog can disturb livestock and wildlife and you are respectfully asked to comply with the farmers' and crofters' wishes.

The Costa Bressa Cruise

A relaxing way to see Bressay is from the sea. The Shetland Tourist Information Centre at the Market Cross in Lerwick (+44 (0)1595 693434) has details of daily pleasure boat trips around Bressay and Noss from April to September, weather permitting.

Visiting yachts find the 17 mile circumnavigation of Bressay and Noss a pleasant day's sailing. A yacht tender with an outboard motor can be used to explore the coast at close range.

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