VisitShetland

Exploring Yell

Exploring the Wilds of Yell

Yell is roughly rectangular, almost cut in half by two sea lochs, Whalfirth and Mid Yell Voe. From Ulsta the main road north, fringed in summer by a riot of wild flowers, follows the coast, with fine views across Yell Sound to the Ramna Stacks. Here are just a few of the highlights as you explore the side roads of Yell:

Yell North Coast

• Mid Yell is the main village in the island, with the secondary school, leisure centre and a busy pier next to the excellent shop.
• Mid Yell Voe, or Reafirth, is sheltered by the now uninhabited island of Hascosay, owned by the RSPB and an important reserve for skuas and moorland birds. Hascosay also has more Otters per square metre than anywhere in Shetland. There's no ferry but locals can sometimes arrange a boat for a brief visit.
• South of Mid Yell, at Otterswick, you can see the figurehead known as 'Da White Wife' from the 1924 wreck of the 'Bohus', a German sailing vessel.
• A little further south, Gossabrough is another beautiful sandy beach.
• The Old Ha' museum and heritage centre at Burravoe is one of the best of its kind. A fascinating permanent exhibition on the history and folklore of Yell is complemented by annual displays on different local themes, a gallery showing the work of local professional and amateur artists, a craft shop and a home-bakes café in the style of a traditional croft house interior. Upstairs you can browse the famous Bobby Tulloch wildlife photography archive.
• On the road from Burravoe to Ulsta a track leads north through Arisdale to the Catalina Memorial, commemorating the crew of an RAF flying boat which crashed in the hills during the Second World War.
• At the other end of the island, the Gloup Memorial commemorates 58 fishermen drowned when disaster struck the Haaf fishing on the night of July 21st 1881.
• From the memorial you can walk south along the steep-sided Gloup Voe, and then west to Burgi Geos where the remains of an Iron Age fort stand at the cliff edge.
• Still in North Yell, at the Sands of Breckon there's a lovely beach of blown shell sand, sheltered from all but northerly winds. In the dunes are traces of Viking and earlier settlements.
• Nearby, Cullivoe has a shop, community hall, pier, marina and some charming coastal walking on the shores of Bluemull Sound.
• The Lochs of Lumbister is an RSPB reserve featuring divers and waders. It stretches across the island to the hidden valley of the Daal O' Lumbister - this is prime Otter country.
• At the end of the side road from Gutcher to North Sandwick a pleasant walk leads down to one of Shetland's best preserved brochs at Burraness (sometimes with an Otter in residence!) Recent excavations have also revealed an Iron-Age settlement at the Tafts of Bayanne in nearby Sellafirth.

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