Aberdeen to Lerwick

We must be about the only people who have benefited from the recent volcanic eruptions in terms of travel plans. The ferry from Aberdeen to Lerwick normally runs daily,except towards the end of April when they do maintenance work etc -so shouldn't have been a boat yesterday, but due to extra demand they had got an extra ship from somewhere and put an extra sailing on - very few people on it though- the grand total of 6 vehicles on the car deck plus our two bikes. Not used to the luxury of space on a car deck....

As I type this,snug in our little tent on the municipal campsite at Lerwick I'm listening to the deluge of hailstone hitting the tent - Roger has just cycled down to Tesco for some milk and bread - the weather changes here every 5 minutes - the sun will be back out no doubt in another 5 minutes. A cold wind, but lovely views from the tent door, over looking a small lake. There is a very inviting swimming pool here so will go and explore it soon - lovely and warm in there.... The guy at reception says we are 'very brave' to have picked April to cycle camp in the Shetlands. It reminds us of the Faroes, which isn't very surprising really - they're both small islands in the middle of vast expanses of sea, where it rains alot and the wind blows.

Aberdeen lived up to it name of being 'The Granite City' - there is an awful lot of impressive looking granite buildings mainly in the Gothic style, including a Salvation Army Citadel that looks like a fairy tale castle turret. Spent the afternoon waiting for the ferry at the Maritime Museum - a 1 to 33 model of a North Sea Oil Platform is the centre piece - they're amazing places.

Everyone is so chatty and friendly here- even more so than at home. Everyone we meet seems to be a keen cyclist and more than happy to help us.

Roger just arrived with a lovely hot cuppa, and the sun has come out....