Travelling to the UK’s most remote inhabited island! An early start for a 07:00 commuter flight from London City Airport arriving 08:35 Edinburgh, where there’s an hour’s wait so time for breakfast - then a smaller plane leaving Edinburgh at 09:40 arriving an hour later at Shetland mainland’s airport at its southern tip, Sumburgh.
A taxi takes us north to Lerwick (about 45 minutes drive) where we have time for lunch and a catch up with old friends Alice and Lowri Best at the Peerie Cafe. We’ve caught Alice on her way out to her blacksmithing apprenticeship in Norway, whilst Lowri has stepped out to meet us from his lunch break at Anderson High School. We’ve known these two since they were very young, having done several projects with them whilst they were still at Fair Isle Primary School. We had many happy music-making times with their mother Lise Sinclair, who died of a brain tumour in 2013.
A short 15 minute taxi ride out to Tingwall airport for the afternoon flight out to Fair Isle on an 8-seater islander plane. This is the quickest way out to the isle from mainland Shetland, taking only half an hour - the alternative is the 2.5 hour voyage through the choppy waters where the North Sea meets the North Atlantic on the island’s supplies boat cum ferry The Good Shepherd.
We land at the airstrip on Fair Isle where we are met by our hosts who whisk us off for tea, cake and kitchen table catch-ups. Not for too long though - the weather is fine, which means hay-baling is underway. We head out to help the community with the baling, which also functions as a bit of a social and a great way to say hello to folk we haven’t seen in a while.
