No Man Is This Island

Far Out Yet Still Close 

 No man is an island, as John Donne wrote, but, north of the border, you can live on one. Scotland's. The Shetland's is good like that, with 15 inhabited ones to choose from. We are here in Fair Isle. Britian's most remote one.

Thanks to the popularity of the TV Series Shetland, we have had  it on our radar as places to visit this year. 

Of all the 115 islands  in the archipelago,  just a few- 15- are inhabited ones. We are going to Britain's most remote island, Fair Isle. 

First, Sarah and I fly into  in Lerwick, Shetland's mainland via Edinburgh, Scotland.  Next, we get a PCR test for Covid (Think Positive Test Negative).

Then, we  follow-on to  Fair Isle,  population 55, now 57! What a place to self-isolate during the global pandemic!

At first I thought Fair Isle was- the Faroe Islands (That's Danish and in the sub Arctic Circle). The Shetland Isles are located in the North Atlantic, Closer  to Norway than to Aberdeen. Go Vikings!

FAIR ISLE Are we there yet? Being there...

There are two choices for transport to reach the island - take it or leave it. 

The first involves a 20-minute straight run  aboard a 'puddle jumper, 7 seater fixed-wing plane from the mainland of Shetland –  a  twin engine prop plane- heart-in-the-mouth flight- up-close and personal with the pilot and his control dashboard.  

If this link is cancelled, due to fog, wind or just plain bad weather, then it's a ferry,  actually a converted fishing vessel, the only other alternative, a notoriously 2 hour rough crossing aboard the island’s ferry, the Good Shepherd IV.  Sometimes the  North Sea is even too rough for the ferry.

Living Of The Grid And Living On The Edges

Fair Isle is not connected to the National Grid. Energy is generated in the island by the Fair Isle Electricity Company (FIEC) using wind turbines and solar and this is stored in a battery back up system.