Shetland

Shetland is the northernmost part of the United Kingdom, 160 km north of the Scottish mainland, 300 km west of Bergen, and fully exposed to the North Atlantic on its west and north coasts. The tidal range is moderate — Lerwick spring range 1.8 m, Sumburgh Head 2.0 m, Scalloway on the west coast 1.6 m — but the tidal currents in the sounds between the islands and around the headlands are strong. The Sumburgh Roost, south of Sumburgh Head, is one of the most turbulent tidal races in British waters: the ebb through the shallow shelf creates breaking seas even in calm weather, and in wind-against-tide conditions the roost is impassable for small craft. Shetland's coastline is deeply indented by voes — long narrow inlets carved by glacial action — which provide sheltered anchorages for the fishing and aquaculture fleets that are the economic mainstay of the islands. Lerwick is the capital and oil-industry supply base; it grew from a modest herring-curing town in the 17th century to a significant port after the Brent oilfield development in the 1970s. Culturally, Shetland's Norse heritage is stronger than its Scottish: the dialect retains Norse words, the land tenure system was Norse in origin, and Up Helly Aa — a Viking fire festival held on the last Tuesday of January — is the largest fire festival in Europe. Puffins nest on the sea cliffs at Sumburgh Head in numbers that bring wildlife photographers from across Europe every spring.