Been away during the school holidays. Taking a school trip out to Vietnam. Queued all the last few videos up to watch this evening with a few beers. Loved the Scottish adventures. Thanks. If you can, get to the East coast for the puffins next year. I've really enjoyed that. I do really enjoy (and envy) your videos.
Hi Phil- welcome back! That sounds like an epic school trip- but you must be kn***ered! We are already planning our puffin expeditions for next year so thanks for the tip off. Rest easy and hope you have a great weekend. 👍
We’re loving Shetland though not as lucky as you with the weather. Though we had a lovely afternoon today on a beach in the sunshine watching the otters fishing ❤
How amazing! We caught a glimpse of one but how lucky to catch them fishing. They are such lovely creatures ❤️ hope you enjoy the rest of your travels 🚐
Fabulous, great scenery, beautiful, you are both being your genuine selves, your easy to listen to, bet you were great teachers.😊Impressed with your handstand by the way😁
😊 thank you - The scenery was just so much more than we expected! The life of a PE teacher - we had to be able to do a 3 second handstand by the time we left uni 🤣
Superb as ever. I did laugh when Richard admitted he was "grumpy" on the bog-trot walk (as we call them.) You are genuine travelers and not putting on a silly show for the clicks on YT like the majority do. Finding those spectacular park ups and supporting/respecting the local community is especially admirable. More Puffin envy!
Hi Fiona, many thanks for these kind words- they are very much appreciated! We do try to be honest in everything we do...and we both get grumpy once in a while😂😂
Oh I was! TBH most of them were a distance away, but the ones hoping around me in the sunny evening are the ones I will remember most fondly. Their groaning little voices warms my heart❤️
Lovely video, you really hit it off with the weather. We are a week into our Lewis & Harris trip and the wind and rain has been poor. No awning or pop top so far. Lesley my good lady has asked if you watch the Shetland series on the BBC with Douglas Henshall? Good to see the ridge monkey in action. I’ve made Haggis and cheese toasties twice this trip so far. Yum yum. Keep the great videos coming.
Thanks for your kind words Jason. Sorry that you are not getting the weather ATM. Things often change up there. We had some memorable storms on the Outer Hebrides in a November trip that will stay with us forever! Great photography up there, whatever the conditions👍 Good luck for the rest of your trip. Have a great weekend👍
Whow!! What a beautiful combination of nature, culture, making of headstands (well done Jacky) and beating a dissapointing walking experience with humor & honesty. 😂 Looking forward to the next episode.
Thanks Lena- we are happy to accept that life isn't always sunshine and rainbows- and it definitely wasn't on that boggy walk 😂 Even if we are grumpy, in our hearts we know it will make the next lovely experience even better! Thanks as always for your support. 👍
We had a van packed full of wet weather winter hiking gear that we never got out in the 4 weeks we were on the islands - I can't believe what a great weather window we had. We found the Orkney Islands very windy but that was fine and we had 2 days with rain which is quite remarkable!
10/10 for the handstand! Nature, beaches, cooking and that bacon sizzling shot with the door open! Left my body at that point 😂 What an adventure and feel all the better you shared it. Magic. Thank you. 🫶🏻
Thanks Angela...everything is better with bacon😂 Glad that you are enjoying what we are doing. We are having so much fun exploring this amazing place❤️
Thanks Peter- we have been genuinely surprised at how good Shetland has been- far surpassing our exceptions. The opportunities for wildlife spotting, the history and the beaches have been amazing. We have been particularly surprised with the beaches that were not really mentioned in our research. They are world class! Thanks for the comment👍
Thanks Allison- gotta do a handstand on a beach just to keep checking that we can do them😂 Glad you enjoyed the cookery- we never going to be master chefs, but do love our food and cooking together. 👍
I know we caught it with an amazing weather window that definitely helps but we absolutely loved the Shetland islands - it was truly beautiful and we met some wonderful people in the communities that we visited.
cheers - we have definitely left a piece of our heart on the Shetlands. Looking forward to a day of catching up on your USA videos now we are home 😊 🇺🇸
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Yeah I know what you mean. It’s difficult to be watching RUclips videos etc when you’re away in the van and spending so much time creating your own videos etc. Glad you got home safely. Keep safe. Irvine & Karen.
Oh no...locals said that things had been delayed, so this is the worst thing for them. Perhaps our Bond villain theory was true?!? Thanks for the update. 👍
Thanks Peter- that's what we thought, although the locals said it was like that all the time😂😂😂 We were more pleased to get a smooth crossing on the boat- apparently it can be horrific at any time of year🤢
We have visited many parts of Scotland over the past 7 years in our van, and absolutely love it - both in the sun and the howling gales of winter. We love getting out in the mountains and the stormy skies of the coast in Autumn 🚐
Thanks for watching - We did a round trip of Aberdeen to Lerwick (12 hr overnight with a cabin) then Lerwick to Kirkwall on Orkney and finally Stromness to Scrabster on mainland Scotland. The total cost including the van and cabin was £610 which may seem alot but we got a lot of ferry for that price!! The island hopping on the Shetlands cost us £19.30 return to go to Unst, Yell and Fetlar which was amazing value.
@earlyretirementwanderlust thank you a trip to consider doing in my camping car and tent. A VW van one day is the dream. Keep up wirh the videos, love em!
Beautiful, thanks so much for bringing us along. Do you think it would be OK to tent camp in the places you're showing us, it seems so deserted & tranquil. I ask, because we only have a tent at the moment & yet want to get away to Northern Scotland before the summers out.
Many of the community facilities had spaces and catered for tent campers so that would seem fine. On our travels we did see lots of tent campers dotted around, but I guess the normal "rules" of wild camping would have to be adhered to, such as leave no trace, arrive late, leave early, no campfires, avoid populated areas and housing, etc. Is there an app similar to P4N for tent campers that you could use?
Thanks for this Jonathan. We always use the P4N App for recommendations, but in our opinion some of the sites listed on Shetland were not appropriate as they were too close to houses or on grassy Machairs. All of the places we stayed were on the App, and we used a lot of the community provided facilities that were just fabulous. It was quite usual to visit a community site, stay, use the the power and facilities and not see anyone. It all runs on a honesty box system that we loved and freely contribute to. It was actually really forward thinking of the communities and felt really welcoming. There weren't too many vans travelling around, and everyone seemed to adhere to similar values of respecting the islands. Long may this continue 🙏
Another great vlog and stunning countryside. 2 Qs if I may: what about the dreaded midgies- were they an issue (when were you there) and, as an owner of a larger MH, do you think the roads ok for a 7M Motorhome? Obviously easier in a small camper.
Hi Peter thanks for this. Midges were only a problem on one isolated evening when the wind dropped and conditions were perfect for the little blighters. Apart from that, we didn't even notice them. Mainland Shetland roads are really good, but the further you get off the beaten track, the tighter they get. We hardly saw any 7m+ vans on Shetland. This may be due to the higher ferry prices? Life for us in a small camper meant that we could go pretty much anywhere. Thanks for the comment. 👍
Breckon Sands was my fave in the video, absolute beach perfection 🥰 I would visit the Shetlands just for that 😂 Do you think a 7.5m motorhome could get around the islands ok? I didn’t see any mohos at all in the video…is it more suited to campervans like yours? Thanks for sharing the beautiful scenery. Magic ❤
Thanks for this. To be fair, we didn't see many MH's at all, particularly on Shetland. The ones we did see were quite small. This may be due to the extra costs on the ferry (we count as a small van). The roads on Shetland mainland are really good, but the more you get off the beaten track, the tighter they get. Unst was very tight in parts for a 7.5m van. Hope this helps?
Do you have to pay for each ferry as you get on or can you bulk buy?? What sort of costs are the ferries? Sorry for the questions, would love to Island hop.
Hi Denise, the Shetland ferry ticket was a bit complicated...the best tactic would be to buy a return ticket (about £19) and head north all in one day all the way to Unst. The ticket covers you for the Yell and Unst ferries in one day. Once you have made it to Unst, the return ticket then remains open for you to use at your leisure heading south- we don't think there are any time restrictions on this. You can also hop over to Fetlar on your journey south as long as you keep heading south if that makes sense? The perfect and cheapest way south to get as much bang for your buck will be Unst to Fetlar, Fetlar to Yell, Yell to Mainland. Hope this helps? Have a great weekend👍
For the main ferries to Shetland and Orkney yes...and these ferries were seemingly booked up for weeks with the summer trade. The inter island ferries on Shetland we just turned up and all was fine. We had to book ferries on Orkney in advance as they were ofter full. We enjoyed the ferry experience and island hopping was really fun and not too expensive...once you have taken the hit on the expensive ferry to get to Shetland. Hope this helps👍
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Thank you. We are off to Arran in a couple of day, ferry booked. On returning to the mainland I was rhinking of driving to John O'Groats and trying for a ferry to the Orkneys.
We did a round trip of Aberdeen to Lerwick (12 hr overnight with a cabin) then Lerwick to Kirkwall on Orkney and finally Stromness to Scrabster on mainland Scotland. The total cost including the cabin was £610 which may seem alot but we got a lot of ferry for that price!! The island hopping on the Shetlands cost us £19.30 return to go to Unst, Yell and Fetlar which was amazing value. We were on the islands for 4 weeks so we thought it well worth it 😊
Not really...feels quite odd when you think about it. The only time we saw a few trees were when they were planted around the odd homestead. Even treeless, it was a wonderful place to visit. 👍
@@earlyretirementwanderlust yes it looks beautiful, in some of the old buildings I see lumber and the old Viking ship but no trees. Very beautiful thank you Richard and Jackie
Apparently, historically the islanders relied on driftwood that came across the ocean from North America/Canada. Found this really interesting. The neolithic sites had excavated holes that archaeologists surmise were for roof poles.
Been away during the school holidays. Taking a school trip out to Vietnam. Queued all the last few videos up to watch this evening with a few beers. Loved the Scottish adventures. Thanks. If you can, get to the East coast for the puffins next year. I've really enjoyed that.
I do really enjoy (and envy) your videos.
Hi Phil- welcome back! That sounds like an epic school trip- but you must be kn***ered! We are already planning our puffin expeditions for next year so thanks for the tip off.
Rest easy and hope you have a great weekend. 👍
We’re loving Shetland though not as lucky as you with the weather.
Though we had a lovely afternoon today on a beach in the sunshine watching the otters fishing ❤
How amazing! We caught a glimpse of one but how lucky to catch them fishing. They are such lovely creatures ❤️ hope you enjoy the rest of your travels 🚐
Fabulous, great scenery, beautiful, you are both being your genuine selves, your easy to listen to, bet you were great teachers.😊Impressed with your handstand by the way😁
😊 thank you - The scenery was just so much more than we expected! The life of a PE teacher - we had to be able to do a 3 second handstand by the time we left uni 🤣
Superb as ever. I did laugh when Richard admitted he was "grumpy" on the bog-trot walk (as we call them.) You are genuine travelers and not putting on a silly show for the clicks on YT like the majority do. Finding those spectacular park ups and supporting/respecting the local community is especially admirable. More Puffin envy!
Exactly my thoughts, well said 👍
Hi Fiona, many thanks for these kind words- they are very much appreciated! We do try to be honest in everything we do...and we both get grumpy once in a while😂😂
25,000 Puffins! Jackie you must have been in euphoria! To hear them singing and to be so relatively close to them - what a beautiful trip!
Oh I was! TBH most of them were a distance away, but the ones hoping around me in the sunny evening are the ones I will remember most fondly. Their groaning little voices warms my heart❤️
Beautiful video! Thanks for taking us along!
Thanks Carol🙏
Wow, that look amazing and so fortunate with the weather. That will definitely do…..
Lovely video, you really hit it off with the weather. We are a week into our Lewis & Harris trip and the wind and rain has been poor. No awning or pop top so far.
Lesley my good lady has asked if you watch the Shetland series on the BBC with Douglas Henshall?
Good to see the ridge monkey in action. I’ve made Haggis and cheese toasties twice this trip so far. Yum yum.
Keep the great videos coming.
Thanks for your kind words Jason. Sorry that you are not getting the weather ATM. Things often change up there. We had some memorable storms on the Outer Hebrides in a November trip that will stay with us forever! Great photography up there, whatever the conditions👍
Good luck for the rest of your trip.
Have a great weekend👍
Whow!! What a beautiful combination of nature, culture, making of headstands (well done Jacky) and beating a dissapointing walking experience with humor & honesty. 😂 Looking forward to the next episode.
Thanks Lena- we are happy to accept that life isn't always sunshine and rainbows- and it definitely wasn't on that boggy walk 😂 Even if we are grumpy, in our hearts we know it will make the next lovely experience even better!
Thanks as always for your support. 👍
You've been so lucky with the weather. Fantastic.
We had a van packed full of wet weather winter hiking gear that we never got out in the 4 weeks we were on the islands - I can't believe what a great weather window we had. We found the Orkney Islands very windy but that was fine and we had 2 days with rain which is quite remarkable!
10/10 for the handstand! Nature, beaches, cooking and that bacon sizzling shot with the door open! Left my body at that point 😂 What an adventure and feel all the better you shared it. Magic. Thank you. 🫶🏻
Thanks Angela...everything is better with bacon😂 Glad that you are enjoying what we are doing. We are having so much fun exploring this amazing place❤️
It’s great. Enjoy!
Absolutely fantastic! You guys look like you’re having the time of your lives. What beautiful scenery and beaches. I’m very envious. 👍
Thanks Peter- we have been genuinely surprised at how good Shetland has been- far surpassing our exceptions. The opportunities for wildlife spotting, the history and the beaches have been amazing. We have been particularly surprised with the beaches that were not really mentioned in our research. They are world class!
Thanks for the comment👍
Wonderful, looked lovely 👌
Cooking demo, beautiful scenery and that handstand Jackie , great stuff 👍 😍
Thanks Allison- gotta do a handstand on a beach just to keep checking that we can do them😂 Glad you enjoyed the cookery- we never going to be master chefs, but do love our food and cooking together. 👍
Looks like you're having a great time and it's enjoyable to watch your adventures! It's very beautiful.
Thanks Graham- we have had a wonderful time exploring this amazing part of the world. Glad that you are enjoying.
Many thanks for the comment.👍
Very nice! Great pictures and videos! Shetland is definitely a place we will visit!
I know we caught it with an amazing weather window that definitely helps but we absolutely loved the Shetland islands - it was truly beautiful and we met some wonderful people in the communities that we visited.
Excellent video, thank you. Do you book all your ferries in advance?
🙏 See our other reply to you about the ferries👍
Fabulous video guys. Shetland is just so beautiful and you’ve shown it to its best. Those beaches are stunning. Keep safe. Irvine & Karen.
cheers - we have definitely left a piece of our heart on the Shetlands. Looking forward to a day of catching up on your USA videos now we are home 😊 🇺🇸
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Yeah I know what you mean. It’s difficult to be watching RUclips videos etc when you’re away in the van and spending so much time creating your own videos etc. Glad you got home safely. Keep safe. Irvine & Karen.
You just missed the "rocket base" testing rig exploding in Unst.
That would have made for some nice footage.
Oh no...locals said that things had been delayed, so this is the worst thing for them. Perhaps our Bond villain theory was true?!?
Thanks for the update. 👍
You were so lucky with the weather which up there can be awful
Thanks Peter- that's what we thought, although the locals said it was like that all the time😂😂😂
We were more pleased to get a smooth crossing on the boat- apparently it can be horrific at any time of year🤢
There is no better place to visit than Scotland especially if the sun is shining.
We have visited many parts of Scotland over the past 7 years in our van, and absolutely love it - both in the sun and the howling gales of winter. We love getting out in the mountains and the stormy skies of the coast in Autumn 🚐
Looks amazing... how much were the ferries please? Love the ferry Bigga.."Looks like we're gonna need a Bigga boat" (Jaws) 😂
Thanks for watching - We did a round trip of Aberdeen to Lerwick (12 hr overnight with a cabin) then Lerwick to Kirkwall on Orkney and finally Stromness to Scrabster on mainland Scotland. The total cost including the van and cabin was £610 which may seem alot but we got a lot of ferry for that price!! The island hopping on the Shetlands cost us £19.30 return to go to Unst, Yell and Fetlar which was amazing value.
@earlyretirementwanderlust thank you a trip to consider doing in my camping car and tent. A VW van one day is the dream. Keep up wirh the videos, love em!
Beautiful, thanks so much for bringing us along.
Do you think it would be OK to tent camp in the places you're showing us, it seems so deserted & tranquil.
I ask, because we only have a tent at the moment & yet want to get away to Northern Scotland before the summers out.
Many of the community facilities had spaces and catered for tent campers so that would seem fine. On our travels we did see lots of tent campers dotted around, but I guess the normal "rules" of wild camping would have to be adhered to, such as leave no trace, arrive late, leave early, no campfires, avoid populated areas and housing, etc.
Is there an app similar to P4N for tent campers that you could use?
🙏
Thanks Alan👍
Another great video as expected. May I ask can you park anywhere with in reason in Shetland or are there restrictions?? Thankyou.
Thanks for this Jonathan. We always use the P4N App for recommendations, but in our opinion some of the sites listed on Shetland were not appropriate as they were too close to houses or on grassy Machairs.
All of the places we stayed were on the App, and we used a lot of the community provided facilities that were just fabulous. It was quite usual to visit a community site, stay, use the the power and facilities and not see anyone. It all runs on a honesty box system that we loved and freely contribute to. It was actually really forward thinking of the communities and felt really welcoming.
There weren't too many vans travelling around, and everyone seemed to adhere to similar values of respecting the islands. Long may this continue 🙏
@@earlyretirementwanderlust thankyou again for the reply
Another great vlog and stunning countryside. 2 Qs if I may: what about the dreaded midgies- were they an issue (when were you there) and, as an owner of a larger MH, do you think the roads ok for a 7M Motorhome? Obviously easier in a small camper.
Hi Peter thanks for this. Midges were only a problem on one isolated evening when the wind dropped and conditions were perfect for the little blighters. Apart from that, we didn't even notice them.
Mainland Shetland roads are really good, but the further you get off the beaten track, the tighter they get. We hardly saw any 7m+ vans on Shetland. This may be due to the higher ferry prices?
Life for us in a small camper meant that we could go pretty much anywhere.
Thanks for the comment. 👍
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Thanks.
Breckon Sands was my fave in the video, absolute beach perfection 🥰 I would visit the Shetlands just for that 😂
Do you think a 7.5m motorhome could get around the islands ok? I didn’t see any mohos at all in the video…is it more suited to campervans like yours?
Thanks for sharing the beautiful scenery. Magic ❤
Thanks for this. To be fair, we didn't see many MH's at all, particularly on Shetland. The ones we did see were quite small. This may be due to the extra costs on the ferry (we count as a small van).
The roads on Shetland mainland are really good, but the more you get off the beaten track, the tighter they get. Unst was very tight in parts for a 7.5m van.
Hope this helps?
Thanks so much for that, appreciated ❤
Do you have to pay for each ferry as you get on or can you bulk buy?? What sort of costs are the ferries? Sorry for the questions, would love to Island hop.
Hi Denise, the Shetland ferry ticket was a bit complicated...the best tactic would be to buy a return ticket (about £19) and head north all in one day all the way to Unst. The ticket covers you for the Yell and Unst ferries in one day. Once you have made it to Unst, the return ticket then remains open for you to use at your leisure heading south- we don't think there are any time restrictions on this. You can also hop over to Fetlar on your journey south as long as you keep heading south if that makes sense? The perfect and cheapest way south to get as much bang for your buck will be Unst to Fetlar, Fetlar to Yell, Yell to Mainland.
Hope this helps?
Have a great weekend👍
@@earlyretirementwanderlust That makes perfect sense. Thank you for the information!
Did you book all your ferries in advance?
For the main ferries to Shetland and Orkney yes...and these ferries were seemingly booked up for weeks with the summer trade.
The inter island ferries on Shetland we just turned up and all was fine. We had to book ferries on Orkney in advance as they were ofter full.
We enjoyed the ferry experience and island hopping was really fun and not too expensive...once you have taken the hit on the expensive ferry to get to Shetland.
Hope this helps👍
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Thank you
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Thank you. We are off to Arran in a couple of day, ferry booked. On returning to the mainland I was rhinking of driving to John O'Groats and trying for a ferry to the Orkneys.
High cost of the ferries?
We did a round trip of Aberdeen to Lerwick (12 hr overnight with a cabin) then Lerwick to Kirkwall on Orkney and finally Stromness to Scrabster on mainland Scotland. The total cost including the cabin was £610 which may seem alot but we got a lot of ferry for that price!! The island hopping on the Shetlands cost us £19.30 return to go to Unst, Yell and Fetlar which was amazing value.
We were on the islands for 4 weeks so we thought it well worth it 😊
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Thank you so much for the detailed answer, much appreciated. A thank you from Sweden
Any trees?
Not really...feels quite odd when you think about it. The only time we saw a few trees were when they were planted around the odd homestead. Even treeless, it was a wonderful place to visit. 👍
@@earlyretirementwanderlust yes it looks beautiful, in some of the old buildings I see lumber and the old Viking ship but no trees. Very beautiful thank you Richard and Jackie
Apparently, historically the islanders relied on driftwood that came across the ocean from North America/Canada. Found this really interesting. The neolithic sites had excavated holes that archaeologists surmise were for roof poles.
@@earlyretirementwanderlust Wow cool thanks for the info I was wondering where they got the lumber from👍