Shetland: Your Essential Travel Guide, by Laurie Goodlad

Its author, Laurie Goodlad, grew up in Shetland, works as a tour guide and is deeply involved in the presentation and curation of the islands’ heritage. Misa Hay is a local publisher who is also a tour operator specialising in textiles. Both of them not only have a detailed knowledge of their islands’ geography and history; they also bring a deep understanding of Shetland’s unique culture, offering the kinds of insights that can only come from immersion in island life.

That comprehensive local knowledge is, of course, a great strength. But the writing of this guidebook is also guided by an excellent understanding of the visitor’s perspective, and that’s not something that locally-authored guidebooks always achieve.

No doubt, because of her tour guiding experience, Laurie knows the preconceptions with which visitors arrive, and she’s able to provide necessary but gentle, nudges towards a better understanding of what makes these islands what they are.

The introductory sections – encompassed in a chapter on ‘The Basics’ – are insightful. We learn about the scale of Shetland and its actual location, both of which are often misrepresented. We learn, too, about the sense of not only physical but cultural detachment from Scotland, reflected in a dialect with many elements from Norn, which was the Shetland version of the languages still spoken in Faroe and Iceland.

Shetland’s history is in some respects unique, too, something that was brought home to me recently when guiding some friends in Lerwick. They remarked that the history they were reading about at Fort Charlotte and elsewhere – with its references to Anglo-Dutch wars and the American War of Independence – bore no relation to the Scottish history they knew.

It’s not, then, just the near-absence of bagpipes, kilts and haggis that Laurie rightly highlights, but an entirely different frame of reference.

The book offers an excellent, succinct history that takes us from prehistoric times through the Viking and Norse period and into the period of Scottish rule. Along the way, we are introduced to Shetland’s connections with the Hanseatic League and to the Scottish lairds who controlled the economy and cleared communities for sheep-rearing.

Cultural heritage, past and present, is explored, with sound advice on the music, art and literature that flows so generously from the islands’ creative community, and we find out about the events that mark the seasons: sailing and rowing regattas, agricultural shows, Shetland Wool Week, Up Helly Aa and much more.

The practicalities of a visit to Shetland are explored in detail, with advice on what to wear, what else to bring and how to go about booking travel and accommodation, including a list of caravan and camping sites.

There is helpful guidance about using the internal ferry services that link the Shetland mainland to the other islands, and information about bus and taxi services, not to mention coverage of everything from medical care to midges. There’s also a good reading list and some hints about films and television programmes to watch.

Food is one of the highlights of a visit to Shetland and the guide describes the traditional specialities, including reestit mutton, lamb, a wealth of fish, mussels and that celebrated feature of Shetland Sunday afternoons, the Sunday teas that are held in one or more local community halls on most weekends during the summer.

After that very comprehensive introduction, the guide offers lots of ideas for exploring some of the best-known highlights, for example Esha Ness and St Ninian’s Isle, but places off the beaten track also find a place here, like the red pool in Virkie or the smuggler’s cave at Hamnavoe. Other sections focus on wildlife, with hints on seeing whales, otters and birds including puffins and gannets, and there’s an excellent list of great beaches.

Next comes a superb section on photography, rightly described as “immersive and consuming”, with a contribution by a well-known wildlife guide, Brydon Thomason.

Shetland has many museums and heritage centres; as Laurie notes, those distributed around the islands provide “unique and detailed insights into individual communities”, whilst the Shetland Museum in Lerwick gives a totally absorbing account of the islands as a whole.

Recently, a very experienced visiting guide told me that he considered it the best regional museum in Scotland. But there are many other highlights, for example, the extraordinarily moving story of the wartime “Shetland Bus”, told in detail in the Scalloway Museum. Each of these is also covered in the sections dealing with individual districts, and the same applies to the archaeological sites that form the subject of another section.

Similarly, there are excellent introductions to the islands’ rich and varied arts and crafts, which range from ceramics to leatherwork, furniture and jewellery. Knitting and wool also feature in a longer section, again with lists of places to buy genuine Shetland knitwear and Shetland wool.

Anyone looking for guided tours or trips will find plenty of inspiration, with lists of operators who can cater for such interests as bird-watching, tracking otters, sea angling or cruising on Shetland’s “tall ship”, the former sail fishing vessel Swan. Lots of do-it-yourself opportunities are listed, too, from geocaching to golf. Parents will be delighted to find a good range of options for children, even including the best places to buy ice cream.

Roughly half of the book is devoted to area guides, beginning with the Central Mainland and later covering the rest of the Mainland and the islands. The smallest inhabited islands – Fair Isle, Foula, Papa Stour and Out Skerries – get their own chapters.

All of these chapters provide comprehensive and up-to-date information, and the level of detail is excellent, with many tips and ideas that will enrich any reader’s experience. The advantages of having an author who really does know Shetland from top to bottom are evident; local folk, as well as visitors, will find a great deal to enjoy in Laurie’s story.

The last part of the book is labelled “in focus” and there are sections on weather, geology, cultural influences and Up Helly Aa. Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland detective novels, writes about how Shetland has provided her “sanctuary and inspiration”.

The book draws to a close with a short section on two possible itineraries for a Shetland holiday. One of them takes three days, which is probably the minimum needed to gain some insight into the islands, and the other takes a week. There is also a very useful index.

Is this the perfect guidebook? I think it probably comes as close to perfection as any. I found it very hard to think of anything that was missing; in a second edition, perhaps more could be made of the Lerwick Town Hall’s most treasured feature, the stained glass windows, which are among the finest secular examples in the UK. But given the vast amount of historical, geographical, cultural and practical information and advice that Laurie Goodlad has assembled, that’s the tiniest of gaps.

Apart from its depth and breadth, the other thing that Laurie has achieved is a successful marriage of two styles of guidebook. Some publishers embrace a narrative style, whilst others create lists of ‘the best’, be they fish and chip shops or castles. In Shetland: Your Essential Travel Guide, she has done both, and the two styles work perfectly together.

There are other challenges in writing guidebooks, among them the need to undertake comprehensive research – which takes time – when there’s pressure to ensure that, when they hit the bookshops, everything is as up-to-date as it can be, recognising that some places close, new places open, and transport schedules change.

Laurie and Misa have succeeded brilliantly in achieving that. They deserve all the plaudits that the book will undoubtedly earn.

• Shetland: Your Essential Travel Guide, by Laurie Goodlad, is published by 60 North Publishing, Lerwick at £25.