Zetland

Zetland is a small traditional county that covers the Shetland Islands, the most northerly inhabited part of the United Kingdom. It lies to the north of the Orkney Islands, and is closer to Norway than London. There is a strong Norse heritage in the islands, dating back to the medieval 'ownership' of Shetland by Norway. The County is now covered by the Shetland Islands Council.

Geography & Economy

The Bluemell Sound Ferry on Yell

Unlike Orkney to the south, The Shetland Isles are mostly a rugged and barren collection of islands. The landscape has a wild beauty more familiar to the West Highlands, with steep hillsides plunging to sea cliffs or freshwater lochs. This makes farming difficult, and much of the land is uncultivated. Nevertheless, the islands have sustained a population for centuries, and with the North Sea Oil boom, that population has increased and become more prosperous in recent decades.

Despite the scenery, tourism in this far northern part of the British Isles is somewhat limited. The long ferry ride, or difficult air transfers put many people off, but for those who make it there is a lot to see across half a dozen or so main islands, and many smaller ones. Out to the west and south towards Orkney, Fair Isle and Foula are tiny rocky outcrops with tiny populations that somehow survive the worst of the winter weather at this inhospitable latitude.

Roads

The A970 near Sumburgh in the south

The Mainland and larger of the isles are well served by a network of A and B roads, even if there is a tendency to give all of the spurs and branches one number rather than identifying them individually. The A970 is a long north-south route on the mainland, with the A971 heading west, whilst the A968 serves the northern isles of Unst and Yell, via ferries.

The Shetlands are reached via ferry from Aberdeen, although some services go via Kirkwall on Orkney. It is a 12-14 hour crossing, which can be very rough in winter weather. Several of the smaller isles are now reached by bridges and causeways, the oil money being spent to better access facilities and connect the residents to their workplaces. Other islands still rely on ferries, with numerous small ports in use depending on where the shortest and easiest crossing can be found. There are no Trunk Roads in the county, with all roads being maintained by Shetland Islands Council.

A lot of the island's roads have been improved since the 1970s, with a mixture of online and offline widening. This means that there are many stretches of old road lying alongside the current routes. South of Lerwick, some of the older sections of the A970 survive in use as they loop through the scattered communities of South Mainland, but elsewhere bypasses are less common. One of the biggest changes to the islands road network was the post war creation of the A968 to serve the northern isles of Yell and Unst. Despite the relatively small populations of these islands, the route has been fully reconstructed as a good, fast S2 carriageway across both islands. Where conditions and speed limits allow, traffic on Shetland seems much more likely to cruise at 60 mph than elsewhere in the UK.

One interesting, and relatively unusual, feature of Shetland is that many of the more important junctions have parking areas and bus stops, providing a sort of park and ride service. These car parks can range from a handful of spaces up to room for a couple of dozen cars as is found at Bridge of Fitch. These car parks generally seem to be well used during the week, even if some Shetlanders do appear to store vehicles and caravans in them! There are a few places elsewhere across the islands where car parks are provided at bus stops, away from junctions. It has not been observed, however, whether these facilities are to allow people to travel into Lerwick, or perhaps to work at Sullom Voe or Sumburgh.

Route	From	To	Length
A968	Hillside, Mainland	Haroldswick, Unst	41.9 miles	View
A968	Lerwick	Sumburgh	24.4 miles	View
A969	Garthspool	Clickimin	1.6 miles	View
A970	Grutness	Isbister	71.4 miles	View
A971	Tingwall	Melby and Walls	26.0 miles	View
B9071	Culswick	Vidlin	26.5 miles	View
B9071	Channerwick	Sumburgh	8.5 miles	View
B9072	Commercial Street	King Harald Street	0.2 miles	View
B9073	Wick	Scalloway	1.4 miles	View
B9074	Veensgarth	Hamnavoe	7.9 miles	View
B9075	Weisdale	Laxo	13.8 miles	View
B9076	Brae	Firth	7.2 miles	View
B9076	Bridge of Walls	Sandness	6.8 miles	View
B9077	Hillside	Mossbank	9.6 miles	View
B9078	Hillswick	Stenness	5.9 miles	View
B9078	Brae	Hillswick	11.0 miles	View
B9079	Eela Water	Ollaberry	2.5 miles	View
B9079	Orbister	Burra Voe	10.1 miles	View
B9080	Bay of Ulsta	Cullivoe	21.9 miles	View
B9081	Ulsta	Camb	12.7 miles	View
B9082	Gutcher	Cullivoe	2.4 miles	View
B9083	Cullivoe	Haa of Houlland	1.7 miles	View
B9084	Uyeasound turn	Uyeasound pier	0.6 miles	View
B9085	Belmont	Uyeasound Turn	1.9 miles	View
B9086	Haroldswick	Stackhoull	2.2 miles	View
B9087	Haroldswick	Kirkaton	2.1 miles	View
B9088	Brough Lodge	Funzie	5.9 miles	View
B9122	Channerwick	Boddam	5.3 miles	View

Key

Motorway

Primary Route

Non Primary Route

Former Motorway

Defunct Route

E Road

Future Motorway

Future Primary

Future Non Primary

Historical Route

Tourist Route

Roman Road

Unbuilt Motorway

Unbuilt Primary

Unbuilt Non Primary

National Cycle Network

Cycle Route

Eurovelo Cycle Route

Junctions

Main Article: Junctions in Zetland

Bridges, Tunnels, and other Crossings

Main Article: Crossings in Zetland

Links

• Shetland News
• Shetland Times
• Visit Shetland
• Shetland Tourism