coast COLUMNIST
Join WILLIAM THOMSON on his journey each month exploring a Shipping Forecast region
Let us turn our compasses north towards the Fair Isle Shipping Forecast region, not a single isle as the name would suggest, but a combination of the Orkney and Shetland archipelagos, a scattering of hundreds of wild, windswept islets rich in both natural and human history.
If these seas could tell story, what a tale they would tell! From Viking longships to Bronze Age seafarers tracing the coastline in search of settlements, every ripple, every wave seems to whisper stories of adventure and discovery.
For those who make the effort to travel this far north, you will find traces of an ancient epoch etched into the landscape, revealing the profound connection the Neolithic inhabitants had with the environment. With their bare hands, they crafted monumental legacies to match Stonehenge; the Standing Stones of Stenness in Orkney and the intricate chambers of Maeshowe are wonders of ancient engineering.
But these masterpieces were not mere architectural feats; they were celestial calendars, meticulously designed to align with the sun’s seasonal journey through the sky.
With such a rich history, you would be mistaken thinking the present day Fair Isle region is just a relic of the past. With the world class bird observatories across Orkney and Shetland, it’s a thriving environment full of life. Puffins, petrels, and an array of avian wonders trace patterns in the sky, while orcas feed in the nutrient rich waters. Nature is woven into the very fabric of the islands’ culture with the textile legacy, seen in the intricate patterns of the Fair Isle sweaters, which speak of traditions, tales and the tactile connection to these northern havens.
As you might anticipate from their latitude (nearly 60°N), the waters that make up this Shipping Forecast region are some of the wildest in the whole British Isles, culminating in the fearsome Pentland Firth, a stretch of water that divides Orkney from the mainland. This sevenmile-wide passage, where the huge swells of the Atlantic meet the powerful tidal streams of the North Sea, is a theatre of tidal power whose maelstroms date back to Norse mythology.
Safe passage here requires meticulous planning and good luck. Shipwrecks splattered over the navigation charts are a testament to the skill required to navigate these waters. But not all these wrecks were accidental; Scapa Flow, a vast natural harbour in Orkney, is home to the German fleet that was scuttled at the end of the First World War.
For those who’ve sailed these waters or even heard its lyr
