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A review by jimgosailing
Between Weathers: Travels in 21st Century Shetland by Ron McMillan
4.0
I would’ve never read this but for having traveled to Shetland in 2019. (Wonderful place; can’t wait to go back).
McMillan writes in a familiar style as if you’re sitting elbow to elbow with him at the bar in the pub quaffing a few pints as he walks you through his travels.
He does an excellent job of weaving historical facts in with interviews of current inhabitants, while exploring the social-economic changes over recent decades and across centuries. And he talks about his travails while traveling. One tale that resonated with me was his borrowing a car and being warned about the wind being able to blow off the doors (but what about the trunk lid?). Our rental car had a sticker glued to the dashboard in stark red type warning about strong winds and the doors- and the insurance did not cover this damage. My years of sailing came in handy, always judging the wind when parking so the front of the car was pointed into the wind.
One astute observation concerns archeology in the area. The guide “...points out an eroded slope that from time to time delivers up shards of pottery and other artifacts from a Neolithic homestead. One-hundred-and-forty kilometers to the south-west, Skara Brae in Orkney is one of the most celebrated Neolithic homesteads on the planet, while here on Foula, unexcavated and slowly giving itself up to the combined might of the climate and the ocean, evidence of Foula’s own Neolithic history sits unmarked and unexplored.”
McMillan writes in a familiar style as if you’re sitting elbow to elbow with him at the bar in the pub quaffing a few pints as he walks you through his travels.
He does an excellent job of weaving historical facts in with interviews of current inhabitants, while exploring the social-economic changes over recent decades and across centuries. And he talks about his travails while traveling. One tale that resonated with me was his borrowing a car and being warned about the wind being able to blow off the doors (but what about the trunk lid?). Our rental car had a sticker glued to the dashboard in stark red type warning about strong winds and the doors- and the insurance did not cover this damage. My years of sailing came in handy, always judging the wind when parking so the front of the car was pointed into the wind.
One astute observation concerns archeology in the area. The guide “...points out an eroded slope that from time to time delivers up shards of pottery and other artifacts from a Neolithic homestead. One-hundred-and-forty kilometers to the south-west, Skara Brae in Orkney is one of the most celebrated Neolithic homesteads on the planet, while here on Foula, unexcavated and slowly giving itself up to the combined might of the climate and the ocean, evidence of Foula’s own Neolithic history sits unmarked and unexplored.”