A Baptism of fire! My first experiences as a tour guide in Shetland
Today has been another very busy day Guiding. I feel as though I've hit the ground running and it's extremely invigorating - I'm loving it. My first season as a fully fledged tour guide has started with a bang.
On Saturday I welcomed two lovely groups from the Celebrity Eclipse who were making a short visit to Shetland before heading south to Dublin. After arriving at Victoria Pier at 8.15am for duty, it was a case of load the busses and go!
We went to Jarlshof - a fascinating prehistoric and Norse site - taking in the scenery of Shetland's spectacular South Mainland along the way. We were lucky enough to catch a group of seals on Rerwick beach and the guests were in good spirits as Shetland presented herself in all her early summer glory. It was a fantastic day, blue skies and a sun that never abated. Unfortunately for me, the crew seat on the bus meant that I was in full sun all day and my left cheek went a lovely 'brighter shade of red' - I'm going to look like an old leather hide if the sun keeps up all summer!
After a jaunt around Jarlshof and 5,000 years of human history it was back to the town to pick up the next lot of passengers from the pier. Without even time for a pee we were on our merry way again. I returned at 5.15pm feeling happy, tired and extremely satisfied that everyone on the tours had enjoyed Shetland at its best.
Today (Sunday) was a similar format but this time, the route was to the West Mainland and the ship was the Norwegian Jade. Our tour involved a stop at Shetland Jewellery and the fascinating Scalloway Museum and Castle.
The day started with very, VERY, thick fog and between the three lanes (heading out of Lerwick) and the Halfway House (towards the North Mainland, before we turn west), we could see nothing! Thankfully, I had enough stories up my sleeve to occupy everyone till the fog lifted.
As is the case so often in the summer, Scalloway (on the west side of Shetland) was basking in lovely, bright sunshine as the east coast lay shrouded in mist. Thankfully my guests were very pragmatic and just glad that they had picked the west route rather than the south on this particular occasion!
A fantastic day - Guiding really is FUN!
Laurie x
