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TRAVEL<br />
This page:<br />
Hermaness<br />
National Nature<br />
Reserve, a clifftop<br />
setting and a<br />
refuge to seabirds<br />
Opposite:<br />
An old anchor<br />
makes a good spot<br />
for a seat<br />
Island<br />
Exploration<br />
Scottish television producer Fi Cotter Craig<br />
shares her memories of an enlightening trip<br />
to Shetland and Orkney<br />
PHOTOS: © ISTOCK<br />
If you haven’t ever seen the<br />
midnight sun, what have<br />
you been doing every July<br />
and August? It’s the visual<br />
equivalent of being in St. Paul’s<br />
Cathedral with the best choir in the<br />
world performing Bach’s Mass in<br />
B Minor, or at La Scala watching<br />
multiple Pavarottis out-tenoring<br />
each other belting out Puccini’s<br />
Greatest Hits. Really, it’s that good.<br />
Any Viking cruise brings<br />
anticipation and excitement even<br />
before you’ve set foot on board, but<br />
there was one destination on our<br />
Into the Midnight Sun itinerary I<br />
wasn’t entirely sure about: Shetland.<br />
In general, I love an island, but<br />
thanks to two emotionally scarring<br />
childhood experiences, I’ve never<br />
really had any warm feelings<br />
towards those forbidding and<br />
far-flung stepping stones in the seas<br />
between Scotland and Norway.<br />
In the 1960s there was no global<br />
warming, and therefore no summer<br />
in Scotland. <strong>Winter</strong> clothes were<br />
mandatory all year round and until<br />
I could choose my own clothes I<br />
was trapped inside itchy-scratchy<br />
Shetland sweaters. The itchy<br />
scratching was bad enough, but<br />
there was a far, far worse design<br />
flaw – the size of the neck opening.<br />
Always way too small. Putting<br />
them on was a struggle, but taking<br />
them off was torture, and I’m as<br />
sure as I can be that my ears are<br />
46 VIKINGCRUISES.CO.<strong>UK</strong> | WINTER <strong>2020</strong>/21<br />
WINTER <strong>2020</strong>/21 | VIKINGCRUISES.CO.<strong>UK</strong> 47
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