Exploring Lerwick...

After the On-In, the bus dropped us back off in Lerwick. where the girls quickly caught a tender back to the ship...

...which we could see from the shore.

Also spotted a viking ship from the shore.

I had planned to go to the On-After at the pub, but it was so crowded that I decided just to wander the town center, which was pretty sleepy.

Apparently it was a big deal that our ship came this far north.

Couldn’t help but laugh that even in a town of just 7,000, they make fun of the Orange Blob.

Apparently the barber surgeon was one of the most common medical practitioners in medieval times because they possessed razors. Presume that this barber surgeon only cuts hair and leaves amputations to modern-day surgeons.

Luckily the line to the tender wasn’t too bad. On the way back, I enjoyed sitting on the top level with the captain.

Hashing on Shetland Island...

Here’s one of the  tenders taking hashers to the port...

...and here’s the girls on our tender.

I was originally disappointed that we couldn’t do the trail that we had chosen as our top choice, but our trail from Scalloway, the largest town on the west coast of the island, was awesome. I had a nice chat with one of the hares, who was a member of the local hash kennel.

The girls were especially thrilled to have a close encounter with some Shetland ponies.

Part of our trail was along the coast, where we could see the rings of salmon fish farms. Apparently, Shetland’s aquaculture produces about 33% of Scotland’s salmon and 90% of its mussels.

The drink stop was on top of a hill at the Witches Wart, rumored to be where the last of the witches in Shetland were burned.

The sweeties stop, something we’d never encountered before, was at the ruins of Scalloway Castle, built in 1607.

The On-In was at a community center where we appreciated the warm soup and entertainment provided by some local teens. It was also nice to try a local beer between glasses of bubbly.

Ballbreaker on Shetland Island...

After breakfast on Friday, we had to catch tenders to get from the ship to the port at Lerwick, the main town of the Shetland Islands and Scotland’s most easterly and northerly town (123 miles off the north coast of the mainland). Then we caught buses to our trails. Jimmy did the Ballbreaker, a half-marathon length trail that he thought was amazing.

There were no mountains, but rather lots of hills covered in heather...

...and grasses. 

He especially loved the first drink stop, in the ruins of an old house...

...that they had to climb a ladder to get into.

It was a large group, but they all managed to fit inside.

He also loved getting to pet Shetland ponies.

He couldn’t resist drinking a White Wife, especially fitting since I could be described that way.

A Great Birthday...

That first day of the cruise was also my 56th birthday, so we made a reservation to eat in the fine dining restaurant rather than the more casual buffet restaurant.

The food was quite good and the cake was especially delicious.

The staff and surrounding hashers did a great job singing Happy Birthday. The cake was too big for the four of us, so Jimmy encouraged me to walk around trying to pawn off small pieces to other hashers.

Later that evening, we went to a musical show performed by the ship’s very talented entertainers, and then danced ourselves for hours. We were also entertained by some crazy hashers, such as this harriette who was curious if the netting over the pool would hold her.

It was a lovely full moon that night, making my birthday even more special.

Safety First...

Our first task was a safety drill. Passengers all had to put on lifevests and muster in different parts of the ship.

We were assigned to the group mustering in the Show Lounge, so there was plenty of space to relax until it was our turn to head out to the lifeboats.

Of course, we didn’t actually board the lifeboats, which were dangling above our heads, but just went through the motions so we knew what to do in case of an actual emergency.

Here’s one of the tug boats responsible for pulling us out of the port.

Our silly girls took a rest on the foredeck.

Love how the clouds were reflected in the windows of the bridge.

Bon Voyage...

There were no runs that first day because once we pulled out of the port, we were at sea overnight.

So we spent that first afternoon exploring the ship. Here’s the hot tubs, which weren’t actually that hot and were open very limited hours, but that didn’t stop the girls from trying them at least once.

There was a pool, but it was emptied shortly after we took off.

It was very cool going under the variety of bridges over the Firth of Forth, the estuary of several Scottish rivers.

Along the way, we saw some lovely coastal towns. 

After going under the impressive Forth Railway Bridge, we headed out into the North Sea. 

It was a lovely sunny day, so lots of folks hung around outside.

It was cool bumping into Osama Bin Hashing, an old hash buddy from Raleigh. Sadly, there were no other Netherlands hashers on board, but we ran into lots of folks we knew from other hash events.