Shetland Islands walking holiday

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Landscapes and seascapes that make you feel you've found one of the rawest edges of the world; superb wildlife and a history that stretches from the last war right back to the dawn of civilisation - you can experience this all on Shetland. The islands that make up Shetland lie far out in the North Atlantic, geographically and historically closer to Norway than to Scotland.
The main island is Mainland with many huge headlands cut by beautiful, long, fjord-like seaways. There are hundreds of islands off Mainland, only fourteen of them are inhabited.
History
The Shetland Islands have been inhabited from Neolithic times. The first contact with Christianity was in the 6th century.
Norseman began to colonise the Shetland Islands in the 8th century and the islands became a vital link in their western sea routes. The Vikings used Shetland as a hub, for raiding the west coast of Scotland and Ireland, trading with the Isle of Man and crossing the Atlantic to Iceland and Greenland. It wasn't until 1468 that Shetland became part of Scotland.

Wildlife
The wildlife to be found on the Shetlands is superb, the islands being a birdwatcher’s paradise and one of the major seabird breeding and feeding areas of the North Atlantic. More than a million birds breed in very large colonies. You can sit on a cliff top with puffins standing next to you just a few feet away and you can watch thousands of gannets diving into the sea.