Our main goal on Unst was to walk the Hermaness Nature Reserve – whatever the weather!

When we reached the cliffs we could not see the sea. Gradually the mist cleared  rewarding us with magnificent views as far as Out Stack – just past Muckle Flugga lighthouse, the most northerly point of Britain.

Seabirds are the star attraction at Hermaness. There are vast gannet colonies, puffins nesting in burrows above the cliffs and the ever present malies or fulmars. The great skuas, known locally as bonxies, breed here and scavenge whatever they can, including puffin chicks.

We weren’t entirely selfish. We had left Mam and Dad in a rather beautiful cove below the former lighthouse shore station at Burrafirth.