Ness of Sound – A Headland Dog Walk and Lunch in Town
A few hours, from Market Cross, Lerwick and back.
The route
The Ness of Sound is the rugged headland just south of Lerwick, and it makes a grand morning's walk with a dog.
The way goes round the shore past the remains of a Second World War battery, with Bressay across the water, and back by the town's own sandy beach. Then it's into the centre for lunch at Pete's Café, where dogs are as welcome as their owners. It suits anyone with a dog, good boots and a free weekday morning.
The day
Lerwick
A morning on foot from the town centre: out to a wild headland, round the coast at the dog's own pace, and back into town for a warm lunch.
About three and a half hours
Ness of Sound
From the Market Cross it's 23 minutes' walk south-west to Fjarå Café Bar on the Sea Road, where the walk round the Ness of Sound begins. It goes south along the Sea Road, round the shore of the headland and back by the Sands of Sound, Lerwick's own beach. There are no made paths, some slopes are steep and the grass runs right to the cliff edges, so wear boots and keep the dog close there. On the headland stand the concrete gun emplacements, lookouts and covered passages of a Second World War battery that guarded the harbour. It's under an hour's walking, about two with stops. Keep the dog on a lead near sheep, and watch the shore for seals and, with luck, an otter. Go in daylight and in dry, still weather.
24 min on foot
Pete's Café
Lunch
Lunch is back in town at Pete's Café on Commercial Street, 24 minutes' walk from the start of the Sea Road. Dogs are made very welcome inside, and so are children. It's a small family café cooking from scratch: breakfast rolls, homemade soups, with Cullen skink on Wednesdays and reestit (salt-dried) mutton soup on Fridays. It's open Tuesday to Friday, 8am to 2pm; on a Monday, ring 01806 249224 first. If it's full, The Dowry, along Commercial Street, lets dogs sit with you in the lower part of its café.
If it rains
The headland is no place in heavy rain or a gale: the grass above the cliffs gets slippery. Walk the Sea Road and the shore of the Sands of Sound instead, and keep the dog on the beach side, then go in early to Pete's.
Photograph by Jeffrey Cowgill via Google