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The Northmavine rocks board on the grass at Mavis Grind, red rock behind it.
Shetland Islands

Mavis Grind

Throw a stone from one ocean to the other

Welcome

Mavis Grind is the narrow neck of land west of Brae where the Shetland Mainland shrinks to a strip barely a hundred metres wide, the gateway to Northmavine.

On one side lie St Magnus Bay and the Atlantic; on the other, Ell Wick, Sullom Voe and the North Sea. So this is the place people stop to throw a stone from one ocean into the other. The name is Norse, mæf-eiðs grind, the gate of the narrow isthmus.

The Vikings are thought to have dragged their boats across here rather than sail the dangerous waters round the north of Shetland, and fishermen did the same until the 1950s. In February 1864 one family moving from Papa Stour to East Yell reached the Grind in two sixareens, unloaded two cows, their hay and corn and two small children, hauled the boats across and loaded them again, and reached Otterswick at eleven that night. A board beside the road explains the rocks of Northmavine.

A short drive awayFrankie's Fish and ChipsThe most northerly chip shop in Britain.2 min by roadSee itFrankie's Fish and Chips
Before you go

Open at any time and free, beside the A970 west of Brae, on the way into Northmavine.

Getting there
The A970 west of Brae, into Northmavine.
Time
A short stop by the road.
Where it is

Mavis Grind, by Brae, ZE2 9RE.

Close byNear Brae.
  1. Busta House among trees on the shore, with fields and the voe beyond.Busta HouseA laird's house begun in 1588 on the shore at Brae, now a hotel, with a love story and a drowning from 1748.1 mile3 min by road
  2. Low sun through the Valayre ravine, the burn shining over red stones.The Burn of ValayreAn afternoon following a burn, out of the wind.3 miles5 min by road
  3. Da Lang Ayre, a curve of red shingle below steep granite cliffs, from above.Da Lang AyreShetland's longest beach, a long red shingle shore below Ronas Hill, reached only by sea or a hard hill walk.11 miles20 min by road
  4. Ramnahol, the waterfall on the Burn of Lunklet, falling into a rocky pool below heathery banks.Burn of LunkletA short path beside a moorland burn near Aith to Ramnahol, the pool of the ravens, one of Shetland's best-loved waterfalls.13 miles21 min by road
  5. Red sandstone cliffs curve around a sheltered bay with pink sandEshaness, ShetlandThe cliffs of an ancient volcano in Northmavine, with a lighthouse, blowholes, stacks and the storm beach of the Grind o da Navir.13 miles19 min by road
Directions
RestaurantsFrankie's Fish and Chips1.2 miles
AttractionsTangwick Haa Museum14 miles
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