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I Destination I ÉCOSSE I C
L
ast fall, just a few days into my trip
to the Shetland Islands, the Scottish
subarctic archipelago across the sea from
Norway, I found myself on the top of a cliff
face, peering through the fog at a huge rock
in the northern Atlantic Ocean. The rock was
topped with a spike of white: the Muckle
Flugga lighthouse, built in 1854, a mind-
boggling feat as the rock’s cliff face juts
straight up out of the roiling sea. In the
early days of the lighthouse, our tour guide
told us, men had to be hoisted by ropes
around their arms to safely cross the gap
between their boat and the landing area on
the rock. At this most northerly point in the
U.K, I felt a profound sense that I was very
far from home. - I had disembarked to this spot from a bus
at the very top of the tiny island of Unst, the
most northern and rocky of the Shetland
Islands, with a population of about 600. On
the bus with me was a group of mostly
women from all over the world, all of us at-
tendees of Shetland Wool Week, a knitting
and textile festival hailed through the world’s
knitting grapevine as the mecca of all knit-
ting and textile festivals. - To get to this spot, the bus had driven us
up the length of “mainland” Shetland, the
largest of the 16 populated islands, then
crossed on a ferry to the smaller island of
Yell, then driven up a snaking road to Yell’s
tip and to a second ferry ride to the island of
Unst. Now, we stood at the top of the cliffs
of Hermaness, home to some of the largest
colonies of nesting seabirds in the U.K. KNITTING
- Before I left New York, the only thing I
really knew about Shetland was that it is the
birthplace of Fair Isle knit-
ting (Fair Isle being the most
remote of the islands), a tech-
nique of colorwork recogniz-
able in traditional sweaters.
What I found was a place
with a complex history be-
yond that of the knitting
industry, difficult to get to
but well worth the journey.
In Shetland, knitting is a tra-
dition that goes back centu-
ries and is embedded in the
place’s rich history. Sheep
here outnumber people by 20-to-1, and in-
clement weather on the islands has encour-
aged the local sheep to grow a softer and
lighter-weight fiber that makes Shetland
wool unique.
DAILY LIFE
- There are about 100 islands in Shetland,
although only 16 are inhabited. To get to
mainland Shetland, one takes either an over-
night ferry or a small plane from Aberdeen,
on the coast of Scotland. On the smaller is-
lands like Yell and Unst, there is no police
force, no hospital or health clinic, and no
school. Most of these islands’ municipal
needs are taken care of from Lerwick on
mainland Shetland, the islands’ central port
Driving
around the
tiny islands is
an experience
in moodiness.
and biggest city (with a population of about
7,500), which is also where the hub of the
festival is.- Schoolchildren often travel to Lerwick
during the week and then back to the small-
er islands to spend the weekends with their
families. Mystery writer Ann
Cleaves has set a series of
murder mysteries on Shet-
land (they were made into an
excellent BBC series, Shet-
land, that the islanders are
understandably quite proud
of), and one can easily see
why: driving around the tiny
islands is an experience in
moodiness — you snake
down one-way roads through
pockets of brightly painted
houses and grazing sheep,
the seething ocean on one side or the other
of you (or sometimes both, the North Sea on
one and the ocean on the other). - trip journey, voyage, visit / cliff high area of rock with a
steep precipice / to peer to look attentively, scan / fog thick
cloud-like mist near the ground which limits visibility / to top
here, to crown, be at the summit of / spike high point /
lighthouse tower equipped with a powerful light to warn or
guide ships / mind-boggling incredible, staggering, beyond
belief / feat exploit / to jut out to stick outward and upward
/ straight up vertical / roiling tumultuous, turbulent / to
hoist to lift, heave upwards, raise / rope cord / gap space,
divide / landing area place for disembarking. - spot area, location / very here, complete, absolute / tiny
very small / rocky characterised by rocks, jagged / attendee
participant ( to attend to be present at, participate in) /
wool material obtained from the coat of sheep etc / knitting
litt. activity of needlework by interlacing yarn in a series of
connected loops using straight needles / to hail to
acknowledge, acclaim / grapevine here, network / mecca
holy city, here, the best, most highly regarded. - length from one end to the other / mainland continental
/ populated with people living there / to cross to go over,
traverse / to snake to wind, twist and turn (snake serpent) /
tip end, extremity, point / ride trip /
to stand, stood, stood to situate oneself / to be home
to to be the place where sth is located / to nest to build a
home (for laying eggs) / seabird bird frequenting the sea.- birthplace place where sth originates / remote far,
distant / colorwork knitting with a variety of colours,
(special to the region) / recognizable well known, easily
identified, famous / sweater jumper, pullover / beyond
much greater than / to be worth the journey to merit a
trip / to go, went, gone back to begin as far back in time
as / to be embedded in to comprise, be an integral part
of / sheep ruminant mammal of the genus Ovis / to
outnumber to be greater in number than, to exceed /
weather atmospheric conditions (rain, sunshine, wind etc)
/ to grow, grew, grown to develop, produce / soft
smooth, fine / light-weight not heavy, here, fine, delicate. - inhabited with people living there / overnight during
the night / coast seashore / health medical care / to
take, took, taken care of to look after (the needs of) /
hub centre, heart.- mystery novel about murder, featuring a detective,
crime / to set, set, set to situate the action of, the
location for / murder mystery crime novel, detective
story / to make, made, made into to transform into /
series serialized set of programmes, season / islander
person living on an island / understandably naturally, for
obvious reasons / quite rather, very / proud feeling
pleased and satisfied about sth / moodiness changing
emotions / one-way in one direction only / pocket here,
enclave / brightly coloured of different vivid colours / to
graze to feed on grass / seething turbulent, agitated,
tumultuous.
Pour ne pas "perdre le
nord" (to keep your
wits about you)!
north le nord
the northern lights (§ 10) l'aurore
boréale
the most northerly point (§ 1)
l'endroit le plus au nord
a northener un habitant du Nord
northbound / northward en
direction du nordSUR LE BOUT DE LA LANGUESUPPLÉMENT VIDÉO
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