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B R E AT H TA K I N G LANDSCAPES
- Often when you curve around a bend in
the road the view before you is breathtaking,
and if you are driving a car you have to be
careful not to drive right off the road. Cliffs
drop precipitously just feet from the pave-
ment; inlets have choppy waves (and, in
summer, killer whales who pick off sleepy
seals); enormous rocks jut up from the ocean
just off the coast; and, everywhere, roofs and
boats and houses are painted cheerful colors
that burst against the overcast sk y. - I had watched the BBC series, but even such
a well-crafted show is no substitute for being
there. One cannot experience the Shetland
wind through one’s television. I was there for
a week, and there was only one night that I
didn’t hear the loud howl of wind all night
long. At one point, someone asked a local
farmer whether the wind was normal, if it
kept up all year long — “Wind?!” he said in-
credulously. “This is nothing! It’s been calm
ever since you came!”
PEOPLE
- The people of Shetland, though, really
could not be nicer — one is tempted to think
their isolation and hardiness has formed
them for kindness. At the bed-and-breakfast
where we stayed, Virdafjell, the owner, Dor-
othy Stove, greeted us with a plastic bin of
clean house slippers for us to choose from,
and every morning put out a breakfast spread
fit for 10 hungry men (although my friend
and I were the only people there): scones,
assorted bread, eggs, yogurt, fruit, at least 10
kinds of cereal, and even decorative butter
slices in a perfectly sized dish.
WHAT TO SEE
- For such a small place, Shetland offers an
incredible amount to attract visitors. In ad-
dition to the textile industry, visitors are
drawn by archaeology (there are ancient sites
scattered all over the islands), by geology (the
islands sit atop a network of tectonic plates
and boast an array of ancient and volcanic
rocks), by caving and kayaking, and by an
enormous diversity of nesting seabirds (puf-
fins, who nest there in the hundreds of
thousands in the summer, are a popular
draw). Two of the nights we were there, there
were sightings of the northern lights, ethe-
real streaks of color across the night sky. The
main industry on Shetland is still fishing
— primarily mackerel, herring and salmon
farming — and more than 75 percent of
Scotland’s mussels are produced there.- Despite all this, the main action at the time
of my visit was Wool Week, which begins
Sept. 28 in 2019. One of the festival’s distinc-
tive aspects is the community that it creates
and celebrates all over the islands. Standing
on the shores of Shetland during Wool Week,
a knitter can’t help but feel optimistic, and a
person can’t help but feel swept away. l - breathtaking stupefying / landscape countryside / to
curve to move in an arched type motion rather than straight
/ bend turn in the road / to drive, drove, driven off to
drive the car off the road and falling from a great height / to
drop to have an edge with a steep descent to ground level /
pavement road surface / inlet bay / choppy agitated /
killer Orcinus orca, predatory black-and-white toothed
whale with large dorsal fin / to pick off here, to catch, kill
and eat / sleepy drowsy, somnolent / seal marine mammal
with streamlined body and limbs that form webbed flippers
/ cheerful happy, bright / to burst, burst, burst to
contrast starkly / overcast cloudy. - well-crafted well made / to substitute for to replace /
wind movement of air / loud very noisy / howl high
plaintive sound / farmer agriculturer / to keep, kept, kept
up here, to continue / ever since from the moment when. - hardiness robustness / bed and breakfast guesthouse /
owner proprietor / to greet to welcome / bin container /
slipper comfortable shoe worn in the house / to put, put, put
out to put on the table, serve, offer / spread here, variety of
dishes, feast / to be fit for here, to be capable of (feeding) /
scone small cake made with milk / assorted various, diverse /
slice piece, portion. - to be drawn to to be interested in / to scatter to disperse,
spread / atop on top of / plate plaque / to boast to have sth
impressive / array impressive display or collection, variety /
caving sport or pastime of exploring caves / puffin seabird
with black-and-white plumage / draw attraction /
sighting observation, spotting / ethereal celestial, sublime,
surreal / streak stripe, mark, line / primarily essentially /
mackerel predatory marine fish with a greenish-blue back /
herring fairly small silvery fish / farming here, breeding /
mussel common mollusk with blue/black shell.- action here, event / shore beach, coast / knitter person
who knits ( to knit to make (a stitch or row of stitches) by
interlocking loops of wool) / can’t help but... not to be able to
stop ineself from / to be swept away (fig.) to be transported.
NIVEAU AVANCÉ DU SUPPLÉMENT SONORE
Mati Ventrillon is a knitter, a Fair Isle knitter. On a Scottish island of only 55
inhabitants, she is helping to keep a fine heritage alive. Listen to the Advanced
recording to find out more in our exclusive interview with Mati.
CD audio ou téléchargement MP3 (sur abonnement)I Destination I ÉCOSSE I C
Native sheep on a farm on Bressay Island in the
Shetland archipelago. (Andy Haslam/The New York Times)The town of Lerwick on mainland Shetland. (Istock)Pour en savoir plus
Le Guide Évasion
Écosse des éditions
Hachette (440 pages,
18€) vous aidera à
organiser votre
voyage en Écosse
selon vos envies.Des^
exemplaires
à gagner!sur http://www.vocable.frAA 06-08-806-Steph.indd 8 01/07/2019 08: