Yorkshire to Shetland ......
Discussion
My son lives in Beverley and I drive down by car a few times a year. The ferry (Northlink) leaves Aberdeen at either 17:00 or 17:30 each day (alternate days ) arriving at 7:30 am the next morning (the longer trip calls in to Orkney).
You can fly directly from Aberdeen / Edinburgh or Glasgow flight from Aberdeen takes about 50 mins. To really see Shetland you really need a car so if flying organise a hire car
Some fun roads on the islands.
To get to Aberdeen you can either go up the A1 to Edinburgh then via Perth and Dundee to Aberdeen or possibly across to the west and up the M6 to Glasgow then to Stirling / Perth / Dundee to Aberdeen. Check in for the ferry is at least an hour before sailing so you will have to allow plenty of time foe the trip.
If you want to enjoy more interesting roads take the A68 to Edinburgh (but lots of speed cameras once into Scotland) then from Perth go via Blairgowrie and Glenshhe to Braemar and Aberdeen but Ithink you would need an overnight stop en route.
Hope this helps any more question let me know.
You can fly directly from Aberdeen / Edinburgh or Glasgow flight from Aberdeen takes about 50 mins. To really see Shetland you really need a car so if flying organise a hire car
Some fun roads on the islands.
To get to Aberdeen you can either go up the A1 to Edinburgh then via Perth and Dundee to Aberdeen or possibly across to the west and up the M6 to Glasgow then to Stirling / Perth / Dundee to Aberdeen. Check in for the ferry is at least an hour before sailing so you will have to allow plenty of time foe the trip.
If you want to enjoy more interesting roads take the A68 to Edinburgh (but lots of speed cameras once into Scotland) then from Perth go via Blairgowrie and Glenshhe to Braemar and Aberdeen but Ithink you would need an overnight stop en route.
Hope this helps any more question let me know.
Julian
worth looking at all the angles. assuming you're in yorks then fly to kirkwall and lerwick via aberdeen from manc?
or drive to aberdeen and ferry to orkney and on to shetland.
one point -you need a car on the isles, its either take your own or hire.
you can drive to john o' groats and get a ferry from there to orkney (& on to shet.) i worked in west yorks in the 80s and could hecky/clecky to wick in 8.25 hours, 520 miles and two days if on your hols.
research is the key, sometimes difficult to grasp ferry timetables
worth looking at all the angles. assuming you're in yorks then fly to kirkwall and lerwick via aberdeen from manc?
or drive to aberdeen and ferry to orkney and on to shetland.
one point -you need a car on the isles, its either take your own or hire.
you can drive to john o' groats and get a ferry from there to orkney (& on to shet.) i worked in west yorks in the 80s and could hecky/clecky to wick in 8.25 hours, 520 miles and two days if on your hols.
research is the key, sometimes difficult to grasp ferry timetables
aaak said:
you can drive to john o' groats and get a ferry from there to orkney (& on to shet.) i worked in west yorks in the 80s and could hecky/clecky to wick in 8.25 hours, 520 miles and two days if on your hols.
I plan on doing this drive sometime next summer, and you've quoted the time from my town, so cheers 
VetteG said:
If you like a good road then dont get the ferry at Aberdeen. The A9 north of Inverness is a cracking road to drive and you will get the ferry from Thurso not John o' Groats. The additional benefit of a short ferry crossing if you dont have very good sea legs.
G
You can get the ferry to Orkney from near John o' Groats and it actually gets you to Orkney faster than the Scrabster(Thurso)-Stromness ferry. Although it does dock at the far end of the barriers. G
The easiest way to get to Shetland though is the Aberdeen ferry which goes direct to Shetland and takes the best part of 24hrs.
sherman said:
VetteG said:
If you like a good road then dont get the ferry at Aberdeen. The A9 north of Inverness is a cracking road to drive and you will get the ferry from Thurso not John o' Groats. The additional benefit of a short ferry crossing if you dont have very good sea legs.
G
You can get the ferry to Orkney from near John o' Groats and it actually gets you to Orkney faster than the Scrabster(Thurso)-Stromness ferry. Although it does dock at the far end of the barriers. G
The easiest way to get to Shetland though is the Aberdeen ferry which goes direct to Shetland and takes the best part of 24hrs.
G
julianm said:
Considering a holiday up in the Isles for the first time. Does driving there make any sense at all when compared to train/flight from say Edinburgh? Looks to be ~680 miles.
Any advice most welcome.
Thanks, Julian
You will need this website for the ferriesAny advice most welcome.
Thanks, Julian
http://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/
and for the planes
http://www.flybe.com/destinations/Shetland.htm
skatty said:
Ive tried both and the scrabster- stromness ferry is by far the better boat. You really do get what you pay for. My inlaws live in Shetland and I've worked in both Shetland and Orkney.
The Aberdeen to Lerwick boat takes 16 hours ish, if you're not a paticularly good sailor it's hell!
I'd fly, the roads in Shetland are good but there's not many of them and it's pretty small, you'll need a car but the cost and hassle of getting your own one there are significant. Then you'll run out of roads on the main island after a day.
Thy're both worth visiting, you could drive up to John O'Groats then go to Orkney as one trip rather than going on to Shetland, possibly doing a loop of the north of Scotland including Skye and the western isles too in a reasonable amount of time.
The Aberdeen to Lerwick boat takes 16 hours ish, if you're not a paticularly good sailor it's hell!
I'd fly, the roads in Shetland are good but there's not many of them and it's pretty small, you'll need a car but the cost and hassle of getting your own one there are significant. Then you'll run out of roads on the main island after a day.
Thy're both worth visiting, you could drive up to John O'Groats then go to Orkney as one trip rather than going on to Shetland, possibly doing a loop of the north of Scotland including Skye and the western isles too in a reasonable amount of time.
sherman said:
skatty said:
Ive tried both and the scrabster- stromness ferry is by far the better boat. You really do get what you pay for. Smaller, quicker journey time and cheaper.
As for going to Shetland, as others have said, if you can hire a car then flying makes sense, if you want to take your own car the easy and quicker way is to get the ferry overnight from Aberdeen rather than going through Orkney.
Edited by John MacK on Tuesday 17th November 12:51
The info I gave was in relation to travelling to Shetland not Orkney. Certainly if you plan to visit both Islands head for the short crossing to Orkney then on to Shetland. It is a long drive so allow plenty of time. The ferry only goes from Orkney to Shetland 3 or 4 times a week so need to plan to link in with that.
Contrary to the post above there are some great roads, obviously not that many (main islands about 100 miles in total) but you really need a car to get around. The roads are relatively traffic free and can be enjoyed - keeping an eye out for sheep (I currently have an Elise SC so you can go under the big ones).
Again contrary to the above the Aberdeen / Shetland ferry takes 12.5 hours on the direct nights and 14.5 when sailing via Orkney. Of course if caught in a bad winter spell it can be a couple of days at sea !! - of course in winter flying can be quite exciting as well.
Contrary to the post above there are some great roads, obviously not that many (main islands about 100 miles in total) but you really need a car to get around. The roads are relatively traffic free and can be enjoyed - keeping an eye out for sheep (I currently have an Elise SC so you can go under the big ones).
Again contrary to the above the Aberdeen / Shetland ferry takes 12.5 hours on the direct nights and 14.5 when sailing via Orkney. Of course if caught in a bad winter spell it can be a couple of days at sea !! - of course in winter flying can be quite exciting as well.
Thanks very much inded for the info. Aiming for Easter so might need a full set of winter walking stuff which makes packing a pain, so car would be very useful for that if nothing else! Not the best sailor in the world but woul possibly get some much needed sleep!
Would very much like to visit Lunna & Scalloway to view memorials & sites associated with the `Shetland Bus` WWII operations.
Thanks again, Julian
Would very much like to visit Lunna & Scalloway to view memorials & sites associated with the `Shetland Bus` WWII operations.
Thanks again, Julian
John MacK said:
sherman said:
skatty said:
Ive tried both and the scrabster- stromness ferry is by far the better boat. You really do get what you pay for. Smaller, quicker journey time and cheaper.
As for going to Shetland, as others have said, if you can hire a car then flying makes sense, if you want to take your own car the easy and quicker way is to get the ferry overnight from Aberdeen rather than going through Orkney.
Edited by John MacK on Tuesday 17th November 12:51
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