Oh, tombolo!

Six years ago in Australia we went on a picnic hike with our friends Bruce and Di to Barrenjoey Lighthouse. When we got to the lighthouse Bruce informed us with great confidence that the sandy isthmus connecting Barrenjoey to the mainland is called a tombolo.

“What’chu talkin’ about?” we laughed, knowing Bruce’s penchant for pulling our legs, but he was adamant and the new fact was tucked away for future reference. So far it hasn’t won us any free beer at the pub.

Flash forward to 2022 and we parked up overlooking another tombolo, this one connecting St. Ninian’s Isle to mainland Shetland.

We still can’t believe how easy it is to find free parkups in amazing locations and we’re glad our camper is self-contained and able to take advantage of these places.

We stayed overnight just where the camera icon is on the mainland side.

Under an unexpectedly clear blue sky we walked across the tombolo to the island.

We soon learned an important Shetland skill: dancing around sheep poo in the meadows. This will soon be followed by another skill: finding a stick in nearly treeless Shetland to dig the sheep poo out of our shoe treads.

Sheep poo aside, it was a beautiful walk and it felt good to stretch our legs and start regaining the fitness we’ve lost over the last six months of low activity.

Our parkup put us in the exact right place to enjoy our first clear horizon sunset in recent memory. And with the long twilight this far north it lasted for nearly an hour. Life is good.

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3 Responses to Oh, tombolo!

  1. We have an independent bookstore here in St. Pete that’s named Tombolo:
    https://tombolobooks.com/ I never knew where the name came from, so this is especially interesting to me.

  2. Mike McCollough

    There is a nice book about Shetland, “Between Weathers …”, and a BBC series called Shetland
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1905207204/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

  3. Mike McCollough

    There is a nice book about Shetland, “Between Weathers …”, and a BBC series called Shetland. I enjoyed reading the book while watching the series.
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1905207204/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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