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Exploring Muckle Flugga: Scotland’s Northernmost Island

I reached for my biggest atlas. And there it was -Muckle Flugga- farther north than St Petersburg or Helsinki, a tiny island off the north coast of Uist, the most northerly of the main Shetland Islands. It was over 100 miles north of John O’Groats which was my previous benchmark for extreme northerliness in the UK. The very top of my country. Not only had I never heard of it, I had never BEEN there. I began planning…

We loaded our folding boat onto our folding bicycles. I have little tolerance for gimmick expeditions and I worried if perhaps I had crossed the line here. Why packraft when there’s a ferry? (Particularly a fabulous ferry where you can transport livestock at the price of 70p per head!) But virtually all expeditions have a measure of artificiality to them: deliberately making things more difficult than they need be in return for the thrill of success against the odds.

Read the full story on Al’s website: alastairhumphreys.com


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