Ollaberry , Gluss and Gluss Ayre

The publisher of this guide, the Northmavine Community Development Company, has its headquarters in the Ollaberry Hall, where you will also find The Last Bookshop (all second-hand and a few rarities) and The Smallest Art Gallery - open when we're open, with a Nespresso machine! Ollaberry has the excellent Hurson's Garage, offering all the repairs you'll need, plus petrol, diesel and a wide variety of groceries and hardware at the community shop.

The lovely little waterside kirk in the old Ollaberry village has a fascinating graveyard and is the last fully-operational Church of Scotland in Northmavine, with services every Sunday.

Remember you can drive over what is known locally as 'Da Fitpath' to rejoin the main A970 north to North Roe.

Nearby is Gluss Ayre and Gluss Isle. Gluss Ayre is one of Shetland's tombolos, or double-sided beaches, made of shingle and gravel and joining Gluss Isle to the mainland. It looks across the entrance of Sullom Voe to the oil terminal, and is a good spot to see seals and otters. The seals can be so tame here they almost clamber onto the shingle beach to make better acquaintance once disturbed from their resting places on the low, red crags...

Otters may be spotted in Dale Voe - they use Dale Burn and have holts between this loch and Maggie Kettle's Loch and ayre further south. Many years ago, according to folk lore, a certain Maggie crossed from Delting in a kettle and landed here, her 'ship' being the first iron vessel to navigate Sullom Voe. What would she make of the thousands of oil tanker movements which have taken place here since 1978?' So wrote  Peter Guy in his excellent Northmavine volume of the series of guidebooks Walking the Coastline of Shetland.