Battered by ferocious winds, with waves crashing and the stench of wet sheep in the air, the little ferry to Fair Isle ploughed onwards, the future of crime writing huddled below deck, worse for wear.
Shetland creator Ann Cleeves had already turned down the well-intentioned offer of a steak slice from the ferry’s skipper. Seasick from the rocking boat, hundreds of miles from her family’s North Devon home, the meaty offering could have made an already stomach-churning trip one she’d come to regret.
Instead, the life-changing voyage in 1975 by ferry to a tiny corner at the very tip of the map is one that Cleeves, whose Shetland and Vera crime creations have captured hearts of readers and television viewers, thoroughly recommends.
She has thrown her support behind news that the aging Good Shepherd ferry, which has served Fair Isle for almost 40 years, is set to be replaced following confirmation of a £27m package of funding from the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund.
The new ferry, expected to carry up to a dozen passengers, will replace the current one which is reaching the end of its life after decades of providing a vital lifeline to the island, bringing fresh produce, exporting goods, supporting healthcare and tourism.
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Confirmation of the new ferry came as authorities in Shetland floated the idea of underground and below the waves tunnels to cut dependence on its ferry fleet. It is among a number of future transport ideas to be explored in a £600,000 study.
Despite having experienced the worst of seasickness as she made her way across the waves by ferry on her first visit to Fair Isle in 1975, tunnel travel holds much less appeal to the award-winning author.
“I like the romance of the ferry,” she says. “I like that I can leave Aberdeen, travel overnight and arrive in Shetland in the morning.
“I could fly and be there in an hour and a half but there is something special about being on a boat.
“And the roll on-roll off ferries that operate between the islands are manned by island people, they belong to the islands and have relied on them for so much.
“Of course, it’s down to Shetlanders to decide if they want tunnels or not. It’s not for me to say,” she adds. “But taking the ferry is something I think we need to keep. Besides, tunnels would cost an awful lot.”
Although a mere idea at the moment, the provision of toll tunnels linking some of the 16 inhabited islands out of the 100 that make up the Shetland archipelago is being considered amid concerns over the cost of replacing the current aging ferry fleet of 12 ferries – the oldest, MV Hendra is 40-years-old - and to reduce carbon emissions.
Mooted by Shetland Islands Council and regional transport partnership ZetTrans, it’s said fixed links between islands could cut costs and help encourage people to stay, growing the population.
Although a traditional lifeline for islanders, ferry journeys between islands can last just a few minutes and span little more than three miles. While boats are at the mercy of wild weather, breakdowns and cancellations.
Toll tunnels, meanwhile, have been estimated at costing an around £400million.
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Motoring between islands would, however, remove increasing numbers of tourists drawn to the Shetland Isles to tour the sites mentioned in Cleeves’ novels from the very characters that inspired her.
“There are around 23,000 people living on all the islands, it is a very small community but one that is very welcoming of cultural tourists, such as the people who want to see Jimmy Perez’s house or go to the fiddle festival and the jazz festival, to see the textiles and learn about nature,” she says.
“Shetland has welcomed visitors since the beginning, when Vikings and Hanseatic League encouraged trade over the sea, whalers, fishermen.
“On that first ferry trip, I was so ill. I remember the skipper asking if anyone wanted a steak slice and the smell from the sheep. But within half an hour of arriving, I loved it.”
Cleeves, whose crime writing career took off in 2006 with her Shetland-based novel Raven Black, made her first trip to Fair Isle in 1975 to take up a summer post as an assistant cook at its famous bird observatory. While there, she met her future husband, Tim.
The couple returned the following year and continued to visit, drawn by the nature and wild beauty of the island.
When the observatory was destroyed by fire in 2019, Cleeves, by then a household name thanks to television’s adaptations of her Shetland and Vera novels, pledged the royalties from her book, Blue Lightning, set in Fair Isle, to help with its rebuild.
She is now preparing to return to Lerwick in June, when she will headline crime writing festival Shetland Noir, along with Val McDermid and Richard Osman.
“Fair Isle is special,” she added. “The sea life, the puffins, the people - it’s all amazing.
“People still turn up when the ferry arrives to help unload it, all the mail comes by ferry and goods for the shop.
“It’s a community that pulls together. It is a special place.”
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