Pupdate: Skyelark’s Fair Isle Adventure

A Journey to Fair Isle

Britain's Most Remote Inhabited Island

One Year, One Island, Countless Memories—Fair Isle Adventures with Skyelark, Sarah, Pam, and Me

Skyelark’s Island Retreat—A Scottish Terrier at Home on Fair Isle

Discovering Fair Isle

Another glorious day on Fair Isle. Where? Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland. Situated in the Northern Atlantic, between Great Britain, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, it is the northernmost part of Scotland and the UK.

And 24 miles from Shetland Mainland lies Britain's most remote inhabited island — Fair Isle. With dramatic cliffs, abundant wildlife, and a rich cultural heritage, this remote paradise offers an escape from the modern world that few places can match.

Explore Fair Isle

Looking at life on Fair Isle

Across the Waters to Lerwick—A Journey with the Good Shepherd.

Across Land, Air, and Sea—The Wild Heart of Shetland

Shetland: Ponies, Planes, and Ferries—Navigating a Rugged Wonderland

Shetland’s Endless Daylight—Where the Midnight Sun Paints the Sky

Fair Isle and Shetland Aglow—A Land Bathed in Eternal Twilight

Splendor in the Grass—Skyelark’s Joyful Leaps on Fair Isle

A Scottie’s Delight—Skyelark Dancing Through the Green Waves

A Little Reflection

We are all co-creators of the world we inhabit—our choices, decisions, and intentions shape the landscape of our lives. The best we can do is embrace life in its fullest variety, navigating the savage yet breathtaking country we have built and continue to build, stretching between where we began and where we are headed.

Diane Ackerman's words invite us to take part in this grand journey:

"The great affair, the love affair with life, is to live as variously as possible—to groom one's curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred, climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sun-struck hills every day. Where there is no risk, the emotional terrain is flat and unyielding, and, despite all its dimensions—valleys, pinnacles, and detours—life will seem to have none of its magnificent geography, only a length. It began in mystery and will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between."

The wind hums like white noise, steady and relentless, rolling along an infinite shore. Waiting is its own reward—the labor costs nothing, but the patience pays. The long hours of preparation, the restless journey to Shetland, and then the longer hours of waiting—all for that singular, electrifying moment when the island unveils itself.

Suddenly, we are not mere passengers in our own lives, passive observers riding the bus—we are at the wheel, carving out more than moments and length. We are adding depth, breadth, and richness.

To walk along these cliffs is to step into the sky. There is no need to look up—it is all around, inhaled in gulps, each molecule of air exchanged in communion with the world. Walking becomes not just movement but celebration, prayer, and inquiry, subtly weaving itself into the fabric of the day.

The plunge into the rock pools, a baptism of sorts, completes the experiment with truth—Beauty is truth, and truth is beauty.

© 2025 Fair Isle Adventures | Photography and content inspired by the beauty of Shetland