Each month we will be featuring a guest writer and this month is Tom McMahon from Tucson, Arizona He said about this story. The following was written as part of a series of trip reports posted on the AOL Scotland Travel Board. I have now divided them into each of the four days we were in Shetland. Tom and his wife Liz visited Eshaness Lighthouse last week.

Part One here
Part Two here
Part Three here
Part Four here
Part Five here

Last night at the Palm Shack Bar, Pam Ivens had suggested that to really appreciate them we should hike out on the cliffs to the right of the lighthouse. Now we pull on our wellies, load up our camera gear and trudge off. Before ten minutes pass, we come across a huge gash in the earth - a mammoth crevice that reaches in from the sea. Its sheer walls are home to hundreds of pairs of gulls. The cackling and cawing of the birds permeates the air.

We work our way around the crevice and out onto the plateau. It's a healthy distance to the next promontory. Along the way, we skim the banks of one of two lochs that sit up here on the roof of the cliffs, practically a stone's throw from the sea.

Eventually we find our way out to the edge of a tongue of land and plop ourselves down to take in the view. We are sitting at the lip of a small indentation in the cliffs. Across from us, a huge portion of the top a cliff has been worn away by the elements. It looks as though a gigantic spoon has scooped an enormous bowl out of the red rock. Looking down the coast we can see the pale, dome-shaped island of Muckle Ossa way off in the distance. Much nearer to us is Moo Stack, a massive glob of rock that must surely have been connected to Mainland at one time. Between it and the cliffs another stack thrusts out of the water looking much like a gigantic Indian arrowhead. Below us azure waters and lacy foam swirl around and slap the rocks in the shallows. And all the time the wind and sea sing their unceasing songs. It is fabulous!

Hustle and bustle greet us as we return to the car. A tour bus is unloading its passengers. We have been fortunate to have enjoyed the cliffs in solitude for a while.

The scenery on the return trip to the main road is no less awe-inspiring than the trip in. More rocky folds of cliffs. Fantastic sea stacks. A series of large rocky reefs barely breaking the surface of the water that look like some giant's stepping stones out into the bay. And way out from the shore, a shadowy cluster of soaring spires of rock called "The Drongs." It seems that wherever we look here, nature's beauty is simply overwhelming.

Being that today is Easter, Liz and I assumed that everything would be closed, but in the village of Brae we find a petrol station/market open and doing a very good business. Here we pick up water biscuits from Shetland's Sandwick Biscuit Company, a slab of a mild Scottish cheddar and a bottle of Fitou, a French wine.

There are public toilets in Brae, as well, and we make a pit stop here. The men's room is a disaster. It has been badly vandalized. The paper towel dispenser has been ripped from the wall and paper towels strewn all over the floor. The hinges for the toilet seat have been pulled off and dropped into the toilet bowl. And on and on. I am reminded of what Sandy said yesterday; that there is little for young people to do in Shetland. No movie theatre, etc. Boredom seems to be the biggest enemy of the young folk and when boredom sets in, mischief begins. Perhaps that is what has happened here.

On the way back to The Westings, Liz and I muse on what we could do to offer some entertainment alternatives here. Opening a cinema seems to be the way to go. But what to call it, what to call it. How about "McMovies?" Ummm, I'm not sure - it may sound too Scottish for Shetlanders. On the other hand, would we be obliged to show only films with a Scandinavian influence? You know, like "A Star is Bjorn."

At Voe, we opt to get off the main road and take a single track down to the village of Bixter where we will meet up with the road that will take us right to The Westings. This wee road winds past several lochs and snuggles up to the coast a couple of times. I find it amazing that the scenery is so consistently beautiful without the benefit of trees.

Shortly after turning on to the road to The Westings, two motorcyclists come up from behind and flash by us at what must be 80 to 100 miles per hour. They take the bend ahead of us at such incredible speed and at such an angle that their left knees nearly scrape the pavement. Liz and I agree that insanity has not spared The Shetland Islands.

The parking lot is vacant as we pull into The Westings.We enjoy a little Easter Brunch in our room. I imagined the Sandwick water biscuits would be pretty much like water crackers, but they aren't. They are sort of disc-shaped, but plump and softish. They're great with the cheese and wine. A nice little repast.

I take the camera and go outside to snap a shot of the view of Whiteness Voe from the inn. Overcast skies dull the scenery today, and I scold myself for not having taken a picture yesterday when the sky and the voe were a brilliant blue.

Suddenly, I am not alone. I am joined by "Sash," Sandy's highly energetic and overtly contented big, shiny black dog. John and Sandy have returned from having Easter lunch with friends. I'm delighted because I have been hoping to talk Sandy into repeating his stories of Shetland folklore for the camcorder. He readily agrees and we shoot him telling his stories with the voe as the backdrop.

Then we are treated to an anti-gravity demonstration by Sash. John has come out to the back of the inn in a playground area that is fenced off from the rest of the property. He calls Sash, who takes off like a bullet, launches himself and floats effortlessly over the fence. It's one of those things where you can't help but suck in air when it happens. Just to prove it is no fluke, Sash comes charging back toward us and once again takes the fence in a long, almost slow motion flight. It's a beautiful thing to see.

Between yesterday's activities and today's, Liz and I need to recharge our batteries. We return to our room for a wee nap.

Dinner at The Westings tonight consists of salad, 8-ounce sirloin steaks, onion rings and...chips. While we are dining, Sandy appears and tells us about his school and studies. He then disappears to do some school work. John joins us and it gives us a chance to tell him how highly we think of Sandy and how much we are enjoying his company.

"Do you like Raspberry Pavlova?" John asks.

"I don't know what that is," Liz replies.

"Oh, it's delicious," John says. "It's not a dessert we have here at the inn, but we had it at lunch with our friends today and I brought the rest home. I thought you might like some."

"Well, thank you, John."

He hurries off to their living quarters. And in a few minutes returns with a bemused look on his face. "That young man you admire so much," he says, "just demolished the pavlova!"

But there are a few remnants and we do get a taste of this wonderful sweet.

By now Young John has arrived on the scene and is tending bar. During the middle of a sentence John MacRae stops and cocks his ear. "Come," he says. "Jimmy's in the bar. A true Shetlander. Come and listen to the dialect."

We follow John into the pub and, after being introduced to Jimmy, grab a corner table across from the bar. John engages Jimmy in conversation and we become the eavesdroppers. The Scandinavian influence in the dialect is apparent. There is melody in every phrase Jimmy utters. I am caught up in the musicality of the dialect, but am missing about 80% of what he is saying. To me, understanding the dialect is like figuring out a language puzzle...with several important pieces missing. Liz is doing much better at understanding him.

Jimmy is a bonafide sweetheart. An incredibly nice man. He engages us in conversation, and John helps us out as interpreter from time to time.

Before long, Kate and "Kate's John" arrive and then disappear into the game room. Jim and Pam Ivens stop in, too. And then Roger enters and takes his place at the bar. With his appearance, the conversation - which is already lively - gets livelier and funnier.

It is another great evening of chatter and laughter with The Palm Shack Gang. We have such a good time with these folks and we seem to have been taken into their circle so readily, I have to wonder if, after a long, dark winter, they aren't just starving for some sort of entertainment - AND WE ARE IT!!

Hmm, maybe they need a cinema more than we know. Anyway, we hate to pull ourselves away, but tomorrow Jim Ivens will take us off in search of the fabled... the legendary... the celebrated Shetland Brown Trout!

I sure hope we find it.

To Be Continued