Shetland Isles - Bike damage on the ferry
We arrived at Lerwick at 7am feeling like crap but full of excitement. Our excitement turned to disbelief however, which turned to anger and then to a low knot in the pit of our stomachs as we examined our bikes to find damage to both.
Both the bikes were damaged front and back. Mine (Simon's) has an 8″ inch gash down the fuel tank right down to the base material and Lisa’s handle bars and left hand switch/clutch gear is bent. As we inspected further, the situation became worse as we discovered Lisa’s left pannier had been hit in the centre, which apart from scoring the panniers side, had also broken the watertight seal where the body meets the lid. It’s Sunday, we could only find one member of staff in the NorthLink Ferries office, Yvette. As it turned out Yvette was a star.
Trying to hide the fact that I would only be calmed by the shedding of much BLOOD, I calmly explained the situation and that I needed certain assurance and information from NorthLink before I would leave their office. Yvette was genuinely concerned about putting things right and quickly arranged a meeting with one of the company executives for tomorrow morning, (told you Yvette was a star).
Our forward travel and itinerary made going through the normal insurance procedure almost impossible as, if any one wanted to inspect the damage they were going to have to travel to Russia or Africa to do it! Luckily I’ve taken some photos of the damage.
With a meeting arranged for 9:00am tomorrow we left the dock in search of a campground and 20 minutes later we’d pitched behind the Islands main sports centre. The weather was by now raining hard and not looking good and it didn’t get any better.
Food was found at the local Safeway’s. This was all a bit easy and didn’t really fit in with the lifestyle suggested by the rugged and barren beauty of the land that surrounded us.
After bumping into Steve, a local GoldWing riding motorcycle instructor, come property tycoon, he recommended a drink at the Lounge. The Lounge turned out to be situated right at the heart of the quay in Lerwick. Bloody great it was too! Karrin, the owner- (Probably spelt wrong...sorry) met us with a smile and served us for most of the night with drinks bought for us by locals. Most of the time we didn’t even get a chance to thank them...but THANK YOU!
Several little drrrinkkssss laterr, we met Mark who leaves for Portugal tomorrow on his two-wheeled lovely. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before conversation turned to motorbikes.
The hospitality and atmosphere we enjoyed was special, and slowly we began to let ourselves realize that the trip we’d been working so hard for was happening. 10:30pm chimed and Karrin handed us two large portions of fish and chips. “I thought you’d be hungry”, she said through her smile as she handed over the paper wrapped parcels. Her brother amongst other things owns a local fish and chip shop and Karrin had arranged earlier for the left overs to be brought to the Lounge, for us. I told her if I wasn’t already married, I’d ask her. I’m off to bed now with beer and food in my belly, wondering what this meeting will resolve tomorrow morning. I’m not hopeful!
