01-06-03 : Shetland Arrived at Lerwick at 7am feeling like crap but full of excitement, our excitement turned to disbelief, 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 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 got worse as we discovered Lisa's left pannier had been hit in the centre, which apart from scoring the pannier 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 sport centre. The weather was by now raining hard and not looking good, it didn't get any better. Food was found at the local Safeway's. This was 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, the 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 THANKYOU. 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 weren'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! . 02-06-03 It just goes to show you how people are always ready to surprise you. We met this morning with a very nice man from NorthLink ferries, Mike Savage. Mike had moved to Shetland around two years earlier after opting out of the manic lifestyle of the mainland. I went into the meeting expecting a real battle. Truth is told I didn't really have the energy for it, but I needed to get the damage to the bikes resolved. My concerns were simple; trying to get any largish firm to act in a way that does not follow "laid down NORMAL procedures" is always hard, especially so when you want that firm to hand over money. 30 minutes into the meeting I had explained to Mike the damage to the bikes, the reasons for the world trip and the importance/urgency of getting things sorted ASAP. 2 ½ hours later the Mike came back with a working solution, at least a financial one anyway. I had managed to get a few quotes for repairs and with these and a chat to the financial controller; Mike promised that an amount of £1,250.00 would be issued to our account later that day. No real problems, no battle, no repeating the same arguments over and over. What a refreshing change. Needles to say that our impression of NorthLink Ferries went up dramatically. If you're reading this Mike, thank you very much.The rest of today has been spent packing up, re-sorting bags and trying to see some of Shetland. Dreadful rain and thick fog haven't helped. Our Ferry leaves at 22:30 from Lerwick to arrive in Bergen at 21:00.   ok this part is over click here to go to the Norway chapter           click on the pics for bigger images shetland coastline ferry from up high coast line man in the mirror off road 1! off road 2