![]() | ||
The tombolo and St Ninian's island |
A tombolo, in case you are as ignorant as I was until I came here, is a natural causeway linking an island to another piece of land. In this case, the tombolo links St Ninian's Island to the Shetland mainland.
The island takes its name from the chapel of St Ninian that once stood on it. St Ninian himself never came this far north and the chapel was built 600 years after he lived. It is interesting, however, because in 1958 a schoolboy uncovered a treasure of silver bowls and broaches, buried beneath the floor of the chapel.
If you want to visit the place, there are no signposts to the chapel. Cross the tombolo and start to climb up onto the island through fine sand. About half-way up there is a track angling away to the right. Take it and climb higher and with luck you'll find a barbed wire enclosure, within which is the chapel.