The theme for this year’s International Terminalia Festival is ‘ROCK’ – of which we have plenty in Shetland

Saturday February 21st

Route taken (map provided by Yolanda Bruce)

Nine gather at our house and set out to walk over the wet and boggy hills of Brindister to Catherine's Water. Amazingly, the rain has stopped, the wind has calmed, and finally the sun is shining. Our feet sinking into water-sodden ground of peat and grass, we scale fences and trudge up hills, skirting round the puddles and hopping over fast flowing streams.

Walking over Brindister Hills (pics: Edina Szeles, Edina Susan Linklater)

Shadows and lines (pics: Janette Kerr and Tabitha Johnson)

Pausing on route we consider lines of old stones that snake across the hill and down to a loch. We have no idea how long they have been there or what they signify or mark; clearly they’ve been put here for a purpose. Perhaps they’re old field boundaries or maybe something more ancient. Whose hands have lifted and placed them here? How long ago?

A small low enclosure of stones, sits close to these stone lines –probably once taller, maybe a planti-grub for cabbages, or for animals but it’s rather small scale for this, so we puzzle over it for a while.

Stone ring (pics: Janette Kerr, Steve Poole)

The rock formations here are Basement Gneiss – we are walking on the second oldest rock in the world. The mottled surfaces are worn and rough, covered in lichen of various shades and moss, and in places, embedded with quartz. Susan tells us that these are ‘schists’ and gneisses (these are foliated metamorphic rocks formed under intense heat and pressure). There’s a fault here that reaches all the way to the Great Glen in Scotland. Igneous rock ((igneous from L atin igneus 'fiery') has been formed through heating, cooling and solidification of magma or lava. We want to know more! We need a geologist to come out here and talk about the rocks, and an archaeologist to tell us about the lines and circle of rocks.

We move on. Arriving at Catherine Water, the day is so still that hardly anything moves across the surface of the loch. The clear water reflects the hills and blue sky with puffy clouds. Such a change from the last weeks of rain - even sleet on occasions - and grey.

The group disperses to slowly perambulate the loch, to consider the boundary between land and water …. to draw, write, photograph, or just sit and look into the water, watching the light dancing on the surface.

At the edge small black shiny beetles appear, each with its own bubble of air, scurrying across the surface.

The well behaved collie dog does its own boundary breaching and investigation of land versus water

Breaching boundaries (pic: Tabitha Johnson)

I’ve brought paper and watercolour materials, and sit beside the loch and play and experiment - placing drawings in the water and drawing under the water, allowing inks and watercolour to flow across the page.

Drawing submerged in the loch (Janette Kerr)

Drawing underwater (Janette Kerr)

Stills from film of ink on paper suspended on the loch (Janette Kerr)

I write my own responses to the landscape, and place the scraps of paper in the water, allowing them to float away and sink before retrieving them.

I make rubbings from the rock surface, then submerge them in the water

Others are busy drawing and writing - Susan Linklater is making colour studies from the rocks and landscape, drawing whilst walking, and writing word responses to the place.

Sketchbook pages and photo (Susan Linklater)

walking the land

rocky trails

searching rock marks /signs

land formations

endless textures of the land

sparkly waters-silver patches

clouds in the water

rocks marking boundaries keeping secret story of the past

Edina Szeles

Boundaries created by bleached branches, water and reflections

(Yolanda Bruce)

Words from the landscape (Sharon Clayton)

A small stone cairn covered in lichen and mosses stands overlooking the loch. We gather together, sit contemplating the landscape and its history. Who built this cairn? Whose hands placed the stones? There are so many textures here, so many colours…. it’s overwhelming … such a sense of space, air, light changing. It’s good to be alive! You could look forever

Stone cairn overlooking Catherine Water (pic: Sharon Clayton)

Below our feet are treasures -

Moss and lichen (pics: Steve Poole; Susan Linklater)

Quartz embedded in Basement Gneiss (pics: Tabitha Johnson, Janette Kerr)

Loking out from the cairn rock (pic: Edina Szeles)

Contemplating tithe view from the Cairn - Susan writing (Pics: Janette Kerr)

Drawing from the cairn above Catherine Water (Janette Kerr)

Drawing above Catherine Water (Janette Kerr)

We walk a short distance more - over to the Trig Point - this is the highest and furthest point before we retrace our route - back home for cake and tea/coffee.

Juxtaposing written text and words with images, considering how writing in situ can drift between conversations – both with self and others - drifting between the subjective and objective, the poetic and contemplative, explorative and documentative.

This assemblage of words and images has contributions from Yolanda Bruce, Sharon and Philip Clayton, Tabitha Johnson, Janette Kerr, Susan Linklater, Steve Poole, Edina Szeles, and a small well behaved collie.

A link to a short 2 minutes assemblage of word and image will be added here later.

Terminalia 2026

The theme for this year’s International Terminalia Festival is ‘ROCK’ – of which we have plenty in Shetland

Boundaries created by bleached branches, water and reflections

Terminalia Festival Walk 2025