Last light and low tide at Loch Brittle, Glenbrittle, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Another photo from Glenbrittle, this time down on the beach. Though opening of the Loch faces southwest, the low setting November sun actually makes it quite a good location for sunsets, while in Summer, the sun sets too far to the north for any direct light.
Pleasant autumn afternoon wandering around down in Glenbrittle, Isle of Skye, Scotland. Glenbrittle is probably one of my favorite places on the island, both the the view and access to the Black Cuillins as well as the coastal hiking. This was generally my go to spot whenever I thought the sun would shine for more than a few hours – which isn’t all that often in November.
Church ruin, Kilmuir, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
I’ve no idea of the history of this ruin. Though by the looks and condition of it, I wouldn’t imagine it to be more than 200 or so years old, which is relatively new by Skye standards. It’s a big structure, offset from the ‘highway’ by about a half mile or so. Perhaps it simply fell out of use with time and population decline. Now only sheep and cows walk among the walls, and American photographers.
Neist Point Lighthouse, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
What can’t be seen in these photos is the 60-70 mph winds that were screaming over the the island. Near where I was standing for the first photo was a small waterfall, flowing completely in reverse. No water was making it down the cliff, it was all being blown backwards towards were it came, and soaking me as I had to pass by.
If there was bus service to Neist Point, it would probably be the most popular tourist location on Skye, but since it is a fairly long drive from Portree, it’s only the 2nd most popular location. On a nice sunny (and calm) day it is a pleasant place to hike around and enjoy the scenery – some of the most dramatic cliffs on Skye are here. There is a paved walkway most of the way to the lighthouse, but if it has been raining a lot, bring waterproof boots if you want to go further as there is some fairly evil bog that needs to be crossed. The mountains of South Uist are visible in the distance.
The rugged and rocky coastline at at Elgol with it’s view back towards the mighty Black Cuillins as they rise from Lock Scavaig is one of the more iconic photo locations on the Isle of Skye. As long as one is willing to gamble on good weather, it is well worth the long drive down the winding single lane road.
Snow covered peak on the left is Gars-Bheinn at the start of the famous Cuillin ridge. Sgurr na Stri is the lower, snowless peak towards the center. To the left of that sits Loch Coruisk, another marvelously scenic, and isolated, place and Skye. There is a nice hiking route that starts in the north at Sligachan and passes by loch Coruisk and then around the coast under Sgurr na Stri to Camasunary and eventually finishing here at Elgol.
One of my stupider moments in life happened along the coast under Sgurr na Stri. It had just finished raining ( = slippery rocks), I was trying to eat a piece of chocolate while at the same time messing with my camera to take a picture of Bla Bheinn rising above the Camasunary bothy. Well, I slipped and ended up upside down; nothing bad, just a little ‘oops’ moment. Not wanting to drop my camera on the muddy ground, I couldn’t use my hands to get myself up. And not wanting to drop the piece of chocolate in my mouth that I had been munching on, I couldn’t talk clearly enough to ask my friend to pull on my backpack to help me up. So was upside down with my backpack on top of me and unable to move. Totally stuck, but only because I didn’t want to drop my camera or chocolate. Finally my friend came to the rescue after a moment of wondering if I was practicing some new form of mountain yoga. Luckily there was only two of us to witness this event.
River at Coire na Creiche, Glenbrittle, Isle of Skye. Better known as the location of the ‘Fairy pools,’ a series of crystal blue pools of water and waterfalls flowing out of the rugged peaks of the Black Cuillins. It had been raining for a week strait prior to my visit so the ‘pools’ were are bit more like rapids than normal, but at least I got lucky with a bit of sun on a short November day.
Black Cuillin Hills as viewed from Glenbrittle, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
Late afternoon light over Loch Brittle, Isle of Skye, Scotland.
I say late afternoon and not evening, as I do not consider 4:00 pm to count as ‘evening,’ despite the fact that it was nearly dark at this time.
Some twenty or so miles across the Little Minch rise the mountains of Harris. I was there once, on some journey years ago. For some reason the Hebridean isles have been on my mind lately. Maybe it’s because I haven’t seen any ocean since last July, the longest period in my life, so the idea of wandering along an empty beach with a cold north wind on some wild and rugged island on the edge of the world is like a dream.
