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The Old Man of Stoer
Not to be confused with the Old Man of Storr which is on the Isle of Skye. This old man is off the coast of Assynt near Stoer Point. A 60-metre high sea stack of Torridonian sandstone that is a classic with rock climbers; in fact, three climbers had just completed it – look closely…
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Foinaven from Inshegra
An overcast, rather dull evening but late on the clouds broke over Foinaven shining white with its covering of quartzite rock and boulders. Shame about the ubiquitous graveyard for redundant motor vehicles in the foreground. Foinaven is, of course, with its neighbour Arkle, famous after the pair of eponymous racehorses from the stable of the…
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Seannabhat
I was last here 20 years ago but I can’t for the life of me remember the 6½ km walk in. But I have the photo to prove it so must have. Sandwood Bay is far more popular today but I wonder if the wild campers that were there know of the ghostly stories associated…
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Cranstackie from Beinn Spionnaidh
The two most northerly Corbetts. 45 minutes earlier I was on top of Cranstackie in the distance in 70 mph winds, rain with no visibility. I had decided to call it a day and abort an attempt on Beinn Spionnaidh, but by the time I made the col the mist had cleared and the rain…
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Cracking sunset last night
Actually, the sun had already set. Half past ten! Parked up at Balnakeil Bay near Durness. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Rabbit islands
The little island nearest is Talmine Island but the ones in the distance are called Rabbit Islands. There are three maybe five of them depending if count one as being split by a cleft and another by a sandbank both of which are dry at low water. In fact the map shows a tidal sandbar…
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Kyle of Tongue from Ben Loyal
Or Beinn Laghail to give it its proper Gaelic name, Ben Loyal being just an Anglicised spelling. Laghail is thought to come from the Norse “laga fiall” meaning law mountain. Although others have suggested a mountain of trees as an alternative derivation , law mountain is the more likely as there is a strong Norse…
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Stacks of Duncansby
A pair of dramatic sea stacks just off the north-easterly tip of the British mainland. But we almost lost them. Apparently in 1953, in what seems like a bizarre Monty Python sketch scientists from the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment had proposed to test a nuclear bomb on top of one of the stacks. The Stacks…
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Badbea
I’ve seen before the deserted black houses of communities in fertile straths that were cleared by absentee landlords to make way for vast sheep farms. I had thought the villagers were often provided with a small croft on the east coast in towns such as Wick and left to make a living from the sea.…
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Covesea Skerries Lighthouse
Built in 1846, following a terrific storm 20 years earlier in which 16 vessels were lost in the Moray Firth, several on the notorious Covesea and Halliman Skerries. The delay was due to Trinity House, the board responsible for lighthouses, believing that a lighthouse was in fact unnecessary. Eventually, the board was swayed by public…
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