Our next stop was the Allt Chranaidh Waterfall, also known as the Wailing Widow Falls. The volume of water flowing down this stream did not look too promising. The waterfall was huge and by god there was a sizable volume of water cascading down the falls. The waterfall plunges about 50 feet down from a rocky cliff into a pool below.
Allt Chranaidh WaterfallVertical Lines
Stoer Bay
At Stoer Bay, I headed to the beach, this being a broad bay with the waves battering the shore. I found a bench seat which overlooked the scene, so I set about capturing an image including this item.
Ali’s bench, at Stoer bay
Day 4.
Moine House
Moine House is a ruined house on the vast expanse of boggy moorland between the Kyle of Tongue and Loch Hope, it was also a family home and in 1881 it housed three generations, totaling four adults and five grandchildren.
Moine House.
Loch Eriboll
Loch Eriboll is a 16 km (9.9 mi) long sea loch on the north coast of Scotland, which has been used for centuries as a deep-water anchorage as it is safe from the often-stormy seas of Cape Wrath and the Pentland Firth.
Loch Eriboll.
Ceannabeine Beach
Our next location was to the stunning Ceannabeine Beach, this dramatic gently sloping beach with its cliffs of pink rock is only a short walk from the car park on the A838. The beach was once known as Traigh Alt Chailgeag, “The beach of the burn of bereavement and death” which tells the story of a lady who died after falling in the burn and was found on the beach.
The view from high up on the surrounding cliffs were stunning, acers of golden whit sand, turquoise-coloured waters, and substantially sized waves which were being blown backwards by the strong offshore winds.
Quite simply an outstanding location.
Ceannabeinne Beach
Loch Assynt
Upon arriving at Loch Assynt, we were located further along the Loch to photograph some lovely small islands which had old or dead trees growing on them.
Loch Assynt
Day 5
Stoer Cottage
I was set up on a small mound to place the cottage on the third intersection of the composition. We were waiting for the colour in the sky, we were at the point where we were about to accept that the sunrise was not going to be the best, when hey-ho, the colour arrived, for a 10 minute period the sky suddenly illuminated with lovely pink colures, what a time, what a place to be.
Stoer Cottage
Achmelvich
Achmelvich as two beaches, these being divided by a rocky outcrop, we headed for the far beach, and what views we were greeted with, even though it was an overcast morning the colour of the sea and sand blew me away.
Achmelvich Bay.
Clachtoll Beach
We arrived at Clachtoll Beach where the Assynt mountains could be seen in the distance, all illuminated by the golden glow of the setting sun.
I headed towards the headland, and what I found was amazing, I thought that I was approaching a cliff, but Gary encouraged me to get closer to the edge, it was not a shear cliff face, but a 45 degree slope all the way down to the waters edge.
Clachtoll PanoramicClachtoll Sunset.
Day 6.
Assynt Stone Viewpoint
First location of the day was to the Assynt Stone Viewpoint, where we hoped to capture some early morning images of Suilven and the surrounding mountains, only to find that all the mountains were hidden by the low-lying clouds.
Moody Suilven.
Elphin Bothy
From the viewpoint we headed for the Elphin Bothy again as the light was far better than the first visit. I again got some remote looking images of this lovely location.
Elphin Bothy.
Lochan an Ais
From here we travelled the short distance to Lochan an Ais where I used a small spring and the grass on the Lochan shore as foreground interest when looking towards the Assynt mountains.
Lochan an Ais Assynt
Stac Pollaidh viewpoint
Our next location was to the Stac Pollaidh viewpoint. Conditions were not ideal, a strong wind driving rain clad clouds across the sky, this meant that we would get wet at regular intervals but produced some exquisite lighting on the scene.
Stac Pollaidh.
Coigach
When we arrived the weather gods were not behaving, driving rain, low cloud and flat light greeted us. We all got out to take photographs, but the conditions were against us, I will show you one of mine below.
Coigach Assynt.
The Last Morning.
Just before I left the house for the 8.5-hour journey home, we said our farewells. The whole experience had been very enjoyable, the group were all very friendly and easy to get on with, the accommodation was excellent, the food was scrumptious, and Dean had been a very good leader throughout, what more could you ask of a workshop?
Thank you for finding the time to read this blog (split into two parts) and I hope you have found it interesting and enjoyed looking at my images from the trip.
I have an affinity with Scotland for my photography, we regularly visit Glencoe, the Isle of Skye and have visited many other locations in Scotland. Each has its own merits, and compositions, the common denominator being the Scottish weather, this can never be taken for granted and must, always be accounted for when visiting the country.
One area that I have always wanted to visit is Torridon and Assynt, but it is a very long way to travel to begin finding and scouting locations, accommodation is not readily available, and travel times are substantially longer than the norm.
I began thinking about what would be the easiest and most time effective way to visit these areas, I then became aware of several professional photographers who run “workshops” in these areas, these being of four, five, six or more days, some including accommodation only, some being “all inclusive” that is, all your meals are included for the duration of the workshop.
So, 12 months ago I took the plunge and booked a 6-day all-inclusive workshop with Dean Allan photography in Assynt. We were to be based in a large 9-bedroom house at Clashnessie, not far from Clachtoll, Sutherland, Assynt in the far north-west of Scotland.
In no time, it was time to begin packing and planning my journey up to Clashnessie, an 8.5-hour car journey from my home. I decided that I would break the journey up with an overnight stay in Inverness, followed by a relative 3-hour journey to Clashnessie, but coming home, I would start the journey as early as possible and aim to make it home in one journey.
So, the day arrived, I finished work, packed the car, said my farewells to Carole and off I set. A 6.5-hour journey up to Inverness where I was booked into the Leonardo Hotel for the evening. I reached Inverness easily, but the sat-nav sent me on a mystery tour of Inverness before I finally managed to find the hotel, the maddening thing was that it was located at the end of the slip road off the A9.
I was soon checked in and settled in for the night, I grabbed some food from the restaurant, had a couple of drinks and was soon fast asleep. The next morning saw me get a hearty Scottish breakfast. I was soon checked out and off to fill the car with fuel before the journey over to Clashnessie.
I found the hotel very reasonable, it didn’t cost the earth, and the food was very reasonable. The staff were helpful and friendly, with the room being clean, and well equipped.
I arrived at Clashnessie at about 1pm, but the house was not available until 4pm, so I took myself down to the beach to take some photos and help put the time in.
A small Lochan on the way to Clashnessie
Once at the house, I was met by Gary and Lucy who would be providing our food throughout the stay, with Gary also assisting Dean on our travels to the various locations. Once everyone arrived, introductions were made, 5 of us being paying photographers and Dean provided a brief explanation for the 6 days ahead. This was topped off by a lovely evening meal expertly cooked by Lucy.
Day 1.
A very early start, 4.15 am alarm call for a pre-sunrise visit to Stoer Lighthouse. We would be using Dean’s 7-seater transit bus. What a location, we stayed there for a couple of hours then retuned back to the house for a lovely, cooked breakfast. We were also provided with a packed lunch for the day comprising of a sandwich of your choice, crisps, cake, biscuits, and a couple of bottles of water.
Stoer Lighthouse
Once breakfast was finished Dean explained that the rest of the day would be relatively local to the house to make travelling easier for the first day, so we took the very short walk down to Clashnessie beach where we set about finding compositions of the location, the sands was a lively golden colour with turquoise waters lapping at the shore, this was to become a common theme throughout the 6 day trip.
Clashnessie Bay
From Clashnessie beach we then travelled to Ardvreck Castle, a location that I had drove past the day before on my journey up to Clashnessie, here, Dean provided us with some history of the castle and of the story behind the castle’s ghost. He also provided suggestions/recommendations of the best compositions for the location. Dean also provided some history of the ruined castle which helped
Ardvreck Castle
As the weather was closing in, with rain, low clouds and a strengthening wind headed for Clachtoll beach. It was here that I saw the famous Split Rock for the first time. It was here that I had a chat with Gary, and he suggested a couple of alternative viewpoints of the split rock, advice that I eagerly took. Although the wind was now blowing quite strong and squally showers were present, we spent quite a while here, but Dean did say that we would return when conditions were better.
We returned to the house at 7.15 pm, so day one had been a long, but enjoyable day. Time for a wash and change before we were provided with another excellent evening meal by Gary and Lucy.
Post-meal, we sat down and chatted about all thing’s photography, as we got to know each other more. Dean gave us an update on the next day’s weather which was contradictory depending on which forecast was used, but he thought that it was not going to be the best, so he planned the next day’s travelling accordingly.
Day 2
A little lie-in this morning lol, up at 6.30 am for breakfast then a journey north. The first stop was going to ne at the lovely Kylesku Bridge, which is an outstanding piece of engineering. The curve of the bridge being quite unique. Again, Dean gave us some recommendations, but left us to our own devices, if anyone wanted, or needed guidance, he was always on hand to provide this. A good example of this was that whilst we were all concentrating on the bridge to photograph, he noticed three red deer on a small hill behind us, they were as interested in us as we were them.
Kylesku BridgeRed Dear above the Kylesku Bridge
From the Kylesku Bridge we continued northwards to Loch Stack. The first stop here was to photograph a lovely little Bothy near the loch’s shore. I headed off in a slightly different direction to try my luck at getting a slightly different image of this. I also found some small tree saplings growing at a crazy 30–60-degree angle. Whilst tramping through the terrain, I inadvertently placed my foot in an awkward position which really stretched my Achilles tendon. This had been damaged several weeks before and was healing nicely, however this little incident re-stretched the tendon, which would leave me in some pain and discomfort for the rest of the week.
Loch Stack Bothy
Lock Stack Trees
From here we continued to travel along the shore of Loch Stack to the far end of the loch, here we disembarked from the bus to photograph some lovely reeds in the water, a boathouse, with all this being set against a lovely mountain backdrop which had different layers of colored rock which followed the contours of the mountain.
Loch Stack ReedsLoch Stack Path
Next stop was as for north as you can go on the western coast of Scotland; we arrived a Durness, and what a place, the beach was unbelievable. We were soon on the beach photographing the incoming waves which were being blown backwards by the strong offshore winds. Unfortunately, the rain returned which made things a tad challenging. Sand was soon getting everywhere, but the colour of the water and the rising waves made for some really nice photographs.
Durness Beach
Once we were all content with the photos that we had taken we reconvened at the bus, we now had a 2.5-hour journey back to Clashnessie, and with the worsening weather this would probably be the end of today’s photography. Once back at the house, it was time for a shower and some camera cleaning chores before another excellent meal and sociable gathering to close off day 2.
Day 3
Day 3 began with a retune to Ardvreck Castle as the weather gods were playing ball today, and even though it was our second visit to the location, we were capturing such different images due to the different weather conditions. It was here that Dean was explaining how he captured one of his first published photographs, so I thought that if it was good enough for a magazine, then it would be good enough for me. A brisk climb up a substantial incline gained me some height so that I could use the road as a leading line through the image. I had to be careful though as I was using a long exposure to capture the panoramic image, but the wind was very strong, so I had to really dig the tripod spikes into the ground, and even then, I had to stand in front of the tripod to try and reduce the force of the wind buffeting it.
The Road to Lochinver
Our next location was Elphin Bothy, a small Bothy that originally used to be a Dog Kennel for the local landowner. Dean was very clued-up on the history of this building, again this adds interest to the photograph that you are taking. Whilst here, I noticed an old washing line behind a property with very stained and marked clothing hanging from the lines and structure. Upon looking in more detail, the cloths pegs still attached to the washing lines and the old pots and pans added a great story to the photograph. I could not resist taking the shot.
Elphin BothyThe Washing is Out
will conclude the first part of this blog here as it will become too large for one post. Part 2 will follow shortly. Thank you for taking the time to read this article, I hope you found it of some interest.
