My Outward Journey
I booked this trip 10 months ago, when it seemed like an eternity before it would come around. Suddenly, it was here and I was packing for the week’s photography workshop trip on the Isle of Harris and Lewis.
The workshop was due begin on the afternoon of the 7th March 2026, but because of the ferry timetable I would have to travel part way on the Friday, so that I could catch the Uig to Tarbert ferry which departed at 9.50 am on the Saturday morning, but check would close at 9 am.
So, my plans were, Friday morning set off to travel from home to the Kyle of Lochalsh where I would have an overnight stay at the Kyle Hotel, and this would leave me an hour’s journey to get to the ferry terminal at Uig for around 8.40 am.
The travel time to the Kyle of Lochalsh was showing as 7.5 hours, plus a couple of stops if I needed them, so, at 10 am of the Friday morning I said my farewells to Carole and off I set, no rush, just a leisurely drive all the way to the Kyle of Lochalsh.
My first stop was at the Abbington services on the M74, just a toilet and coffee stop, and then I was off again, I was surprised to encounter falling snow on this stretch of the motorway, which was laying and building up along the edge of the motorway.
I got on to the M8 at Glasgow where, I encountered road works, these put an extra hour on my journey time, frustrated as I was, I had time on my side, so it was a matter of being patient to get through the works.
Once through the roadworks, the journey along Loch Lomond was uneventful, if just a little slow moving. The snow made another appearance here, but it was nothing too serious, and I passed several gritters, so the roads were being treated.
Onwards to the Green Welly Shop for my second pit stop, this was a necessity has I had run out of windscreen washer fluid, a huge negative with the Honda ZR-V car, it has a small washer bottle capacity, and no warning light to forewarn you of the impending lack of washer fluid.
An expensive container of windscreen fluid, and a 5-litre container of drinking water purchased with the car suitably serviced, it was time for me to purchase a well-deserved coffee, and tuck into a couple of sandwiches which Carole had very kindly prepared for me.
Once I was suitably fed and watered, it was off on the final leg of the journey, down through Glencoe which was as beautiful as ever, on to Fort William, then over the passes to get to the Kyle of Lochalsh.
I had to make one more stop, as I passed Eilean Donan Castle, the light was very, very nice so I made a stop to get a photograph of it.
Upon arrival at Kyle of Lochalsh at 6.50 pm it was a matter to find the Kyle Hotel and check-in and get settled in for the night. During me checking-in the receptionist informed me that breakfast on the Saturday morning starts at 8.30 am, this was too late for my needs, so he very kindly made me a packed me an eat and go bag, which I collected a short time afterwards.
Once in my room, which was basic, but clean and tidy, I decided to munch the morning breakfast as my evening snack, get some sleep and I would have a breakfast on the ferry the next morning.
On to the Isle of Skye
The next morning, I was up washed and off on the hours journey to Uig on the Isle of Skye to catch the ferry.
On route I stopped at the Asda petrol station at Broadford for an eagerly anticipated coffee, only to find that the machine was broken. Just my luck, so it was a cold drink and onwards to Uig.
I arrived at Uig in plenty of time, around 8.30 am only to find that the ferry terminal was not open, time to sit and wait, once checked in for the ferry it was not long until I was boarded.
Once on the ferry there was an announcement that the crossing “could be a little rough”, so I decided to give the planned cooked breakfast a miss, a coffee would suffice on this trip. I found a comfortable seat to pass the time of the crossing.
Reaching the Isle of Harris
Once at Tarbert, I disembarked the ferry and went to find something to eat in the town. I ended up with a freshly cooked toastie, pie and coffee, this would have to put me on until the evening meal at the house where we would be meeting later in the afternoon.
I had anticipated this free period when planning the trip, so I set off to Luskentyre Beach for some photography.
Day 1 of the Photography Workshop.
Luskentyre Beach
Once at Luskentyre, the weather was not that good, overcast and a howling wind, but it was dry.
I set off along the beach looking for compositions, I was specifically looking to use patterns in the sand to use as leading lines into the view towards the Harris mountains in the distance.
I was very content doing what I was doing, and taking my time to get the photos, unfortunately after about a hour the wind went up another notch, and the rain came in.
Here was I standing in the middle of this beautiful beach, with my back to the wind and rain sheltering my camera and tripod close to by chest, then having to stand on my bag strap to stop it blowing away.
After what seemed like ages, I decided that this wasn’t working, so I packed everything away the best I could and headed for the car.
At the car I decided that the weather was not going to improve any times soon, so I decided to drive towards where we were staying but keeping an eye out for any photo opportunities along the way.
I did stop at the Seilebost viewpoint, but the conditions were not great, my coat was wet through, and there was sand everywhere, time to get a few quick photos.
From here I headed for the cottage to meet Dean, Sally and the rest of the workshop attendees.
Arrival at the Cottage.
Dean had provided details of the two cottages where we would be staying for the next week, these were Otter and Corncrake Cottages, two very well equipment cottages.
Upon arrival I introduced myself to Dean and his wife Sally, I had attended one of Deans workshops in Assynt the year previously, but it was the first time that I had met Sally, she would be providing our meals for the weeks stay.
Dean informed me that George and Dave had gone off to the beach to get some photographs.
The evening meal was set for 7pm, so I unpacked and made myself at home, upon opening my camera bag I was surprised to see how much wet sand was in it, and the pockets of my coat also containing a sizable amount of wet sand, the first of many drying and camera cleaning sessions began
At around 6pm we all met for the first time around the dining table we made out introductions. The fellow photographers being Dave from Yorkshire, George from Australia, and Phillipe from Belgium, quite a selection of people.
The meal was scrumptious, with good portions, a trait that was constant throughout the week.
Day 2 of the Photography Workshop
Dean had forewarned us that the Sunday morning would begin before sunrise with a planned visit to a nearby beach called “Small Beach”, and from there we would visit several local beaches that were reasonably close to our base, but that these would be weather dependant.
Bright and early, we were loading up the minibus to get to the beach well before sunrise which was at 7.05 am.
Small Beach
Upon arrival at the beach at 6.30 am Dean gave us a brief explanation of what we could photograph here, and recommendations of where to go and what to look for.
The weather was dry, but an onshore wind was battering us, this creating sizable waves which were crashing on to the shore.
This was a predominantly rocky beach of black coloured rock, with golden coloured sand and turquoise coloured water offshore, and brilliant white crested waves crashing into the rocks and onto the sandy beach.
We spent two hours exploring the beach, and getting soaked during the process with short heavy showers which were being driven by the ever-increasing wind strength.
Today was the day that my camera played-up, with the rear screen going off, and finding some condensation inside the viewfinder, worrying times which are recorded in the attached news blog on my website, that can be found here.
Once we were all satisfied with the photography, we loaded up the minibus and headed back the short distance for a hearty hot cooked breakfast and time to warm up.
Tragh Lar Beach
We head for another local beach which was called Tragh Lar Beach, a small cove which had a rocky outlook to the sough and a sweeping sandy beach to the north.
We headed for the rocks, dark black in colour, with the turquoise-coloured sea hitting these with substantial force that you could feel in your body.
It was time for the camera to be put in rapid fire mode and let it fire away as the waves come crashing in.
I then changed to a slower shutter speed to try and capture the waves hitting the rocks but showing some movement in the water.
Seilebost Viewpoint
The next location was to be the Seilebost viewpoint, the same place that I had visited the day before, but today’s conditions were substantially better than then, even though there was low lying cloud, and flat light, at least it was dry and you could spend time selecting a composition.
This location is a layby on the roadside, with the view across to Luskentyre right these at the roadside we spent over a hour at this location.
Sgarasta Mhor Beach
The next location was back down the coast at Sgarasta Mhor Beach, this is a gorgeous stretch of golden sand that leads into a bay with a huge expanse of sand.
This was not far from the cottages, but Dean still drove us as far as he could, followed by a short walk across a couple of fields to reach the beach, it was the beach that Dave and George had visited the day before.
The sand was unspoiled, with crashing white topped waves hitting the beach, turquoise coloured water, even in these overcast conditions.
Unfortunately, the wind was howling towards us, it was also picking up sand and this was blasting us.
Dean suggested that we go to the northern end of the beach as this would offer us some protection form the brutal wind, and there was a little stream that could be used to compose our images.
The little stream was not so little in depth, we had to cross it to get on the other side of it, after walking along this stream looking for a place to cross it, I eventually decided just to for for it, pick a path of least depth, then get across, needless to say I ended up with wet feet.
Dean had wellies on, clever lad, but the others soon followed my lead.
Once we were all satisfied with the photo opportunities, it was time to head back to the cottages to clean the gear, get a change, shower and look forward to the heartening evening meal.
Following our meal we sat and held a general chat session and getting to know more about each other, Dean also set out his plans for the following day, thankfully we could have a little lie-in., but it was going to be a day of travelling as we were heading up to the Isle of Lewis for the day.
Day 3 of the Photography Workshop
Callanish Stones
We began the day by loading up the minibus and heading north form the Isle of Harris to the Isle of Lewis, with the first stop being the Callanish Standing Stones, on the west coast of Lewis.
The visitor’s centre was closed for refurbishment when we arrived, but access to the standing stones was still allowable.
I had been to this location previously and I struggled to pick any reasonable compositions form the area, I explained this to Dean, and he suggested a couple of methods which would isolate parts of the stones and avoid clutter in the background.
Although the weather was overcast but dry, low cloud was prevalent with dull water laden clouds creating poor conditions.
Even so, I was happy with the images that I got, including catching some images of the surrounding landscape.
Shawbost
From the Callanish Stones we travelled further along the coast to arrive at Shawbost, a small western facing cove on the Isle of Lewis, comprising of a small sandy beach with cliffs on both sides, it was the cliffs on the southern side of the cove we were heading for.
A short walk from the carpark got us to the top of the cliffs where we could look down on the huge waves rolling onto and smashing into the cliffs.
The wind was very strong, swirling from a side wind to a full offshore one, this caught your attention, as these were real risks if anyone got too close to the cliff edge and were then his my the offshore wind, Dean really emphasised his concerns and that we needed to be fully aware of out surroundings at all time.
We were soon scattered along the cliffs trying to pick out suitable photographs which we hoped would record the power of these huge waves.
I again tried using a quick shutter speed against a reasonably slow one to try and add some motion to the photograph.
Once back at the minibus, Dean explained that he had planned to head to the Stack a Phirs Sea Arch which was a short journey along the coast, and a place that I had hoped to visit. However, due to the prevailing wind conditions Dean explained that he could not possibly be responsible for all four of use at this location.
As much as I was disappointed, I fully understood his position and responsibilities, hopefully we would get another chance to visit the Sea Arch.
So where too, now, Dean had pre-thought this his recommendation was a small cove on the eastern side of Lewis called Port Sloth, the bonus was that this was on the route up to the Butt of Lewis.
Port Sloth
About a hour after leaving Shawbost we pulled up beside Port Sloth, a lovely, concealed \cove with a small winding track down to the beach.
There was a small bothy on the northern side of the cove, so I took several images including this into the frame.
As we worked our way down to the beach, there was a small burn which ran through the sand, I saw this has a opportunity to capture a shot of this.
Once on the beach, I decided to take a couple of photos using Intentional Camera Movement (ICM), I have seen many photos using this technique, and I though that this scene would compliment this type of photo.
What are your thoughts of this type of photograph, do you like it or not, please send a comment to me.
I then spent some time capturing the rescinding waves retreating from around a cluster of black rocks sited in the sane.
From Port Sloth we headed to the Butt of Lewis, a place that I have always wanted to visit.
Butt of Lewis
One we had offloaded the minibus Dean guided us from the views from the carpark to a place on the western side of the lighthouse, this necessitated a short 15-minute walk, but this was across level ground which was not to strenuous.
Once around the lighthouse Dean split us into two pairs, each would work at the two places he identified ensuring we would all experience the same views.
Again, we were perched on top of some sizable cliffs looking down on to the massive waves crashing into the vertical cliffs.
I wanted to capture a wider view of the lighthouse, cliffs, waves and a island a little distance offshore, to do this I took 9 shots which I would combine in post processing, the finished photo is shown below.
We then swapped places with the other two people, this change of position created new viewpoints to photograph, again I varied my shutter speed between fast and slow speeds, to change the look of the moving sea.
We all agreed that this was a special place to photograph, and the conditions greatly enhanced the scene, the wind driven huge waves defiantly added to the photographs that we took.
We took time to eat out pre-packed lunch before leaving the Butt of Lewis, all provided by Sally.
Once we were all fed and watered, we boarded the minibus and headed for a location on the top of the peat moors near Stornoway.
Peat Workers Bothy’s
After around an hour travelling, we pulled up on the side of the road, with what appeared to be nothing in sight. Dean then pointed out two small, very small bothies out in the moors.
These bothies used to be used by the workers who cut the peat for heating and fuel for the local communities, sadly this trend has slowly died as mor modern practices have taken over.
A short, but tricky trek across the peat moor got us too a spot where we could photograph the furthest away from us, this had a green roof, a little weathered now, but Dean was saying that he could remember it being bright green coloured with the peat workers tools stacked outside.
I wanted to emphasise the remoteness and isolation of this bothy in my photos, I hope that I achieved this.
We then retreated back towards the road and headed in a general northern direction to come across a small “U” bend in the small burn, on the island in the middle of this burn was another small bothy, the challenge was to photograph the bothy but use the “U” shape of the burn to frame the bothy.
Surprisingly, it was 4,40 pm when we loaded up the minibus to head home, the journey time back the the cottage would take about 1.5 hours.
We settled in for the journey, thinking that our photography was done for another day, a long day, but a very enjoyable one.
Dean then threw a curve ball and pulled up alongside a small loch called Loch Baltios, as there was a small fishing bothy which makes a splendid subject.
Loch Baltios
The fishing bothy was again in a very remote area, with the view looking back towards the Harris Mountains. The weather again took a turn for the worse, with rain now battering us in the constant high winds.
Phillip and Dave both took a tumble here with a leg falling down a hidden divet in the ground, thank fully, both were ok and could continue to photograph the scene.
Despite being very cold and battered by the wind and rain, I got some reasonable photos form here, disappointingly, many of these were out of focus, or blurred due to camera movement, what a shame, caused by my lack of w=awareness of how the wind was moving the tripod during these long exposures.
With the time of 5.50pm it was now time to head back to the cottage for our well-deserved evening meal.
We were now in a routine upon arriving at the cottage, the minibus was unloaded, then our tripods were washed under a running freshwater tap, our boots washed the same way.
Then it was clothing put into the drying room, bags emptied of sand and dried if needed.
The minibus was vacuumed if necessary to try and keep it relatively tidy and clean for the next day.
I then downloaded all the images on my camera memory card onto the laptop, where they were filed in a logical structure. Once I had checked that my images were securely saved on the laptop, I would delete everything form my camera memory card.
I cleaned my camera and lenses every night to ensure there was no slat, sand or water on an of these items. They were then placed next to a radiator to dry them intime to be placed in the camera bag the next morning.
Time then to get a nice hot shower and change into warm clothing intime for our evening meal.
Thus ends the record of the first 4 days of my adventure on the Isle of Harris and Lewis, the remaining days will be posted in another news article to follow shortly.
Thank you for finding the time to read this article, I hope you found it enjoyable.
