Day 3 (Continued)
Allt Chranaidh Waterfall
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.Â
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Until next time, stay safe.
