Day 4.
It was probably the worst weather day of the week, low flat cloud and drizzle. We opted to do a circular drive. From Lochinver, up to Clashnessie and then easterly, till we met the A894. First stop was white sands of Achmelvich. Lots of infrastructure here for supporting tourists in the ‘warmer’ months. A wander around, enjoying the peaceful scenery. I could see diving birds swimming under the water fishing, which was a first for me.
Cottage with a pretty decent view
Upto Culkein and its lovely bay. The idea was to go look at a natural sea arch but the wind was biting and the rain getting heavier, so just potted around the jetty area for compositions.
Looking towards Quinag
The ruins at the start of the path to An Dunan, though, wind, rain and a herd of fearsome cows successfully discourage exploration
From Culkein, we drive through Clashnessie and onto Drumbeg, stopping a short while at the viewpoint carpark. The road then heads east, with views of Sail Ghorm and SailGharbh, which look great but the conditions are very challenging. I did venture out of the car at one point, where there was a lovely S bend in the road as a leading line into the mountains but it was an exposed site, so the big camera didn’t come out and used the smaller OM5 for a few quick grabs. It’s a cracking road and it better conditions there would be a lot of compositions to play with.
Relentless rain
Hitting the A894, we point the car back towards base, calling into the waterfall at Allt Chranaidh, though by now, the rain has started to turn to sleet and snow, so we don’t stop long and don’t venture along the path to view the waterfall. Its not long from here, we’re back at Loch Assynt and heading back to Inverkrikkaig. A lovely day, if photographically challenging.
Sail Gharb
Day 5.
Bit of an explore up around Kinlochbervie and the numerous beautiful bays that are located in north west Sutherland. First stop is a famous little cottage, near Badcall. Its setting against Loch Inchard and the mountains to the south, makes a very appealing composition. We slowly make our way to the furthest point away, which is Sheigra. Its very remote, there is also a quite large cemetery, which is also the parking location. The conditions are rather calm, though I’ll shortly find out that this is due to the topography. There is a lovely beach at Sheigra and my brother concentrates on some long exposure, whilst I head up the top the headland, to have a look for compositions. Once I reach a certain height, the wind truly makes it presence felt and adds an extra challenge to walking over the Lewisan Gniess rock, especially as that’s quite a drop to the sea! The views are worth the effort though.
Badcall
After being battered for the wind for an hour or so, I make my way back to the calmness of the bay. The tide is heading out and the obvious focal points are no longer offering pleasing compositions (to me, anyway). We spend another 30mins or so, trying various things but at the back of my mind, is the next location, which I certainly want the tide to be not low.
Droman Pier is the next spot, which isn’t very far away, infact, maybe half a mile away from Sheigra beach as the crow flies. The obvious focal point is the pier, which is slowly falling apart, there are various signs telling you not to go stand on it. The sea colour here is a beautiful blue hue which contrasts nicely with the red granite rock. There is a ruined small fishing coble, which offers some interest but struggled to find a pleasing angle.
Droman Pier
From Droman, we make our way slowly back to Kinlochbervie. We stopped at Oldshoremore, mainly as the lay of the land and the light hitting it was stunning. Whilst the shots didn’t work out from this high viewpoint (I suspect I was being nit picky about power lines) We parked up in the car park and ventured up to the lookout point over the beach and was blown away (metaphorically not physically!)
The vast beach at Oldshoremore
The beach, with its vast sanddunes and grasses is beautiful. Ive seen lots of stunning beaches so far on this trip but this one stands out as the best for me. Hopefully the shots do it justice.
Oldshoremore Beach
We make our way back towards Lochinver. The weather is changing, the low clouds have rolled and the rain is falling. Its slightly snowing on the mountain pass. As we approach Loch Assynt, we stop off the at the viewpoints for the many small islands on the loch, which have various states of scots pine tree’s growing on them. They do make for a lovely shot and we spend a bit of time here as its one of the places we’ve been really want to visit and we’ve only one full day left!
Long exposure of one the islets on Loch Inver
The final stop of the day, is at Loch Druim Suardalain, which has a lovely view of Sulliven and Canisp.
Loch Druim Suardalain
Day 6.
It’s a bit murky out for our final full day. Id seen a shot that had the small church in Lochinver, with a looming presence of Sulliven behind it and thought, that looks nice, I’ll try that composition. A bit of a map search and the location was quickly identified. So off we go. And yes, it’s a cracking shot and seemingly a popular one too! Needs a long lens to compress the scene, Sulliven is about 4.5 miles away!
Lochinver
We didn’t have a particular plan for this final day, just to drive around looking for the light. Stopped at the viewpoint for Sulliven, which had some lovely rays of light coming down and then onto Clachtoll, as the tide was higher and would possibly offer something different to the previous visits. A slow clamber over the wet rocks to get to the tide line with a view to split rock. Long exposure and a watchful eye on the waves.
Clachtoll and split rock
Doing an about turn, we made our way down to Colgach area, we’re we explored the bays and beahes. My brother wanted to show me the ruins, where Katy Campbell was forced to live after resisting the oppression from the local lords.
Katy Campbell cottage ruins.
Then, the week was over. It had been a great week of exploring Assynt and north west Scotland with my brother. Certainly a place i’ll be going back to.
Thanks for reading!