“Highlands Loch, Mountains, and Sky” — Dark clouds, a loch, and mountains in the Scottish highlands.
Having just returned from our second long visit to Scotland and the highlands, I’m still trying to form a clear sense of just what defines the character of this landscape. Admittedly, this is a subjective thing, affected by our unique experiences there and by the prior experiences to which we compare that. My touchstone for “mountains” is California’s Sierra Nevada, a generally congenial range with sunshine and access to very high places. By Sierra standards, Scotland’s high places are “low” — but equally spectacular. Scotland definitely does not seem like a “place of sunshine” — instead it is wet, cloudy, and when sunshine comes it is often muted.
“Mountains, Morning Light” — Morning light, mist and clouds on Beinn Dearg, Isle of Skye.
As a person who has spent a lifetime exploring California’s High Sierra Nevada, I have seen a lot of rugged, alpine scenes. “My” mountains typically require me to climb to near or above 10,000′ to see scenes like this. But here in Scotland, on the Isle of Skye specifically, the mountains rise from essentially sea level. While the peaks are all below 4000′, they nonetheless present the same alpine scenery I find among the highest peaks in the Sierra.
“Stone Building, Loch Stack” — An old stone building on the shore of Loch Stack in the Scottish highlands.
As we neared the end of our weeklong visit to Skye and the north coast of Scotland we spent a couple of nights at the old lodge at Altnaharra. My understanding is that decades ago this was a place where people from cities came to stay and to fish. It is a sprawling building, with large common rooms downstairs, a dining room, a small bar, and many guest rooms. At one time it was reportedly a luxurious place, at least by the rural standards of its isolated location. (To be honest, today it is a shadow of that historic lodge, but it still carries a resonance of that earlier time.)
“Isle of Rum” — The Inner Hebrides Isle of Rum, viewed from Elgol, Isle of Skye.
I made this photograph of the distant Isle of Rum from the hills right above the Scottish village of Elgol, on the Isle of Skye. It does not seem like this is one of the more popular places on Skye, to say the least. It is a long drive on remote single-track roads and, to the best of my knowledge, there are no big, iconic tourist sites there. It seems like a quiet place, and we had to search around to find one little place where we could get a cup of coffee and a snack. We were the only customers.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
