Skies not so bright on Skye

Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye

After days of great sunny weather our Scottish trip was so due for a dramatic change in the weather.  All started so well with scudding clouds across the sky that still showed it was blue.

Normally we make for the Cuillins Mountains on the west coast of Skye.  This trip we were heading to the north of the Island,  an area of very different but no less dramatic in its sea and landscape.

But that change in the weather was also dramatic.  After a night of rain, which continued thru the next two days, we woke to very high winds with Gales forecast for the coming night and the next day. Sounds bad but in reality it just made the scenery all the more dramatic.

Waterstein Head overlooking Moonun Bay

Neist Point Lighthouse

The wind was so strong here at Neist Point that there was no way I could stand and hold the camera steady and a tripod would be a stupid risk…..   so there was nothing for it but to lie on the ground and create a low profile.

For a brief spell the wind dropped and the sun did try its best to join us.  Enough to encourage us to visit the Coral Sands at Claigan.

Of course no Scottish coastline would be complete without its castle and at Dunvegan we can find the well sheltered Dunvegan Castle home of the Macleod Clan for over 800 years…

The views from the castle over Dunvegan Bay on a stormy evening are equally special..

The Gales abated overnight so we headed for Quiraing.  The Quiraing is a mountainous rock ridge that stretches for several miles. One side is smooth and just a steep climb the other side of the ridge is just rough rocky crags, perhaps the heavy clouds add to their drama…

A more mellow ambience arrived with the evening..

Dawn and we were welcomed to clear skies and a wispy mist…

It was also the day we would head back to the mainland and head for north again…so some how it seemed only right that we would leave Skye in sunshine ..as we had arrived.  A last look at the Old Man of Storr

and to The Cuillins and Loch Ainort

14th October

(C) David Oakes 2017