Foghorn with Rum, Ardnamurchan Point Lighthouse, Highland, Scotland.
At Ardnamurchan Point, the wind blows into the foghorn with a continuous eerie low tone. A short walk to Sanna Bay and a group of friends scream in turn while taking a very quick and very cold new year’s day swim before returning to their beach fire and bottles of beer. I stop for a break and watch the sunset although its only early afternoon. The challenges of winter photography are many with short daylight hours, poor weather and low light levels throughout the day. However when the light does come is has a unique golden intensity.
This day turns out to be the most thrilling part of the Ardnamurchan peninsula as I’m heading between the shore and the volcanic centre from Sanna Bay where the curvature and scale of the remains of the three-kilometre wide caldera can be clearly seen. I share this part of the journey with a large herd of deer and a solitary golden eagle which flys right down the valley towards Fascadale. I feel free and wild.
Ardnamurchan Point Lighthouse, Highland, Scotland.
Shelter, Ardnamurchan Point Lighthouse, Highland, Scotland.
Croft near Portuairk, Highland, Scotland.
Rum and Muck I, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Portuiark with the truncated remains of a volcanic caldera beyond, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Rum and Muck II, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Rum and Muck from Sanna Bay, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Golden shore, Sanna Bay, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Sanna Bay I, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Sanna Bay II, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Sanna Bay III, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Beachgrass, Sanna Bay, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Sunset on New Year’s Day, Ardnamurchan Point Lighthouse, Highland, Scotland.
Sanna Bay IV, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Sanna with the truncated remains of a volcanic caldera beyond, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Lookout, Sanna, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Last light over Rum, Muck & Eigg, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Rois-bheinn in Moidart from near Plocaig, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
New Year’s Day bonfire on Sanna beach, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Ardnamurchan sunset, Sanna, Highland, Scotland.
Last light, Ardnamurchan Point Lighthouse, Highland, Scotland.
Nightfall above Sanna, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Date of walk: 01/01/2019
The incredible volcanic remains of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula that make the ground so fractured and broken. The most thrilling part of the walk is heading between the shore and the volcanic centre from Sanna Bay (lower right) where the curvature and scale of the remains of the caldera is apparent.
Concentric geology around the volcanic centre of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula
Ardnamurchan Point, mainland Britain’s Westernmost point on New Year’s Day.
Camp on New Year’s Day 2019, Port Eigin, Ardnamurchan, Highland, Scotland.
Lots of lovely images – a great part of the country – and keep those photos of Rum coming – I use to live there.
must have been a powerful experience living on one of the Islands, a real world apart
Your photographs are beautiful! I remember hearing a foghorn when I was a little girl. (That would probably be the one at Scrabster, by Thurso.)
Thanks, it was a very special light that day. Most of the foghorns like this one don’t sound anymore. The one at the Mull of Galloway still sounds again as of last year. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1978927929038903
The light was really lovely! It’s weird to hear a foghorn again on that video…
This looks like a wonderful day. Strange to think that it was New Years’s Day back in the cold months. The photos and videos are lovely. The landscape is fantastic and I didn’t know about the Caldera. It was interesting to see the geology map and aerial photo. You wonder how people feel who leave their croft, after being used to living in such a wonderful location, though it would be a challenging life most of the year. It must have been nice feeling free and wild.
Thank you for this.
Yes, the light almost looks warm even though it was dark by 4pm. I always wonder when the harsh landscape meant backbreaking toil for those who lived here in the previous century if they harboured any romantic feelings towards it as we do now.
Yes. As human beings, they must have enjoyed the environment at times, but I suppose it would have depended on how hard their lives were overall, maybe how well nourished they were and the circumstances in which they left. All the isolated crofts by the sea seem wonderful to the uninitiated!
Gorgeous photos of a beautifully remote and wild area. Gave me a little pang – it’s time I revisited this special place. I remember that feeling of ‘wild and free’ very well. How lovely is this blog and this journey. Thank you for taking me back again. 🙂
Ardnamurchan is very distinctive, I imagine it will be one of the places I’ll long to return to when this journey is finished. Thanks for your kind words.
Beautiful pictures. No humans, just plain simple nature in its best form.
Thanks! It’s an elemental part of Scotland