Scotland Road-trip August 2022 Day 3

Day three started in the same way as day two had begun, we had arrived at our destination of choice Neist Point at Sunset the night before and after another night of great food, company and a couple of drinks we were treated to an unmerciful wind that at times felt like it was going to knock us over the edge, thankfully it didn’t, however we even found it hard to open the van doors, the wind what that powerful.

This location is truly an icon of the Isle of Skye due to its remoteness, incredible cliffs and of course the famous lighthouse that lies at the edge of the headland, getting into position was a battle in itself as the wind was continuous at we estimate to be over 40 knots, so bad that my mic couldn’t function and compensate over the noise that it presented. Now as for light we didn’t have much to play with, we had no clouds and it was quite harsh. Only a fool would be out in these conditions but we were such fools and when I heard Diarmuid announce that he was going to sen his drone up I quivered at the thought of it. He nonetheless had the faith in his machine and sent it up and out to capture some incredible footage of this stunning area, he even at one point felt like he was creating new content for the apple TV screensaver.

We ended up spending most of the morning here despite the relentless wind which made the waterfalls that cascades turn into water-ups and also I found it hard to get a shot of the cliff breaking the horizon due to not being able to budge again due to this relentless wind. We soon decided to take the took the scenic drive back across the island towards the light, not knowing exactly where we would end up but all the while having one location in mind. the truly mesmerising Quiraing. The Quiraing is a landslip on the eastern face of Meall na Suiramach, the northernmost summit of the Trotternish on the Isle of Skye, Scotland at an elevation of 543m and should always be on our list to visit.

Upon arrival we could see the weather start to change, those clear skies were quickly being pushed along by incoming clouds and most of them look dark enough to be foreboding, coupled with the still relentless wind it made for interesting and difficult shooting conditions. A quick walk over to the view point revealed a vista like something out of a movie, the landscape here is undulating and mesmerising.

I would like to think that I am quite considered in my approach to my photography and this bore through when I decided to take my wet clothing with me just in case it rained, This advice was also taken by my colleagues Diarmuid & Patrick however the difference being that I put them on and stayed put , the other two decided to venture across the beaten path towards an area known as the needle to try and gets some shots. Not long after they left the light faded and the skies grew darker and darker, there was rain coming and it looked like there was going to be a lot of it. This prediction was correct and as I stood in place trying to capture some time-lapse footage I was quickly enveloped by torrential rain, it made for great footage for sure but my mind was thinking about the other two being far away in these conditions and how would they be getting on ?

One hour later I was back in the van, and having changed clothes I saw the two drowned rats walking back up towards me, not only had they been caught out in that downpour but they had also neglected to put on their wets, citing that by the time they could have put them on they were already soaked through, I felt for them for sure as both were shivering and looked miserable, but judging by the videos that they shared it wasn’t too bad for them as they had a blast running around in the wind and rain on the far side of the The Quiraing. Shots wise for myself I managed to bag a couple and even tho I had other photographers stand right in the way of my time-laspses I was happy with the moody conditions and changing light that I had managed to capture on the afternoon, the location is an icon for a reason and it a place that I would love to return to one day with the hope of patchy light dancing across the landscape and really lifting the undulations that are so prominent there.

Mid Afternoon now and the hunger was upon us so we took the short enough drive into Port Stewart in search of a feed. Diarmuid was hell bent on getting a Chinese and was convinced that he had been to a great Chinese on his first visit here, so myself and Patrick followed the pied piper along while our tummies rumbled with excitement. This excitement quickly turned to desperation however as we couldn’t find the favoured eatery for love nor money, and end up going to a location that shouldn’t even have been described as a restaurant. It was called Number 1 Noodle, but there was nothing Number 1 about it, they didn’t even have noodles on the menu so that should have told us to run. We didn’t though and ended up trying to make peace with our tummies for chasing such a disaster of a location to try and get something to eat.

Feeling somewhat dejected but also still excited for photography we headed off to find Sunset, it wasn’t however going to happen so we took the opportunity to rock up to our sunrise location, and settle in for the night to be ready for the hike to another Icon The Old Man of Stor the following morning. It was shrouded by fast moving clouds which would cover it , reveal it and then cover it back up just as fast.

You can watch the full adventures in the link below or read on to discover what day three had in store for us.

Images below taken from this adventure, If you would like to purchase one for your own wall, please get in touch.