looking up

the sun descends behind folds of cloud.














Blobby clouds over Scaraben and Morven.














looking south east over the Moray Firth.














Looking east from the cottage.














Stripey clouds looking west from the cottage.


















Stripey clouds above Lybster Village.

















Caithness is famous for its vast skies and exquisite light.

Latheronwheel Harbour

The beach and fissured cliffs.















The door in the rocks on the harbour side.


















the bridge over the burn.

















The sea stack on the beach side.














the slipway.














The harbour is hewn from natural rock and seems to grow out of the cliff walls which are presumably the local mudstone or Caithness flagstone as it is known.
















A rusty old winch.


















Looking out across the sea wall.

















Two words sum up Latheronwheel harbour; blooming gorgeous. It is a breathtaking spot, the combination of man made harbour and sea worn nature is amazing and it all flows into each other contiguously, there is nothing incongruous. As well as a lovely beach and a sheltered pool which will be good for swimming in summer, there is a narrow wooded strath where the burn flows out to the sea, with some broadleaf foliage, a mix of native and introduced trees, lots of wildlife including the elusive (though not round here) Roe Deer.

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Wilderness

The view south west from Lybster towards the mountains, Scaraben, Morven and Maiden's Pap.














Snow clad Scaraben rises above the moorland.















The distinctively shaped and aptly named Maiden's Pap lifts the land towards the sky.













The bridge at Braemore.


















Berriedale water.


















The Valley floor at Braemore.


















Maiden's Pap.















Since we arrived in Caithness we have been entranced by the mountains that dominate the south western horizon. We decided to visit them last weekend. We were lucky to see some of the wildlife that inhabits this very sparse and wild moorland. We saw pheasants, geese, rabbits, buzzards, and as we crossed the moors to the mountain valley two columns of wild red deer crossed our path. They were so well camouflaged in the heather and brown grass that we didn't see them until they broke for the open moorland. We didn't manage to get any pictures, they were too far away by the time we had stopped being gobsmacked by the encounter.

Aspects of and beyond the house on the hill.

The view from the back.















the sign for the track up the hill to the house, note the clouds, they look hand painted.
















The Gorge with native woodland, by the side of the house.
















the house is there on the hill, to the right of the bobbly hat.












There it is, enjoying the sunset. It is bigger than it looks here, it is a single storey cottagewith huge rooms and huge views.













We have found a place to live, it is lovely, but we are not in there yet, we should be there by the end of March. We will post more photos when we get in there.

the flow

An ode to continuity. The flow country is the peat bog moorland of the North Highlands, the water flows out to the sea. Music and video by m4sk 22. Filmed at Dunnet bay in Caithness, the far north of Scotland.

Jan De Groot...

The old Hotel, site of Jan De Groot's house.














Towards the harbour, as the sign says.












weedy sea.













Looking West.













The view across the Pentland Firth to Stroma.












Named after Jan De Groot, a Netherlander who, in the 1490s, obtained the charter to run a ferry to Orkney, John o' Groats has been called a tourist trap and was recently voted the most dismal town in Scotland. This is understandable as the harbour area is full of tourist shops selling an incredible array of Tartan Tat, but we weren't there for the trinkets and clan memorabilia, the Nessie chocolates, the shortbread and the Tams. As we descended from the hills into John o' Groats the view was spectacular, with views of the tiny flattened island of Stroma, the gnarled outcrops of the Pentland Skerries and the Orkney Archipelago behind, looming through the sea mist. Like any tourist town, if you like a bit of faded glamour (the old John o' Groats hotel for example) and appreciate the desperate commercialism, it has it's charm, and like Las Vegas, the Vatican, or the Great Wall of China,where there is a traveller there will always be a hawker. The selling point of John o' Groats is that it is supposed to be the most northerly point of the mainland UK, which it isn't, but it is certainly the most north easterly tourist trap, and it's location is spectacular, and the truly magnificent sights of Duncansby head await to the right of the town.

Girnigoe Sinclair Castle

The view looking down from the castle.














A window view down to the rocks.


















A doorway out to the void.














one sleepy baby in a sling, when she woke she said she dreamed about the sea.














the footbridge at the site of the original castle drawbridge.




















The remains of the Castle and a trawler out to sea.














the walk over Noss head to the castle.












We visited the Castle of Girnigoe Sinclair. So named as it was originally Girnigoe castle, the seat of the Norse earls of Caithness, and then Sinclair Castle was built onto the site which is the ancestral seat of the Clan Sinclair. We were very lucky to visit at a time when the Castle, which is being renovated at present, was opened to some archaeology students from Glasgow university, so we were able to have a good look inside, and were most fortunate to meet the Earl of Caithness himself, the chief of the Clan Sinclair, who showed us around and told us a little of the restoration project and some of the history. A fascinating day of great fortune.

Dunbeath Strath

Dunbeath Strath, scraped out from the soil and stone beneath Morven, is the setting for Neil. M. Gunn's novel Highland River.

another view

Music and video by m4sk 22. Filmed at Lybster Harbour, Caithness, in the far north east of Scotland.