Scottish Dawn
My birthday is in January and so why would you not fly to northern Scotland to celebrate. As it was my birthday, my special birthday, I did not want to stay in any of the little cottages that my husband had found, as all the photos had beautiful photos of kitchens which I really didn’t want. So, I found a fabulous castle to stay in instead. Ackergill Castle just outside a small town called Wick.
We flew in a tiny airplane which landed in not far from Wick and got a taxi into town. The weather was freezing cold with a biting wind, not surprising you say for Scotland and our first stop that day was to buy hats!
The castle is stunning, a fabulous part of Scottish history. It looks quite bleak, standing on a cliff top but its thick walls change colour in the sun light. Inside its incredibly warm and welcoming. Amazing food in the dining room surrounded by old flags and afterwards drinks sat around a fire in the drawing room to swap stories with other guests.
We contacted a lovely lady who was prepared to take us out on a wildlife tour, despite that fact that we were there out of season. She took us to places we would never have found on our own and the wild weather added to the beauty of the place. We spotted a seal in the rough sea just outside the harbour. I had no idea they were THAT big! No pictures I’m afraid you’ll just have to accept this fisherman’s tale.
We had John O’Groats to ourselves, even the locals had gone south for the winter! From there we visited the Stacks of Duncansby in the drizzle and grey, wandering passed Nybster Broch, prehistoric buildings and harbours. Something that would have interested me at any other time but really not very exciting in the cold grey rain. Even in January some gulls were sheltering on the rough cliff side and cuddling up against the cold. These did capture my interest more and I stay quite a while photographing their tantrums and disputes. The stacks were flat and dark in this unwelcoming weather but held so much promise for an amazing photograph in the right light. So, we vowed, (I say we, I wanted to, it was my birthday so…) to return in the morning to photograph the stacks at dawn.
Fingers crossed that the weather would be fairer, we hired a car and headed off in the dark to arrive at the stacks just before dawn, which isn’t that early in January in Scotland around 8:30am. We arrived in the drizzle to trek across the countryside to see the stacks. When we arrive the sun is not coming up where I wanted it to and in fact its cloudy and really not what I was hoping for. As we head back, I spot this farm house on the hill. Even though it’s under a huge dark cloud it is bathed in the most glorious golden light. I find it to be the most optimistic of images.
After that good omen, the weather definitely improved, blue skies and rainbows and we thoroughly enjoyed roaming the Scottish countryside. We looked high and low for highland cattle and only found hundreds of damp sheep dotted around the countryside.
I had the most unforgettable time there. Photographing frost in the mornings at night trying to photograph the huge sky full of stars (really didn’t do it very well) and hoping for the northern lights to turn up. I had to wait for that particular dream to come true.
