Photos and the City

Tag: roadtrip

Smoo Cave

Next stop: Smoo Cave, large seawater and also a freshwater cave near Durness. Normally it is possible to walk into the cave and I think even take some kind of boat trips, but it was closed this day after the heavy rainfalls during the night.

The name “Smoo” comes from the Old Norse Smuga which means “hiding place” and it is not only the cave that´s hiding but also part of the village, the Allt Smoo, which disappears into a sinkhole on the inland side.

Traces have been found of a fishing and shipbuilding community living and working here during the Viking era, and it is easy to imagine that this was an ideal place for a community that wanted to stay undetected by anyone sailing by, in an age when far more travellers journeyed by sea than overland. The earliest evidence of occupation of the cave goes back much further, to around 5,000 years ago. (Undiscovered Scotland)

Smoo Cave became more known after Sir Walter Scott featured it in his cruise around northern Scotland in 1814.

Inside the first cavern which was made by the sea. The following caverns, which were closed, were made by freshwater, the river Allt Smoo.

05/05/2020
Loch Eriboll

I left Tongue early morning, I had a long drive before me and also wanted to see as much as possible along the NC500. The NC500 is a scenic route along Scotlands North Coast. The first half along the East coast brought me from Inverness to Tongue and now I was going to see a part of the West Coast.

Driving along Loch Eriboll was the perfect start for this scenic journey – there was no traffic and I could just enjoy the view on all sides!

Loch Eriboll is about 16 km long and used as a deep water anchorage. The Royal Navy sometimes used the loch for training, especially during World War II. The surviving 33 German U-boats formally surrendered here in 1945, ending the Battle of the Atlantic.

I didn´t see any ships, but stunning views!

30/04/2020
Skullomie

The weather changed especially quickly and often on my last day in the shepherd’s hut. Rain, sunshine, sometimes at the same time and more. But I took advantage of a sunnier spell in the afternoon and went for a short walk up the hills behind the hut.

It was not the smartest idea to wear my normal walking shoes in the wet marshland, they were wet through and through within minutes, I really have to get some wellies and actually bring them with me. But the heather was blooming and I saw a little surprise down at the sea, there was the small harbour of Skullomie. I knew it was somewhere down there but hadn´t seen it so far.

Skullomie

My little hut was parked at the end of the road in Skullomie, a small fishing and crofting township at the end of Tongue Bay.

The pier in Skullomie (or sometimes Scullomie) was one of the sites from which crofters embarked on ships to locations such as America and Australia during the Highland Clearances (or in many cases, were forced to emigrate).

A deserted cottage up on the hill, on another walk I also saw some more further up on the hill.

View towards the Rabbit´s Islands, a group of three uninhabited small islands just off the coast. The Scottish name for them is “Eileanan nan Gall” which means “Islands of the strangers” or “Norseman”. According to a legend, a ship carrying gold to Charles Edward Stuart was wrecked on the island.

View towards Talmine on the other side of the bay.

Back home I spent the next hours watching a spectacular sunset, Tongue was saying goodbye in the most glorious way!

28/04/2020