Seilebost and Sgarasta MhòrSeilebost and Sgarasta Mhòr Your feet sink further with every strength-sapping step through towering white sand dunes, but you finally emerge onto the beach, take a moment to catch your breath and quickly realise it’s just you. You, no one else, just you and miles of sand, sea, waves, and a glorious mountain backdrop to take in and enjoy. This is Lewis and Harris.

I only have a couple of days left on the Outer Hebrides before I must return to the mainland and start my journey home. I awoke to find the van buried in the thickest sea mist I have ever witnessed. It was like something from a Steven King film, so maybe a lazy breakfast after my late night chasing the Northern Lights down at Horgabost beach. It wasn’t until I stepped out of the van that I realised it had also snowed the night before. Nothing major, just a sprinkle, but a nice surprise.

After a few hours editing yesterday’s images and enjoying a cooked breakfast for the first time in a number of days, the fog cleared and I headed off to Seilebost beach for a wander. I had the place to myself once again so strolled along towards Luskentyre.

Just me

The light was quite flat, but the clouds were moving quickly so I decided to go for a few long exposure images right and left.

Looking to LuskentyreLooking to Luskentyre

Looking to Luskentyre

Looking to MacLeod´s Stone and CeapabhalLooking to MacLeod´s Stone and Ceapabhal

Looking to MacLeod´s Stone and Ceapabhal

Some great movement in the sky across the expanse of beach. How quickly the weather changes here, as last night I was up at Macleod’s Stone enjoying a magical sunset.

Time for a cloudy, moody pano I think, So I got myself a little higher up on the sand dunes to get one of my ‘left to right’ 10 shot panoramas.

Classic Outer Hebrides cloud topped mountains behind Luskentyre’s dunes.Classic Outer Hebrides cloud topped mountains behind Luskentyre’s dunes.

Classic Outer Hebrides cloud topped mountains behind Luskentyre’s dunes.

Just a few images today as the light was pretty flat, but I enjoyed the afternoon just mooching along the beach before heading back to base before sunset. So many images to process from yesterday, but it wasn’t long before the sun started to appear on the horizon below the low cloud. My overnight parking spot gave me commanding views out to sea and as I was enjoying my beer, the warm glow began to light up the van.

Ceapabhal was wearing a cloak of white fluffy cloud and I could see some great light bursting through, so I grabbed my camera and walked toward the beach. I caught a quick handheld shot as the setting sun burst through over the peninsula.

Unexpected light over CeapabhalUnexpected light over Ceapabhal

Unexpected light over Ceapabhal

Time for bed, as tomorrow I planned to visit Sgarasta Mhòr beach having caught a glimpse of this colossal stretch of sand on my way to Northton Salt Flats a few days earlier. Well, not before I finished my bottle of Skye Brewery “Young Pretender”.

“Am I supposed to be here?”

It was breezy, cold and blustery in the morning. Perfect for a day on yet another amazing beach. But not before I had found my way there.

I had driven past Sgarasta Mhòr a few days ago but could not for the life of me see where the path was. The beach is hidden behind the machair and is fenced off along the road. But after driving up and down I did find a place to park near the cemetery and followed a sign which led me over the machair and past a number of inquisitive sheep who tried to follow me through the gate.

Did you know machair is only found in north and west Scotland and western Ireland and occurs nowhere else on the globe?

Having climbed down the dunes to the beach, I was once again presented with a scene of tranquillity no other place could deliver. As far as the eye could see, endless fine sand beach washed clean and smooth by the ebbing tide. That familiar soundtrack of the calls of the oystercatchers mixed in with the rhythmic beat of the waves. The backdrop of the mountains of Lewis across the bay beyond Luskentyre. The small island of Taransay for company. It just keeps getting better by the day.

I know I have banged on in my previous stories of being alone on beaches out here, but I landed here a little after 8am and left just before 2pm and did not see a single human being in those six hours. Am I supposed to be here? Have I stepped on to some private beach in the Caribbean? Time to get snapping before I get caught!

I turned left and headed towards Ceapabhal (have you learned how to say it yet?) and grabbed a familiar outline handheld shot as I walked along the edge of the sand dunes.

My new old friend CeapabhalMy new old friend Ceapabhal

My new old friend Ceapabhal

Whilst I saw no other human life during my adventure on Sgarasta Mhòr, there was clearly some larger footed bird life that had wandered along the sand dunes behind me.

We are not alone

I was being blessed with some sunny intervals once again, but it was bitterly cold in the wind so I kept wrapped up in my parka as I walked along the shoreline. The tide was retreating rapidly across the low sand and I found a lonesome piece of sea weed on the white sand that just screamed out to be my foreground.

Into the distanceInto the distance

Into the distance

I’ve been trying some intentional camera movement photography for a few months now, and this location with the curve of the beach and Ceapabhal in the background was perfect. Setting my camera shutter speed to 1/10^th of second by closing down my aperture to f/22 I sweep the camera right to left while taking repeated exposures. Every shot is different so take loads, it can be a lot of fun and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

It’s a knack of moving the camera at the speed to match the exposure and the subject. Too much movement and you can end up with a dizzy smudge, too slow and the whole effect can disappear and just look like you forgot your tripod. Wait, I did forget my tripod! Well initially and I was now using a cheap replacement.

Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)

Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)

Its funny how when I take a panorama shot, I move my camera left to right, but when doing ICM I always go right to left. I have thought about this and all I can think of is ICM is handheld so my right hand is doing the leading as opposed to a panorama on a tripod where I use my left hand to rotate the tripod head. Maybe? Waffling now.

As I moved further up the beach, I noticed the sand texture and colour beginning to change. You may remember a few days earlier I was at Northton Salt flats, which is inland of Ceapabhal. The river creating the channels through the salt flats runs to the far end of Sgarasta Mhòr and emerges through the sand dunes at low tide as small streams bringing darker sediment down from the river. Here, as the beach levelled out, ripples had been formed by the retreating tide and the sand was mottled with darker colours highlighting the textures with great effect.

Ripples created by the tide at the flattest part of the beach.Ripples created by the tide at the flattest part of the beach.

Ripples created by the tide at the flattest part of the beach.

Darker sediment creates contrast in the ripplesDarker sediment creates contrast in the ripples

Darker sediment creates contrast in the ripples

Whilst I was focussed on getting some images of the interesting ripples and patterns in the sand, I noticed some dramatic light was taking shape behind me. A bank of cloud blew in creating shadows that raced across the beach faster than I could ever think of running. As one shadow swept under my feet I spun around to look back at my tripod, left waiting. The low winter sun was casting some great shadows and silhouettes.

Just me againJust me again

Just me again

Is this what it would be like for the first person to land on Mars?

Back to business and I was finding some amazing patterns left by the retreating tide. Not only that, but the incoming clouds seemed to be mimicking the markings in the sand. How wonderful!

The mirror effectThe mirror effect

The mirror effect

I’d been here a good few hours now wandering along the beach leaving my footsteps ready to be washed away later on that afternoon. Time to turn around and head back towards the northern tip of the beach and get that shot with the mountains of Lewis over the bay.

Wrapped up against the wind.

I decided it was time for a long exposure shot of a few minutes to smooth out the waves and capture the clouds streaming towards me from the North. You know I love these!

If you look carefully above, you will see I have 2 filters in here. The larger one is a Graduated filter that darkens the bright sky. You can see it is dark at the top and clear at the bottom. The smaller square glass filter behind is my neutral density 10 stop filter that vastly cuts down the amount of light entering the camera and gave me a 120 second exposure at f/16.

Two minutes on Sgarasta MhòrTwo minutes on Sgarasta Mhòr

Two minutes on Sgarasta Mhòr

I think this picture captures to grandeur of this beach and reminds me how that wind was blowing.

I think I forgot to have breakfast again.

Time to climb back over the dunes, find Mr T and head off for a late lunch. It’s my last day on Harris tomorrow and I will be sailing back to the mainland. As the weather was improving, I drove over to Seilebost, left the camera gear in the van and just enjoyed the rest of the afternoon beach combing. It’s been the most amazing week or so on Lewis and Harris, it has exceeded all expectations and I have been very, very lucky with the weather. The problem I now have is I promised Donna we would come together next time, but I fear I may have used up all my good weather tokens in my first trip.

My last evening on the islands included dinner cooked by someone else in the café (proper food), warm feet in front of the van heater and some music and a little drink whilst I edited my images. The temperature was dropping now after several days of relatively mild weather for the time of year.

Maybe some more snow?