Lochs and by the sea in the Highlands and Skye

You all know me well by now, and I had to dedicate a post to our holiday in the Highlands and Skye showing pictures of just the sea and lochs and blue skies. It feels as if we are have had rain here non stop for the last few days!

Picture taken from Skye. In the distance the island of Lewis and Harris.

 We saw movement in the water in the picture above we thought it might have been some sea otters, sadly it turned out to be just birds.

 

A stunning deserted beach of white sand at Achmelvich and we found a starfish at the edge of the water luckily it went back out to sea with the tide.  I had never seen a starfish on the beach before.

The previous day we had seen the story of the starfish in a great teashop in Dunkeld the story is told by Loren Eiseley (1907-1970) who was an American antroplogist.

"While wandering a deserted beach at dawn, stagnant in my work, I saw a man in the distance bending and throwing as he walked the endless stretch toward me. As he came near, I could see that he was throwing starfish, abandoned on the sand by the tide, back into the sea. When he was close enough I asked him why he was working so hard at this strange task. He said that the sun would dry the starfish and they would die. I said to him that I thought he was foolish. there were thousands of starfish on miles and miles of beach. One man alone could never make a difference. He smiled as he picked up the next starfish. Hurling it far into the sea he said, "It makes a difference for this one." I abandoned my writing and spent the morning throwing starfish.” 

The red sands near Applecross. In the distance are the majestic purple blue peaks of the Cuilin mountain ridge in Skye - an amazing sight!

Around the corner in Applecross itself the beaches were pebbles...

I could have spent the rest of my holiday here sitting on the decking and overlooking the sea and mountains.

The lochs (scottish for lakes) were just as scenic, even when it was raining.

The picture above is Loch Ness. The weather added to the atmosphere!

Loch Lubnaig

The last loch we visited before returning to Edinburgh.

We did meet the notorious midge, our first meeting was at the Falls of  Shin where the sky was full of them and they followed us back into the coach. Luckily this was our worst encounter and it helped once we were told it was better to move around rather than stand still. 

We were also surprised how light it stayed in the evenings we were going to bed at 10.30 in daylight and I never saw the night sky during our break.

I love reading and usually on average read a book a week before I go on holiday I like to read books  that are based around the area I am staying. These are the two books I read for our Scottish holiday. Does anyone else do this too?

The first one I read when we first booked our holiday  Dear Olivia describes the life of an Italian family emigrating to Edinburgh during the Wars and the struggles they had in setting up their business selling good food. It was a great read and would thoroughly recommend it.

The second book Sea Room I picked up in Oxfam and read it while we were travelling. Of course the title and picture captured me initially, but then when I looked at I discovered it was written by Adam Nicholson (husband to Sarah Raven) and describes the love of the Shiant Islands a trio of Hebridean Islands. It made me appreciate how    difficult life can be living on an island.

Hope we all see some sunshine soon , how long can this wet weather carry on?Welcome to my new followers Connie, Villa Lotta, Helen, Julie, and  Foxglove Lane, thank you all for following me.

Sarah x