Set the alarm early this morning to give myself time to
scramble over the hill behind the van to nearby Loch Roe to look for seals and
otters. Although another beautiful spot, I saw heron and curlew but, sadly no otters.
On my return we popped into Lochinver for pie and internet and then set
out along the coast to Stoer and its old man, another towering sea stack. The views were again superb and on the walk
from the lighthouse along the cliff tops there was always the anticipation of
seeing whales but again no luck this time.
There were plenty of cormorants and gannets, though, but little other bird
life. September is a quiet month up
here. Having said that, however, it was
a delight to watch several skeins of geese flying noisily over on the way
south, presumably arriving from Arctic climes; barnacle geese I wonder, perhaps
heading for Islay. The Old Man was
impressive indeed; a towering finger of shattered old red sandstone. On the way back to the car the sun was in our
faces and the the sea gleamed silver putting the lighthouse into
silhouette. On the way home we stopped
off at Clach Toll beach to visit the Celtic broch set defensively on the low
cliffs between the white sand beaches of Clach Toll and Stoer with their
backing of machair.
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