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Having lived by the sea in earlier years . . . and always having had a love of a wild coastline,

we booked for three nights at Rubha Reidh Lighthouse in order to be able to look at and explore the coast of this remote western Scottish location.

The Light is still operational and owned by the Northern Lighthouse Board

but the "Keeper's Cottages" are now privately owned and run as a guest house.

This would be our last full day at Rubha Reidh and the weather looks as if it is going to be kind to us on our local walk today.

A quick look around the place, inside and out.

This is the guest lounge and a place to relax and chat if you wish.

Our bedroom was known as The Gannet Room,

Lovely photos on the wall (I'm jealous) and lovely sea colours in the bedspread . . .

Our dog Harry on our rug next to the bed.

He is fine . . . it's our other dog who snores in his sleep !

Two lovely carved benched outside . . . but we haven't had the weather to make use of them.

However, today the sun is shining but the forecast is for occasional blustery showers whipping the tops of the waves. 

According to Our Beaufort Scale that makes it a Force 5-6

Out there, beyond the wind and the waves is the northern peninsula of Skye.

We had planned two walks from the lighthouse on the two full days we were staying here,

but the views from the route south was covered by our drive along the lighthouse road and it rained yesterday anyway.

That left our final walk till our final day . . . what a good plan !

So we packed minimum gear into a small backpack and headed east across the top of the peninsula heading towards Camas Mór Bay.

Of course, as soon as we set out the sun went in and the wind got up.

We headed out on the Camas Mór path which starts by crossing the gully above the harbour.

That's better . . . sunshine after the rain

with a fine rainbow behind us 'refracted' in the last of the departing rain.

A clear view east to the sands of Camas Mór Bay

and of the rock stacks and turrets of the headland below us.

Just round to the right a little and there's a fine rock stack set out from the cliff.

It might be the one named as Croc na Stac on the map . . . there's even a gap through it.

Hidden below until now . . . another rock island

with a fine example of the layered 'old red sandstone' rock that is prevalent on much of the north west coast.

Due to the indented nature of the coastline you have to climb high to gain distance.

The view as Camas Mór is lost behind the headland.

Dylan stays still long enough to have his photo taken.

" Woof about my photo "

The Happy Couple . . . or they would be if they both smiled at the same time.

For those not looking at the dogs . . . the view behind is quite good too.

Click here or on the photo above for a larger Loweswatercam annotated panorama.

We spot a fishing boat out in the bay heading west . . .	. . . by the time we next looked it had turned to trawl back the other way.

One possible option for the walk for today was to walk down to the bay and enjoy a stroll on the sands

but the terrain was against us as ahead was a large ravine and no safe access down the steep cliff.

Harry was quite content to rest his head on the heather as I went down to get a better view.

The paths were few and far between,  where they did exist they were often wet and boggy

so we "declined the incline" ( preferred not to climb any more) and dropped down to appreciate the view.

After all, the further you go, the further you have to come back afterwards.

The path down is apparently on the far side of the bay.

On the way back we cut a few corners and found the short heather just as easy to walk on.

Back to the lighthouse again just as the sun goes in and another brief shower is heading in from the left.

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The guesthouse offers evening meals so there was little point in driving anywhere else,

let alone driving the ten mile narrow road to Gairloch.

Full marks for Tracy and Roger who provided good wholesome food with a popular vegetarian option on the serving table too.

What was also nice was that with this small and friendly group of guests the conversation flowed

and the bottles of wine that people brought were shared, along with the experiences each of us had that day.

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Next morning it was time to pack our bags and get ready to leave for our drive home.

Time to feed the dogs and while I was out, take one (or more) last pictures of the lighthouse before we go.

Click here or on the photo above for a larger Loweswatercam panorama

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