We’re coming to the end of winter… it’s nearly time for us to move on, the weather is changing (although it has been a considerably warmer, brighter winter this time round, up on the Moray coast) and soon I’ll be wandering a new bit of coastline.
When I know I’m leaving somewhere soon, it can be hard not to wish the time away and give in to the itch to see new sights, but I’m reminding myself to enjoy every moment of the bright, mild days in Findhorn.
I have no idea how I heard about the Fisherman’s bothy. Even now, as I’m writing this, I’ve been searching and searching online for information about it but I can find nothing. As far as I can piece together, it’s refurbished (it does look very smart, nice new roof, well looked after) and it’s probably now a privately owned holiday home. If anything, the lack of information just adds a nice bit of mystery to the adventure.
So I’d heard snippets of a red tin roof bothy on a beach near Nairn, but no definite information about where it was. My trick is to scour google maps for car parks that are off the beaten track, and then just walk and hope for the best.
On a warm, breezy morning we walked through gorse bushes along grassy tracks until we emerged at a long stretch of very quiet beach, which felt like it went on for miles and miles. We picked a direction and started walking, and not too long later a tiny pin prick of a white building with a red roof was visible all the way along the coast. When you’re there, it feels like the bothy is a million miles away, but the backpack was filled with rolls of film, snacks and a flask of coffee so I felt invincible.
The walk is mostly on the beach, unless the tide forces you to scale the pebbly bank and back into the gorse tracks. You eventually reach a strange sparse area, which leads right up to the building. It really does just sit by itself, a bit of a beacon in a sandy, grassy desert.
The bothy is locked tight, they mean business. It’s most certainly not intended for public use (inside, at least) but there are benches at either end so you can pick the most sheltered and rest your feet before heading back.
We set ourselves up on a bench and unpacked everything onto a stump and had a good little hangout while chatting about what could be inside. The only open windows are up high, and whilst they’re absolutely adorable, they’re not ideal for nosey buggers like myself.
A good walk, a good amount of steps on my health app and a tired dog later, the day was successful. It always feels good to get a roll of film back when you’ve been excited to see the results, and they’re just as good as you expected.
I’m currently spending winter in a funny little nook of Scotland… the village of Findhorn. I’ve been here since November, and have another three weeks left before it’ll be time to move on to a new pitch and a new area.
Findhorn is an unusual place… a quick google will tell you it’s a bit of a spiritual hub, and attracts people from all over the world. It’s also an eco village, and has some of the coolest, most interesting builds I’ve ever seen. I’m notorious for getting bored on walks, but I have to say, Findhorn has kept me entertained. You could wander the Eco village for hours, taking in the building materials and designs, seeing what they’ve used in their gardens. There’s character everywhere.
Strangely, I spent the first few months here just not picking up my camera. I was going through one of my ‘I just don’t have to urge to photograph’ phases, even though there’s photographs on every corner. I think sometimes you just have to absorb an area first, before documenting it on film.
Since I shot these on 35mm, I’ve been out on a different morning with the mamiya and fired off a roll of medium format. I have a feeling that I light metered half the roll incorrectly (that’ll teach me for jumping between film stocks) so fingers crossed I haven’t cocked up any good shots.
I’ve been lucky again to land in an area that is ideal for bike rides. I’d do pretty much anything to avoid riding on roads… I’m more of a ‘coffee in a flask, camera in my bag’ kind of rider and I just want to potter along safely and take a break with a good view. Half the time, I’ll have one earphone in and my riding playlist blasting (00s emo mostly, I’m not ashamed).
Other than that, this roll of film was shot on morning walks, coffee on the go, and up at a log cabin in Lairg that we visited on a couple of days off. Quiet days, trooping through a mild winter, enjoying the quiet before a busy summer on Skye starts.
