There’s been a few places I’ve visited in Scotland that have made me feel drawn to them straight away. The first was the Isle of Skye, the second was the Cairngorms and now… Lewis & Harris. Unfortunately, I’m not great on ferries, so the two trips I’ve made over there have been very much dictated by when the weather will allow me the calmest crossings possible. I managed though, and I actually even took Fox on the second journey to and from the islands. You know I like somewhere if I’m willing to go back on a nearly 3 hour ferry journey with a 5 month old puppy in tow.
But like it I do. My love of little tin buildings was hugely satisfied here…. shielings everywhere, so much character and island culture. An absolute joy for a photographer. The standing stones, the villages, the bothies. The eagles nest bothy in particular, built from stone into the side of a cliff, is genuinely one of the most incredible places I have ever been.
I spent my days here driving around in my friend’s van, stopping at little coffee shops and going for walks at new beaches. We found an honesty box, filled with pasties and soup that you could decant into little takeaway cups and drink along at the nearest beach. Barely any money was spent, but a lot of good memories were made, including me doing the most incredible fall after trying to run in wet sand (it was actually quite humiliating but all you can do is laugh).
You can view the full gallery of images I shot on Lewis & Harris here, and if you loved the shielings as much as I did, then a few of them are available as prints over in my print shop.