High Atop Vatersay

Here are some views that await those who take the time to ascend Heishaval Mor, the highest point on Vatersay.

Atlantic breakers rolling into the West Bay - Sandray in the distance

A calm East Bay - the old schoolhouse (now self catering) at lower left

A late afternoon view to Castlebay

The Vatersay Causeway

The next photo was a poor attempt to duplicate Robert Adam's photo of the same scene in 1922. (See this Univ. of St Andrews page - photo item # RMA-H-1061.)

Snowy east slopes of Heisibhal Mor

The last view is of Muldonaich, an island I hope to visit someday.

Looking east to Muldonaich

A Sandray Sortie

Sandray is a big island: too big to see in just one day trip, but that's all I've managed to do so far. A couple of years ago I went to Barra for a week, hoping to get day trips to Sandray, Pabbay and Muldonaich. But the weather was awful. Pabbay and Muldonach were not to be, but on my last day on Barra the sea and wind calmed, and Donald Macleod, skipper of Boy James, said he could drop me on Sandray for a couple of hours. 

But I had to make a choice. Should Donald drop me on the sandy east side of Sandray, or the rocky west? A hard choice, indeed. I ended up choosing the west as, in the limited time I'd have, it would allow me to see the settlement site of Sheader, the fort of Dun Sandray, and climb to the top of the island.

Here are some photos from that quick wander around the west of Sandray. I did not like having to rush, and I plan to return in 2016 for a more leisurely visit.

Dun Sandray - east end of Pabbay in the distance

Vatersay seen from the summit of Sandray

Mingulay, Pabbay, Greanamul and Lingay seen from the summit of Sandray

Late afternoon view of Sheader beach

Sheader village ruins

Return to Castlebay

Some Bad Panoramas

On every island I try to take a series of photos that I'll try to stitch together later to make panoramas. Some times I'm successful, other times not. Here are two examples of failed stitches; where the exposure was not quite the same, and you can easily tell where the two photos merge. Both these examples are photos of Sheadair, an old settlement site on the northwest corner of Sandray. The odd shadow at the lower right of the second photo is of the photographer.

A Summer View to Vatersay

This is a very transitional photo from that of the previous post; both in view, seasons, and centuries. It is Vatersay seen from the summit of Sandray on a warm summer day in 2012; taken 14 years after that snowy sight of Sandray seen from atop Vatersay on a cold winter day in 1998. The moonscape foreground is the glacier-scraped flat top of Sandray.

A Snowy View to Sandray

I was rewarded with this view after a cold, wet trudge up the northern slopes of Heisabhal Mor on a snowy February afternoon. The snow-capped island to the south is Sandray.