The cuillins of Skye

- the dominant feature for many miles around this part of the Hebrides, - the Cuillin ridge. Composed largely of gabbro, a hard, crystalline rock, this is the top climbing destination in the country.

Access by boat to their very heart, at the mouth of Loch Coruisk, is awe-inspiring and is further enhanced by a large common seal colony.

Soay
The island of Soay, tucked under the impressive cliffs of the Black Cuillins of Skye. Only 3 miles by 2 miles at it's widest, it is composed totally of Torridonian sandstone, making for very poor soils. The population has swung wildly from 129 after the clearances (many evicted crofters from Skye settled here for a while), through several ups and downs to the present number - two.
The island once belonged to the eccentric author Gavin Maxwell (of Ring of Bright Water - written at Sandaig, just north of Knoydart), who, with Tex Geddes ran a Basking Shark fishery here.

All photographs on this site were taken at Doune and around the islands of the Hebrides.