Not only will 2027 see the publication of the much anticipated book on the Lords of the Isles but the launch of a special tour so others can go on this journey with the author. In addition, a special jewelry line has been created and will make it’s debut in spring 2026 on Iona. Stay […]

The process of reviewing photos and selecting those that will make it into the book has begun in earnest. It is my second day of serious scrutiny of the photos from the past three years and I must admit the task is daunting.  My inspiration comes, as always, from the medieval Lords of the Isles […]

The last day on Islay – this is a place where I truly feel at home so it is bittersweet to have to leave.  This is also the end of the last trip before the book goes to the publisher so in a sense it is an end of the first phase of the project.  […]

At last found a patch of early morning sunlight shining down upon Dunyvaig and captured some better photos of this iconic ruin. Then it was on to Finlaggan, the headquarters of the Lords of the Isles for nearly two centuries.  As I have written before, the Lordship of the Isles was a Celtic kingdom, controlled […]

Today I covered many more miles on Islay – nothing you want to see if close to anything else you want to see!  First stop was Kilchiaran Chapel on the western side of the Rhinns of Islay.  It stands only a few yards off the road and I was able to find space to park […]

I am always happy to visit Islay.  Known as the Whisky Isle, for me it is the very foundation of the Lords of the Isles.  OK, I have toured the distilleries and had my share of wee drams, but Islay was the heradquarters for the Lord of the Isles and thus its significance for my […]

On the 7 AM ferry from Kennacraig I made my way back to Islay, one of my favorite places. Islay is an island of contrasts with stunning  seascapes  and landscapes, miles of sandy white beaches, sheltered woods and rugged hillsides.  It was sculpted by the Ice Age and battered by the forces of Atlantic storms.   […]

Tarbert is a quaint, attractive village which serves as the gateway to the Kintyre Peninsula. It is home to a working fishing fleet, and is referred to as Tarbert Loch Fyne to distinguish itself from the other same-named places such as Tarbert on the Isle of Harris.  Tarbert is historically connected to the Lords of […]

Thirty miles from Tarbert down the B842 is Saddell Abbey. My first trip there I almost missed the signpost and the car park along the twisty single track road.  It was a cloudy and somewhat rainy day which lent itself to an atmosphere of moody reflection.  Once again it was my imagination that took over. […]

The ferry was delayed by 4 hours today meaning I had some time to wander around again on Tiree.  I had heard about the Mary Stuart, a boat that used to supply coal and other goods to Tiree.  Just the bare bones of this old wooden boat now project from the sands at the northern […]

Today was a day to wander and to observe nature, especially the birds. I still have not seen a Corncrake and likely won’t as locals say they might see 3-4 over the course of many years!  You hear them though!  The first thing that strikes me about Tiree and Coll is the abundance of buttercups! […]

The sun came out late this morning and it made a difference in the way everything looked! I keep trying to revisit areas of the island at different times and in different light. I have yet to see any surfers at the “surfing beach” but will check it out again tomorrow. Tiree used to be […]

Just when I think the weather is turning another cloudy, rainy day greets me when I awake. Ironically, Tiree is supposed to be one of the sunniest places in the islands. No great photos today but I wanted to capture more of the feel of Tiree so just randomly documented places on the island. My […]

At last a day of mixed sun and clouds and some lovely morning light.  It was amazing to drive over the same roads as yesterday and this time be greeted by scenes of beautiful white beaches, rolling waves, and green fields dotted with sheep and cattle. I went in search of the surfing beach at […]

Westward from Tiree there is nothing but the North Atlantic Ocean until you reach Labrador 1900 miles away. The island is the outermost of the Inner Hebrides and is the same size as Loch Lomond. It is famously flat and also famously treeless. Tree roots dug up in the past, when analyzed, show that Tiree […]

Caught the ferry from Coll to Tiree on this very foggy, rainy morning. A bit sad to leave Coll as it really is a welcoming small community where everyone knows everyone else.  The ride between the two islands was about 45 minutes and it took me another 25 minutes to find my cottage.  I am […]

Part of the magic of working on this book project has come from the people who I have met along the way. It has been no different here on Coll. I was fortunate to spend some time chatting with Alex Maclean-Bristol, the son of the man  (Nicholas MacLean-Bristol) who bought and restored Breachacha Castle, and […]

This small island has an airport with a history intertwined with air ambulance services.  In the 1970’s Loganair had flights to Coll which landed on a landing strip on Ballard Farm.  That landing strip closed briefly in the 1990’s but reopened as an unlicensed airstrip.  In 2008 a new licensed airport was finally established providing […]

The camera and I took a day off today – here are just a few photos from the island this week…..

Wandering this interesting Hebridean island I can’t help but notice the diverse and beautiful landscape. It is a different beauty from Skye or Mull or the Outer Hebrides.  There are no mountains on Coll, just rolling hills that can be rocky or covered in machair.  I am here in June and things are really green […]

The weather improved greatly today and I went to one end of the island and hiked out to the beach at Crossapol Bay. This is a long, wide beach with high dunes. Every beach here in the islands is different and yet there is a sameness to them in the white sands and colorful rocks.  […]

Arrived on Coll yesterday, an island located west of the Isle of Mull and northeast of Tiree in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It belonged to the Lords of the Isles having been given to Angus Og by Robert the Bruce after Bannockburn. Coll had been held by the MacDougall family of Lorne at the […]

After nearly two weeks living on Iona it was a bittersweet departure.  There is a quality to this holy island that defies description, it must be experienced. The weather had cleared a bit this morning so I took a last walk on the beach near the house. Once again the colors of nature astounded me.  […]

As I wind up my stay on Iona I decided to walk to the beach and photograph more of the rocks and seaweed that fascinate me so much.  As I walked down to the beach I began to see amazing colors in the rocks and the seaweed and so just concentrated on color for this […]

I managed to head to the beach at the north end of the island this morning around 6:00 AM. I wanted to take photos of the sea and the rocks using a slow shutter speed. Somehow I thought this would give the photos an ethereal look, and it did.  Everything is so prehistoric looking – […]

The wind has been relentless but at least today the sun returned and it was time to brave the elements.  There was a beautiful rainbow to greet the day. Explored one of the beaches at the north end of Iona, Traigh Ban Nam Monach which is Gaelic for ‘white strand of the monks’.  The White […]

This was a bit of a lazy, just wandering kind of day. Bucking a stiff wind, I headed back over to the golf course and tried to find the path to St. Columba’s beach.  Although I did not make it the entire way I did learn that I was on the right path and will […]

I have moved to the west side of the island of Iona for my remaining week.  Immediately behind my house looking north are ragged hills of ancient rock interspersed with green valleys and dotted with sheep.  To the west is the ocean and the beach called the Bay at the Back of the Ocean. Camus […]

It was pretty much a rainy, windy day here on Iona today.  The sun didn’t come out until after 3:00 PM and the wind has not let up.  As I was moving from the hotel to a house I also didn’t get out to do too much photographing. It was a good day to do […]

What started out as a foggy overcast day turned into a beautiful sunny day just perfect for my trip to Lunga, the largest island in the Treshnish Isles.  We disembarked from our boat via a long pontoon which led us to a rocky beach.  After crossing the rocky beach we climbed up to the top […]

Baile Mor, the little village on Iona, is picturesque and definitely quaint.  There is only one real “main” street which catches the early morning sun enhancing its charm. Sitting here on Iona would seem to be the perfect place to dig deeper into the connection with the Lords of the Isles.  However, the history is […]

Turned into a day of rain and sun, rather typical of Iona which is why you wear a raincoat and cover your camera! Took some early morning photos of St. Oran’s chapel.  According to legend, St. Oran (Odhrán) was buried alive as a sacrifice to prevent the walls of the first church from falling down. Dedicated […]

Another windy, rainy day and thus perfect for travel from Oban to Iona.  I caught the 8:30 ferry to Craignure.  I had been scheduled for the 9:55 but showed up early and wound up being able to get onto the earlier crossing. I headed south to Fionphort where I would catch yet another ferry to […]

Strong, gusty winds and a mix of clouds and sun have set the tone for today as I revisited Dun Ollie Castle in Oban, which remains to this day the seat and ancestral home of the Clan MacDougall, to whom it belonged for over 800 years.  It was an easy walk from my hotel and […]

The day was cloudy, rainy and windy, a sharp contrast to the two weeks of perfect weather I had enjoyed since my arrival. I walked down to my favorite little breakfast place, Coasters, and indulged in a nice hearty breakfast before returning to the hotel to spend most of the day working on writing and […]

Lo and behold the weather was still holding when I work up this morning so quickly booked the pedestrian ferry from Oban to Kerrera, a small island in the Inner Hebrides, and set off on another adventure.  The terminal for this ferry, which will only take a maximum of 12 people, is in Gallanach up […]

I’m not sure what I suspected to find on Lismore but the entire island was a vision of lush hills, ruined castles, amazing flowers and trees and stunning views across the water to Ben Nevis and Glen Coe in the distance. I caught the 7 AM ferry from Port Appin and in 15 minutes was […]

It was a good two hour drive into Oban today and I was too early to check into the hotel so wandered the town.  This is one of my favorite towns in Scotland and I meandered to the pier and indulged in a wonderful plate of mussels steamed in garlic and wine sauce and then […]

“The colors of Scotland will keep you young inside.”  This was on the back of a small van and couldn’t be more true!  Though not bold and vibrant like those I see in Cuba, the colors here come forth from the land – browns, golds, greens, pinks – gray rocks with pink and white stripes […]

One of the most beautiful beaches in the Outer Hebrides has to be Luskentyre on the Isle of Harris.  The last time I was on this beach it was cloudy and windy and I knew I needed to re-visit it on a beautiful, sunny day. Once again, I arose at dawn and by 5:30 was […]

St. Clements Church

I said farewell to Uig today and drove down to Tarbert on Harris.  Made it a lazy day – did some scouting for potential photo locations at sunset or sunrise and did some shopping.  Will head out to Rodel or Luskentyre tomorrow and get back into photo mode

This was another beautiful weather day  and Mairi and I went for a walk up the hill behind her house.  The view when we reached the top of one of the hills was spectacular.  We sat and talked for awhile and said our good-byes since I would not see her and Donald on Saturday when […]

This was a most wonderful day spent with Donald MacCauley out on his boat checking his lobster creels around the island of Pabaigh.  We started out at the pier on Bhaltos and we could not have asked for better weather – a whip of wind, bright sunshine and calm seas. It was very interesting to […]

Today was a people day! Mairi’s sheep had been spotted so we were off to get to them so I could photograph her again with the Hebridean black sheep. I was astounded at the feel of the thick wool on their backs which was nearly ready to shear. They came running when they heard the […]

I awoke to a  cloudy day with fog wrapping the cliffs around Bhaltos in a moody mist.  I continued my pursuit of making environmental portraits and spent most of the day with Mairi Gillis, an accomplished Hebridean artist. Mairi embodies the spirit of the Hebrides and its people and is closely connected to the land […]

The morning was spent in Achmore with Magaidh Smith, crofter, storyteller, historian. When she was growing up everybody knew everybody. They knew where everyone came from for several generations  “We worked together and exchanged labor: planting and harvesting crops, gathering the sheep on a wider pasture and cutting winter fuel. Whatever anybody had, whether it […]

Nothing beats staying in one location for an extended period of time. This has been so true of the Isle of Lewis as I have had time to explore at my leisure and work around the weather. Today I drove up to the very north of the island to the Butt of Lewis, named as […]

While I was awake at sunrise – which was around 5 AM – I didn’t get out to photograph as I had hoped.  I think the time change and the fact I had been up travelling made me just want to relax.   My cottage is in Bhaltos (Valtos) and has a most magnificent view of […]

Another bright and sunny day in Ullapool, Scotland wandering the town before catching the ferry to Lewis.  Ullapool, as we see it today, was built in 1788 by the British Fisheries Society as a planned fishing village.  But the area was settled long before that by the Picts and the Celts and later invaded by […]

I couldn’t have asked for a better first day to be back in Scotland. It was sunny and warm, in the high 50’s and low 60’s necessitating only a long sleeve shirt.  Leaving Inverness Airport I headed north to the fishing town of Ullapool where I would catch the ferry to Lewis on Friday.  Before […]

It was a bittersweet day as I headed back to Edinburgh on my last leg of the trip.  After an overnight in a lovely bed and breakfast in Inverarry I drove through a spectacular landscape in Glen Coe and then the Trossachs.  The snow covering the tips of the mountains was stunning and the topography, […]

The trip is drawing to a close and I overnighted in Lochmaddy to be near the ferry. This is a ferry port on the island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. It sits in the shadow of picturesque mountains with a view to the sea. The town’s main attraction is Taigh Chearsabhagh, a community […]

Today it’s all about the Eriskay ponies. Nothing more, nothing less. Enjoy!

The storm has come and gone with little impact on Eriskay that I can discern. Learned that the causeway from North Uist to Benbecula was closed yesterday because of flooding and wind! The sun came out today at times so I went in search of the ponies and found them over the hill not far […]

I left my cottage in Benbecula on Thursday and headed down to Eriskay for the last 5 days of my journey.  My main reason for coming to the Hebrides was to spend a few days on Eriskay and photograph the ponies and the people who manage them.  When I was here in June the ponies […]

The small island of Benbecula lies between North and South Uist in the Outer Hebrides. Benbecula is dotted with lochs and lochans and is linked by causeway to the neighbouring Uists. These islands were once part of the Lordship of the Isles and are well worth a trip. They border the mighty Atlantic ocean on their […]

Today was a travel day over to the Outer Hebrides – Uist to be exact.  Before I boarded the ferry I took a wee detour to see The Fairy Glen, a magical place with enchanting geographical formations formed over 100,000 years ago by post glaciar landslides. Subsequent centuries of erosion and the elements sculpted the […]

This was travel day yet again and I was off to Mallaig.  It turned into a beautiful day and as there was the promise of sun on my castle this morning while the tide was in I made yet another visit.  Patience paid off and after an hour and a half waiting for the sun […]

I have been staying in the ancient crofting village of Acharacle just north of Salen at the eastern end of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula. It is a beautiful area, my cottage overlooks Loch Shiel and the morning light is gorgeous over the loch.  Dalelia, which we visited yesterday sits on this loch which is known for […]

Just did a little bit of local wandering today so nothing much to report.  I revisited Dalelia, a hamlet on the north shore of Loch Shiel in Acharacle. I had been there two years ago with Tom Miers and we rented a boat to go over to Eilean Fhianain, St. Finan’s Isle,  the largest island […]

Today brought a cloudy sky mixed with periods of sun dancing across the hills in Ardnamurchan. It was a good day to simply drive out to Kilchoan and on to the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse situated at the most westerly point on the British mainland and accessed by mostly narrow, single track roads.  As expected, I was […]

Castle Tioram, in Dorlinn near Acharacle, is by far my favorite castle. The ruin sits on the tidal island Eilean Tioram in Loch Moidart, Lochaber, Highland, Scotland.Perhaps it is because it seemed so magical the first time I laid eyes upon it two years ago. My photograph of the castle from that trip is my […]

It was time for another trip down to Ardtornish Castle today – the light was different and I was looking for a different photographic approach.  Once again I was in awe of the structure, not because of it’s design or placement, but thinking about the people who lived here and made it their headquarters. Who […]

Warmer though cloudy today as I drove up to Strontian to meet Tom and Diana for coffee and to talk about the book. The 13 mile drive was over mostly a one-track road through the glen with clouds gently resting on the top of the hills and snow on the peaks in the distance.  In […]

The light here is different – just different.  Perhaps it is because we are so far north, perhaps it is the way it has to negotiate around the mountains and glens to be noticed. I have been fascinated with the light in the Highlands and Islands since my first trip here, and it never gets […]

One can best understand the remoteness of this area with a stop in Lochaline, population 200, the main village in the Morvern area of Highland, Scotland.  The coastal village lies at the mouth of Loch Aline, a small salt water loch (lake) home to fish, birds and game, on the northern shore of the Sound of […]

Last night I was sitting calmly on the couch reading when there was a loud noise like and explosion and then the cottage was shaking.  It only lasted a few seconds.  I learned this morning that it had been an earthquake not far from here and one which was actually felt for 100 miles!  Who […]

This was a perfect day to walk around the estate and take in the natural beauty.  Once again I found myself wondering what it was like when the Lords of the Isles stalked deer in these hills.  As I walked along the estate gravel road leading to other cottages I pondered how to deal photographically […]

The Lordship of the Isles was centered on the Inner Hebrides of Mull, Islay, and Skye and thus I have been frequently visiting the Isle of Mull. Today, with the weather cooperating, I decided to head over to this beautiful island. It was a quick ferry ride from Lochaline to Fishnish on Mull as I […]

The days are short here this time of year and one has to make the most of daylight – and sunlight, if there is any! Sunrise this morning was at 8:59 AM – YES, almost 9:00 AM! It seemed to take longer because of the mountains that surround us! The short days actually can work […]

As much as I love the city of Edinburgh I was anxious to get on the road and head to the Ardtornish Estate in Morvern. This area is significant to the Lords of the Isles, especially Ardtornish Castle and castle Tioram in Acharacle. The weather has been a factor since I arrived in Scotland on […]

Back on the trail of the Lords of the Isles with a 4 day stopover in Edinburgh for Hogmanay. Sadly, the festivities were cancelled due to adverse weather and high winds.  I had purchased my tickets for the torchlight procession and the street party but alas it was not meant to be. Perhaps that means […]

Spent some time in the picturesque seaside village of Plockton today on Scotland’s west coast across from the Isle of Skye.  It is an enchanting village established in the early 19th century on the northern edge of Lochalsh. Though it was not in existence during the reign of the Lords of the Isles, it sprang […]

A bit of culture and jaw dropping beauty were on the menu today but first I had to get out of Plockton!  Leaving this morning for my exploration of more of Wester Ross I was slowed on my drive down the lane from my cottage by a few neighborhood cows. This evening they were brought […]