Walking to Fladda

Day 2 of our trip to Raasay, and the first full day on the island.

Sometimes photography involves selecting a small part of the scene we are presented with, cutting out the distracting power lines, cars or whatever else - and serving it up as somewhere serenely beautiful.  A sleight of hand to create a little piece of magical illusion.  

But sometimes it is quite the opposite.  We are presented with somewhere that is so genuinely magical that we struggle to capture it as we saw and felt it.  The walk from the end of Calum's Road at Arnish to the tidal island of Fladda at the northern end of Raasay is a magical experience.  It follows the coastline up and down with the undulations of the underlying rocks, and the first kilometre or so is through hazel and birch woods hinting Autumnal colours, and with aspens above, their yellowing leaves trembling audibly in the breeze.  Then the path turns a corner and a view opens up across the Sound to distant Skye.

I came on this scene as I followed the path behind the others, the diminutive figure of Sue taking a photograph of Wifie and Alison.  Middle Earth in the 21st century perhaps, a hobbit with a digital camera and two elves.