Beach Spam

[anteros_lmc]

More Hebridean beachspam as promised....

Traigh na Berie

Carriegreich, Isle of Harris
These pictures were taken at my grandparent's house in Harris, where my father was brought up and where my sister and I spent a lot of time as kids. The house is now owned by cousins of ours, who luckily had enough money to be able to renovate it. It's lovely to see the place looking spruce and well cared for again :) The house is built right on the shore, which is where most of these pictures were taken, and the burn runs right by the side door. No matter where you are in the house you can always hear the sound of water.



Valtos Peninsula, Isle of Lewis
This is without doubt my favourite part of the island. The first picture is of a beach called Cliff (Traigh na Clibhe) which is very beautiful but very dangerous as it shelves steeply and has a terrific undertow. All the other pictures are of Reef beach (Traigh na Berie) which is just round the headland from Cliff. This is a much safer beach and we used to come on camping holidays here when I was small. I also spent a lot of time studying and working here when I was an archaeologist. I did my undergrad dissertation on the archaeology and anthropomorphic landforms of this peninsula and also worked on various excavations here. There is an extraordinary wealth of archaeological remains in this small area, including prehistoric shell middens, Bronze Age burials, Iron Age brochs and duns, "Pictish" wheelhouses, Viking graves and Norse mills.



Glen Orchy
Snow on the hills.

Comments

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

So beautiful. It must have been very moving to study the archeology of a place you knew and loved so well. I am glad it has stayed in your family.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It must have been very moving to study the archeology of a place you knew and loved so well.
Yeah, it was great being able to work on excavations there. The excavation project was being run by a different university but I persuaded them to give me a job :)

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's wonderful. Also, "Isle of Lewis" will always mean "chessmen" to me! You have no idea the little nerdy squee noise I made when I saw them playing the parts of Wizard Chess in Harry Potter.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

The chessmen are wonderful aren't they? They were found near a beach called Ardroil just round the peninsula from here. Sadly not a single piece is held by the museum in Stornoway. Most are in the British Museum in London and there are eleven in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. There have been various campaigns to bring some back to the island but no success so far, although a few have been loaned for temporary exhibitions.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

But... separate? How terrible! Reunite the chessmen!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes! Reunite the chessmen! In Lewis! There are currently 67 pieces in London, 11 in Edinburgh and none in Lewis :(

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Lovely indeed.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Isn't it? :)

[amaraal.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous pics. You should sell them as postcards :) Honestly. It looks so clear and cold, but in a good way.
The house looks lovely. Glad to learn that it is still in possession of your family. Seems to be a perfect hideout :)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

It was cold. It was bloody freezing in fact! You wont be surprised that the islands are a real magnet for artists and photographers. Not sure my mobile phone snaps would compete XD

[aletheiafelinea.livejournal.com]

The seashore is wonderful, so calm. And the storm over the snowy peak looks breathtaking.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

The snow storm was quite dramatic, the sky went from blue to black in the space of a few miles.

[katriona-s.livejournal.com]

How beautiful!! And your cousins are lucky to own the house.
When I traveled in Scotland, especially in Isle of Skye, I often imagined how were the life in those beautiful cottages on the beautiful, tranquil places. It's a comfortable surprise that I found a person who have really experienced such life among my friends.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Aww you're so sweet! The islands really are beautiful but it can be tough living there, particularly in the more remote parts in the winter. It's worth it though :)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

And even better, there are lots of cormorants! Sadly not flightless ones though ;)

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

Places which in christian spiritual writing are sometimes called " thin places " by which is meant the veil or division between human ordinariness and the transcendent is very close to not existing

It is therefore a term that comes easily to my mind -but I think is inadequate for many reasons too = not least because the feeling I get is not anything for which a thin/ small/ absence metaphor works
it is more a broad place and a broad gift and makes these pictures seem to call to one - this particular day made me think of Wordsworth:

And i have
felt a presence that disturbs me with the joy of elevated thoughts , a sense sublime
of something far more deeply interfused
whose dwelling is the light of setting suns
and the round ocean and the living air ,
and the blue sky and in the mind of man
a motion and a spirit ;

from Lines written above Tintern Abbey (ie standing in the place shown in my default icon, more or less)


it is that breathless sense of freedom but then the line 'disturbs me with the joy '

which echoes what you share of the beauty combined with the awareness that to live in such places is in reality to live on a challenging edge they are powerful images indeed.

Thank you for interpreting a lovely part of the world for us - and being such an advertisement for the people to whom it gives birth :)