One of a few bucket list locations was Luskentyre beach on the Isle of Harris.
Anyone who watches lots of photographers on YouTube will inevitably and eventually find a video of this location.
Luskentyre is a ‘honeypot’ location for photographers, having been voted as Britain’s best beach on many occasions, and said to be one of the top ten beaches in the world.
The ratings are due to the white sand and aqua blue sea which, combined with the grassy dunes, and mountains as the backdrop make for truly stunning views.
We were staying in Aird, near Stornoway on Lewis so Luskentyre was approximately 55 miles south of our accommodation.
We arrived late afternoon which was just as well as the weather was sunny and surprisingly bright. I rushed onto the beach like a kid in a sweet shop, with the thrill of being in a location I’d seen on many a video.
There was a brief feeling of anti-climax as I struggled to find a composition. The shot below was my first effort..
I then took some more shots and was quite pleased with these two:
Kathryn was exploring a different part of the beach and started to walk further up.
I ventured that way too, and since the dunes were hard work on the knees, I moved to the shoreline and decided to take in the warmth of the sun and calmness of the surroundings and enjoyed a really relaxing walk.
Further up the beach, I could see the tide going out quite rapidly so I stopped and took a shot.
Walking further up the beach with Taransay visible on the horizon, I noticed some foam moving as the gentle waves of tide came in then out.
Messing around with filters and different shutter speeds, I got the shot below which I think may have a marmite style opinion amongst viewers.
I thought I’d walk back down the beach to meet up with Kathryn again, and realised I’d walked a reasonable distance.
As I made my way back down the beach, I video-called family members and had a check-in with them so I could show them the location.
We had learnt on a previous Scotland trip in 2019 that mobile phone signal appears to be excellent here demonstrating fantastic investment in the mobile infrastructure.
Walking back to the car, and knowing our visit to Luskentyre was done, I took in the view of the beach again, and took a shot facing into the sun.
As we had a cup of tea from the flask, we checked out each other’s shots. Kathryn had a really nice shot of the adjacent cemetery with the beach and mountains in the background.
We left Luskentyre and I still had a slight feeling of potential disappointment. I think this is because when you watch a lot of videos of pro photographers, you set yourself this bar of achievement where you expect the same quality output or yield of shots.
With more time to reflect, I got some good shots, I experienced the location and loved every minute of it. I had ticked the box and it was good, but it would not rate as the best location of the entire trip.
I would love to come back one day, and explore the wider area. I think nearby Sielebost and some other locations south of Luskentyre have potentially just as stunning views, but we had run out time.
Heading back, we made a stop at an outdoor activities centre as we spotted some lovely reflections in the water.
Then, a quick stop to take shot of this abandoned house, which I think is one of my favourites of the trip.
Onwards and upwards…