Isle of Skye

The following entry was posted some time ago and for some reason did not appear on the blog. I repost it for completeness after this intro. I am now in one of the remotest locations on mainland UK, researching the area as a possible setting for a future book in the Dreamwords Series. It really is beautiful.

Posted earlier from Skye:

I have been on the hill for a week now, making my mistakes with the camera, writing my journal and re-reading Dreamwords as I put the final touches to the manuscript.
The location is the Isle of Skye on the west coast of Scotland. Dreamwords begins in present-day Edinburgh before jumping a thousand years into the future. There, the story is split between two locations: Edinburgh Castle and the Isle of Skye. This is why I am here. After so long working from memory of the place and supplemented by maps, it is amazing to be 'on location'. I picked the setting, in part, because I love it so. Thus, it's a real treat to be here.
To the South West of the Island, the Black Cuilin mountains rise dramatically from the sea, their towering cliffs demanding respect, the rugged beauty embellished by blue lochs, wild weather and wild creatures of the sea and sky.
What would this be like a thousand years from now? Probably much the same.
Central to the tale, is the coastline running from the village of Elgol, along to the secluded bay at Camasunary and then over The Bad Step into Loch Coruisk. I write this from the mountain bothy at Camasunary, with gratitude to those people who maintain such a place without pay, to the owners who donate its use and to the system that fosters such generosity of spirit in order to encourage lovers of wild country to get out there and just do it. There are dozens of such places spread throughout Scotland, all open for anyone to use without cost or even having to ask for permission; all set in fabulous, remote, areas. Here you might be alone with your thoughts one minute and the next sharing a fire with a party of like-minded strangers.
Last night, in one such encounter, a young German couple and a trio of Australians (one originally from Glasgow) sat late, chatting in front of a roaring fire, sharing a small dram of whisky as the deer strolled past the darkening view beyond the large, double-glazed window. The Australians were theatre, video and music professionals and so we enjoyed a song and a tune.
This morning I got expert tuition and advice from a director of photography about camera and documentary techniques. A chance encounter in the middle of nowhere. Now, how cool is that?