assynt on film

What do you think of, when you think of Scotland? The looming mountains of the Highlands, deep dark lochs and the Great Glen; the white sands of Hebridean beaches and the grand castles of the east coast; bagpipes in Edinburgh and lively pubs in Glasgow. I love all of those things, but I love Assynt even more. Few people bother to venture to this region, tucked into Scotland’s north west corner, far beyond Fort William and Glencoe and the endless munros of the west coast. But it’s so worth it, to push a little further. First you get to Ullapool, tiny but bustling, where ferries depart for Stornaway, and campers stock up on supplies at the very final supermarket. Drive a little further and the landscape changes completely. Assynt is vast and empty. The mountain chains from the south have vanished, and instead, peculiar peaks rise straight up from the ground, steep and isolated. There is so much space here, and so much light. Go in June: the sun sets after half past ten, sinking not into darkness but a sort of blue twilight. I adored Assynt when I first visited in the summer of 2021. I found it just as magical five years later.

This is the tenth instalment of my monthly photo post series. You can see the first nine instalments here: saxony on film and vestland on film and saxony on film (winter edition) and the big apple on film (2018) and highlands on film and copenhagen on film and amsterdam on film and english seaside on film and algarve on film. These posts are light on text and heavy on photos.