A summer cycle where heat sharpens unease. Long days, haunted journeys and moments when the uncanny slips into view beneath brightness and excess.
June’s full moon takes its name from a fleeting harvest. Strawberries ripen quickly, and if not gathered at the right moment, they’re lost. Tonight’s Strawberry Moon, therefore, is bound to timing. And with it begins the shift into the Summer of Shadows. Summer is often framed as a season of freedom and light and exploration. But … Continue reading The Strawberry Moon…
Day 5: The morning arrived calm and bright. Our resident songbird was already awake and making certain everyone else was too. After packing up, we headed for Bealach na Bà, the highest road in the UK. It’s a single track with tight hairpin bends, the sort of route that comes with a police warning advising … Continue reading Where the Road Thins: Skye…
Day 4: Wind and rain. Rain and wind. After a mostly sleepless night on the cliffs above Durness, everything was damp, everything rattled and our spirits had taken a firm battering. But storms lose their power once you’re on the move again, and by the time we were packed up and back on the road, … Continue reading Where the Road Thins: Ullapool…
Day 3: The morning began beneath an impossibly blue sky. Our first stop was Dunnet Head, the most northerly point on mainland Great Britain. Seabirds crowded the cliffs, some of them nesting and others carried effortlessly by the wind. Puffins perched on rocky ledges in the distance, meaning binoculars were a requirement to properly appreciate … Continue reading Where the Road Thins: Durness…
Day 2: Our first stop was the Glenmorangie distillery. Which was closed. The first lesson of the trip: never presume. We laughed it off and continued north. The Whaligoe Steps were next. Rather than fight for a space in the tiny car park above them, we left the car in a layby along a quiet … Continue reading Where the Road Thins: Scarfskerry…
Day 1: The NC500 route officially starts in Inverness, but we’d been there before and it felt right to begin the journey beside water filled with stories, so we began our camping road trip at Loch Ness. The forecast promised rain, but it never arrived. Instead, something else hung in the air. Something heavy and … Continue reading Where the Road Thins: Loch Ness…
Spring merges into summer and days stretch further till evenings almost refuse to close out. In some ways it’s a welcome relief to feel warmth returning and to have more daylight hours. And yet there’s something about the light, isn’t there? It’s different. Stronger and more direct. Dare I say, less forgiving? It reaches into … Continue reading The Shadows of Summer…
R. H. DIXON 