The Last Leg and the caves of Smooooooooooo

The last day had very eventful weather.

We were at Stoer and then drove up to Durness which is right on the top of Scotland.

It is very windy.

A summer day on the road to Stoer

A sheep with its coat half blown off.

A resident, similar haircut,  looking rather handsome

Two more residents of the campsite

The coastline is getting a bit more rugged.

And Icelandic

Our Motorhome nestled in the site by the bay.

Beautiful fine white sand.

Cold. 

We sat and watched these Islands appear and disappear as the haar rolled in.

Creepy.

He wasn't impressed that we were on his road.

                                                A dog looking for something to herd.

trying my 1/ 1000 shutter speed.

The wave came in and the wind blew it back out again

And then all was calm

Down on the beach

That night we got about two hours sleep. We were parked at the top of this cliff and the wind and the rain was battering on the motorhome. The noise was louder than a military tattoo and the wind was so strong we felt the motorhome 'lift' slightly.  We had travelled to Durness to see the famous Caves Of SMOOOooooooo....

So we were determined to go.

The caves were one mile away from our campsite.

We couldn't even get the door of the Motorhome open because of the wind.

I had to wear sunglasses to protect my eyes from the jaggy, stinging rain.

In three minutes we were soaked, right down to our underclothes.

At one point I was hanging onto a fence as I was being blown off my feet.

But being an intrepid MIE blogger, onwards I went.

All the sheep were lying down as they were in danger of being blown over. 

I didn't take my good camera with me as it would have been ruined in this weather.

So here are some pics from the Caves Of SMOOooooo take from their Wiki page.

The cave swallowed this river..

It didn't look like this when we were there! There was water pouring everywhere and instead of bats, there were pigeons.

What the cave opening looks like in sunshine. I had planned to put a body in it (fictionally) but there are tourist coaches arriving every five minutes so that was that idea wrecked.

The inside of the cave has one big hole, full of water, floodlit and covered in a metal grate. There were huge signs everywhere warning that if the grate is closed, it's closed and don't attempt to go down the hole.

It was too noisy, too wet and too cold so we ran away.

A patient told me that in good weather you can pay five pounds and climb down into the hole by a ladder to a boat.  The boat is then rowed in an subterranean canal, the passengers have to lie down in the boat as the rocks overhead are so low. Then the boat  floats out into a huge cave and the 'rower' shines his torch round at the fossils that glint and shine in the cave walls.

The time frame of getting in and out before the tide comes in and cuts off the canal is very narrow.

The channel the boat goes through is also very narrow.

I am very fearful of being in rising water with the risk of being cut off.

It wouldn't bother Joe Hunter. Sure as hell bothers me.

Caro Ramsay  28th July 2017