Relocating to the Isle of Lewis
03.01.2024
Happy New Year…
We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, enjoying precious time with family & friends. We would also like to wish everyone a safe, healthy and happy 2024.
We have so much to update you on and thought it would be nice to say hello via a blog post. We have several exciting things to let you know about, one of which involves life changing decisions and the other about what’s in store for 2024.
Apologies it’s been a while since we last updated the blog post, in typical fashion since I last wrote to you so much has happened. During September we had the adventure of a life time experiencing two and a half weeks touring the Outer Hebrides in our campervan. It’s a period of time in our lives that we wont forget. With very little planning we decided to head to Harris and spend a few days down time in the van before heading off to explore North & South Uists as well as the Isle of Barra. There was no itinerary, no expectations, just the freedom of a couple of weeks and a full tank of diesel. We stayed on some beautiful campsites and also enjoyed the facilities provided by West Harris Trust, enjoying breathtaking views out to sea from all over the Outer Hebrides. The highlight of the trip had to be the best display of the northern lights we had ever seen dancing over Luskentyre sands. The weather also had a few surprises in store for us with gale force winds several times during the trip. At one point over night we thought the windows in the van would blow through, the winds were that powerful, all good fun and just adds to the experience. Another highlight was meeting up and connecting with several other photographers who were also enjoying some time in the Outer Hebrides. It was lovely to finally say hello face to face with a few fabulous photographers that we follow on Instagram. We were also fortunate to be back on Harris in time for the Isle of Harris Distillery Whisky launch. The Hearach is the Islands first release of single malt, not that either of us are whisky drinkers but fond collectors. The whisky collection started many years ago during our very first visits to Scotland, we decided to buy a bottle every time we were in Scotland so it seemed very fitting to be involved in a little piece of history. There is a four part documentary on BBC Alba all about the distillery from the beginnings of them producing Gin right the way through to the whisky launch if anyone is interested….. Anyway, I’m digressing as usual.
If you have seen our videos from our time in the Outer Hebrides during 2023 you will know that in a very short space of time the Outer Hebrides captured our hearts to the very core. We’ve visited so many parts of Scotland more than once and been fortunate enough to find a release & escapism in the coast & landscape but never before have we felt so emotionally moved and in tune with an area. After we returned home from our trip in September we made the decision to relocate. Putting our house in Aberdeenshire up for sale felt a little scary but very exciting. We’d settled into our village well and spent 18 months enjoying the beautiful countryside and coast that Aberdeenshire had to offer but it didn’t really feel like home. We will look back on our time in Aberdeenshire with very fond memories, we made some incredible friends and felt very welcome. The move to Alford was for work purposes, Max was working full time, commuting into Aberdeen & Dundee but we had only realised part of our dream. Since discovering Scotland 10 years ago, the dream was always to live somewhere remote by the sea, our dream kept us both going through some very difficult times in our lives and also gave us something to aim towards. So the house went up for sale, storm Babet lashed down and viewing were a little sparse to start with but just three weeks later we had a buyer…. then the panic set in. We assumed the house would take a while to sell with it being later in the year and on the run up to Christmas, we were wrong. Our buyer wasn’t in a chain meaning that the process would be short & sweet, we quickly booked a ferry and started to look at houses for sale, selecting around 7 to view over a few days. I won’t bore you with all the details of houses we viewed, some were lovely but a little small or not in the right location for us, some offered other opportunities such as a six bedroom house that had previously been run as a BnB. We wanted a family home, our forever home, one that was perfect for us & our three dogs. On the last day before our ferry home, a house that we previously looked at but was outside of our price range was reduced…. a stroke of luck or fate? We both absolutely loved the house the minute we stepped inside and the rest is history. Six weeks later we have now relocated and making our dream house on the Isle of Lewis home. We are located within ten minutes of three beautiful beaches where I’m sure we’ll be spending a lot of time, we have so much to explore and discover both on Lewis & Harris and finally feel we are where we are supposed to be. We are very much looking forward to Island life, taking in the whole experience and embracing every second.
In other news since returning home, we were also involved with a SheClicks Webinar. For those of you who are unaware of SheClicks, it is a female photography community. You can find SheClicks on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, via their website and they also have a podcast. They are a very friendly bunch offering virtual coffee mornings, monthly themed competitions, meet ups and a whole host of valuable photography related information & advice (Link Below) We were asked by Angela Nicholson who founded SheClicks to present a webinar to the community about starting & running a YouTube Channel. Following on from our Podcast with Margaret Soraya over summer, this was a fantastic opportunity for us to encourage more women onto the YouTube Platform. It was a real privilege to be able to share some insights on how to go about starting up a channel alongside a little knowledge on how upload videos, make thumbnails and titles etc. With things escalating so quickly with the move and lots to organise we haven’t made any recent YouTube videos but will be back out and about very soon.
We are also very proud to be launching Coastal Creations in 2024. Coastal Creations will encompass everything we’ve dreamed about offering for many years. Bringing photography experiences, possibly a podcast, Facebook community and much more, click the link below to find out more.
Discovering the Outer Hebrides
17.06.2023
I thought I’d begin this update by sharing with you that this time last year we moved out of our home in Rossendale, North West UK to begin a whole new life and adventure in Scotland. It still actually blows me away that we are finally here after eight years of dithering but it was the best decision we’ve ever made. Over the last few months we have done quite a lot of travelling and have revisited Achmelvich Bay, we decided to head up April with the main reason for the trip being to try out the new awning for the campervan. After getting over the initial shock of assembling the drive away awning…what a difference it made to the amount space we had, not to mention additional comfort and somewhere to sit dry and warm outside of the van. As usual Achmelvich looked incredibly beautiful with its turquoise waters and golden sands. I decided not to take any images during this trip and instead we enjoyed some downtime, relaxing, enjoying the sights and sounds of the coast. We also spent some time with the family celebrating Max’s mums 80th Birthday, such a beautiful evening enjoying good food and wonderful company.
Into May saw us head over to the incredibly beautiful Isle of Harris & Lewis, somewhere we’ve dreamt of visiting for years. There genuinely are not enough superlatives that I can use to describe the immense natural beauty of the island. We headed over on the ferry from Ullapool , it’s around a two and a half hour crossing and thankfully we had calm seas, so much so that I fell asleep. The van again came into its own especially with the awning, the first night saw gale force winds, thank god we’d had a trial putting up of the awning session, luckily the awning remained in place overnight and the morning brought much calmer weather. Whenever we stay over in the van in any location we are always respectful of the area, the locals and the environment. Making sure we book campsites or stay in designated parking areas. The isle of Harris has many official camping spots in beautiful locations that allow you to stay over night for a five pound donation payable to West Harris Trust which we made use of.
The island has so many white sandy beaches with turquoise waters that literally blow you away & on several occasions we were reduced to tears by the outstanding beauty. We enjoyed hours of fun on the beaches and even in the water wearing our wetsuits…..how we wish we were back there now. We enjoyed our week in June so much that we decided to head back again for a short break. September will see us return again for around ten nights, we’re hoping to head across the the Uists and explore more of the Western Isles.
Photography plays a huge part in our every day lives, I’m still enjoying attending our local camera club weekly and have been asked recently to present a talk at Donside Camera Club which I’m very much looking forward to. Since returning from Harris we’ve visited Bullers of Buchan and were privileged to see puffins, coastal flowers during sunset at Portknockie and even attempted food photography for the camera club monthly assignment. Given that we enjoy and love photography to the level that we do it is always nice when other people enjoy your work, I was delighted recently to find out that I had been shortlisted in the Scottish Nature Photography Awards, Landscape Category and Commended in Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year, Seascape Category, I look forward to the exhibitions and year books from both.
I’ve was also recently asked to take part in a podcast with Kim Grant from Visualising Scotland. The podcast digs deeper to understand the journeys people have experienced with photography and how they connect to nature via the camera. The experience was great, so relaxed and informal chatting about all things photography related and how we use photography in nature to improve our wellbeing. It was an honor to be asked to get involved and I’ll hopefully take part in a few more this year. Kim has a deep love and connection to nature and hosts Photographic Connections alongside her YouTube Channel. I’ll pop some links below to the podcast and Kim’s YouTube Channel, there are some very interesting stories by other photographers that may inspire you.
@photographicconnections • Instagram photos and videos
We’ve also just released the first date for our photography workshop which will run on Saturday 7th October 2023 4pm until 7pm at Bowfiddle Rock. If you would like to get involved head over to the tuition section to book.
Enjoy the sunny weather whilst it lasts and take care
Until next time
Adele & Max