Stacks of Duncansby

It's a bit of a truism to say that in Scotland you can expect 4 seasons in one day, but the weekend that we spent on the North Coast seemed to prove it.  The day after I took the pictures of Moine House and Ben Loyal the weather changed completely, starting with heavy rain and continuing with a gale force wind that made standing still very difficult, let alone taking photographs.  Nevertheless we made our way (inevitably) to John o'Groat's and found enough shelter to take this picture of the Stacks of Duncansby.

I had been to the stacks before, but on that occasion it had been quite foggy - the stacks swam into and out of vision, so I was pleased to be able to find the visibility much better this time.  

It's a good job that the stacks are so spectacular, because we also included a visit to the nearby John o'Groats, which really seemed to be suffering already from the threatened recession: it doesn't give a good impression to visitors if the most prominent building, the hotel, is obviously fairly permanently closed! But that was the year (2010) that it won the Carbuncle Award for the most dismal place in Scotland. In fairness, they have just (as in about a fortnight ago) started a £6 million refurbishment project which will include a redevelopment of the hotel, and nothing can take away from the scenery!