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On this day I had been up well before dawn to undertake a commission at the superb Duirinish Lodge, just north of Plockton on the Scottish west coast. As the commission was to photograph the entire exterior and grounds, it meant being there all day to take advantage of the sun as it moved round the lodge.
Eventually I squeezed the last drop of possible light out of nature for this commission, then drove at a rather fast speed to Loch Torridon in the hope of photographing a superb sunset. It was touch and go as to whether I would make it and I kept looking at the clock, and pushing down the accelerator! It was my intention to get a landscape photograph of the village of Torridon which is dramatically situated as a row of houses right at the base of Liathach, and capturing that in a sunset I thought would be quite special. I have always loved this scene ever since I saw one by Colin Baxter many years ago, but that was not a sunset.
However, before reaching that viewpoint I was presented with this view of Loch Torridon. I had to stop, I thought it was wonderful. The tiny bay in the foreground is called Ob Gorm Mor, and the narrow peninsula Sron an Dubh-aird. Beyond that is Loch Torridon, Beinn Alligin to the left, and Liathach to the right. I grabbed the shot, ran back to the car and drove off at speed, would I still be in time to get the shot I had set out to get?
North-west Highland Place Names
The landscape of the North-west Highlands and the Gaelic language are intimately connected. Other languages have contributed to the richness of our place names, notably Norse, but the North-west Highlands have for centuries been a Gaelic landscape. In listing the meanings of place names I have relied on authoritative sources wherever possible. For further information about sources please refer to North-west Highland Place Names in the main menu.
Beinn Alligin; Listed as Beinn Ailiginn by Watson. This mountain is named after the stream Abhainn Alligin The name Alligin is usually connected with àilleag, a jewel, a pretty woman which may possibly be correct but Professor Watson says the single l in àiliginn is a serious difficulty.
Duirinish; From the Norse dyra-nes meaning ‘Deer’s headland’.
Liathach; Gaelic, ‘the hoary place’.
Loch Torridon; Professor Watson gives a detailed account of Torridon starting with the recorded history of this name – Torvirtayne 1464; Torrerdone 1584; Gaelic Toir(bh)eartan compare with the Irish tairbheart, to transfer, carry over, the infinitive of tairbrim. This would give the place the meaning of ‘place of transference’ with reference to the portage from the head of Loch Torridon through Glen Torridon to Loch Maree. The name applies specially to the strip of land at the head of the loch.
Ob gorm mor; Ob, Gaelic, for ‘Big green bay’.
Plockton; The Gaelic name is Ploc Loch Aillse meaning ‘the lump of Lochalsh’ this due to the humpy promontory which ends in Rudha-mór.
Sròn an Dubh-aird; Listed as Dubh-airde by Professor Watson, ‘the black promontory’. The version on the OS Map Sròn an Dubh-aird would translate as the ‘point of the black promontory’ from the Gaelic Sròn, ‘point’.
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