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This view of the sunrise at Gruinard Bay was taken from near the road that goes to Mellon Udrigle. What caught my eye about this was the vertical pillar of light emanating from the sun.
At the time I was not aware of what this phenomena was called nor what caused it.
When the Sun is rising or setting and the air is cold ice crystals falling through the air can reflect sunlight and create a column of light. Ice can form flat hexagonal shaped crystals as it falls from high-level clouds. The clouds associated with the phenomenon are thin high level clouds such as Cirrostratus.
Air resistance results in these crystals lying nearly flat much of the time as they flutter to the ground. Sunlight reflects off crystals that are horizontally aligned, creating the sun-pillar effect.
In this case the sun has only just risen between the mountains of Beinn Ghobhlach and An Teallach.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.
An Teallach; Gaelic, ‘The Forge’, according to Wikipedia from its colour in certain lighting rather than its shape. From personal experience I can agree with this explanation. In the summer, during a good sunset, and when looking east over Gruinard Bay An Teallach can appear bright red with the reflected light from the sunset in the west. However Professor Watson says that the being called the forge is due either to its smoke like mists or from supposed resemblance to a forge.
Beinn Ghobhlach; The forked hill.
Gruinard Bay; possibly from the Norse grunnfjörðr meaning shallow firth.
Mellon Udrigle; A hybrid Gaelic/Norse name meaning ‘Udrigle's Hill’. Udrigle is possibly a Norse name, however Professor Watson suggests it may be derived from the Norse útargill, meaning outer cleft or gully.
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