Perimeter

Quintin Lake encounters varied landscapes and people as his photo walk continues

A walk around the UK coast

Quintin is two thirds through his 6,000-mile photo walk around the whole of the UK coast. www.theperimeter.uk

This month’s route

Ardmore to Strathy

10 days, 145 miles Total so far: 4,800 miles

It’s midnight by the time I leave the moorland and reach the track to Cape Wrath, Scotland’s remote northwest point. Overcome by relief and emotion, I collapse to my knees to kiss the road in the pouring rain. Exhausted, I pitch the tent below the lighthouse as the beam swings, diffused through the dense rain above.

My feet were white and crinkled from the wet when I fell asleep, and are now hard and calloused. I treat them with cream to keep the skin supple. As I’m putting on my still-wet trousers, I hear the sound of voices. The first bus must have arrived and the ferry must be open, I imagine. To my surprise, there’s a basic cafe in the lighthouse buildings that I didn’t know about. I open the door to find an assortment of bedraggled hikers who’d slept in the bunkhouse (which I also didn’t know about), enjoying tea and breakfast.

The next evening, I’m picking my way through the craters at the Cape Wrath bombing range. It’s scattered with armoured personnel carriers in varied states of destruction. I’ve doublechecked the range isn’t firing today, but it’s still disconcerting to walk across fresh craters, surrounded by scattered gobs of peat. In some areas, artillery shells poke out of the pockmarked landscape, the whole scene scattered with parachutes from illumination flares. It’s like walking into a dystopian WWI painting.

At Durness hostel in a 12-bed dorm room, 11 bunks are taken by a group in the same motorbike club. I’m pretty sure I’m witnessing a world record for the volume of synchronised farting, burping and snoring. Next morning, one of the lads says, ”I felt sorry for you, with us lot in here – you’ll be going for a rebate!”

In the hostel kitchen I chat to a couple from Lancashire who are touring Scotland in a van. ”Every guidebook has exactly the same views and photos,” they tell me. The comment resonates strongly with me, and seems to validate what

I’m doing with my whole project.

It’s midnight on the summer solstice, and it’s still bright enough to walk across the moor without a torch.

It’s hard to describe how benign the landscape feels with clear paths, fields, trees and regular shops and cafes. The flatness of Caithness ahead feels as if the landscape is letting out a deep breath, after all the contorted drama of the northwest.

In this image of Farhaid Head, the low light angle brings both the distant cliffs and the foreground grass into dramatic relief, adding depth to the composition. Tonally, the dark clouds contrast with the landscape, evoking the rapidly changing weather typical in the far north of Scotland. The fine details of the foreground dune grass are enjoyable for the eye to move around and linger on.