#stunningnature In today's video we're exploring Vatersay's coast with its long sandy beaches, secluded bays and rock pools. We foraged tasty seaweed and made a new friend!
This video was filmed last October, my hard drive broke and I had to get it fixed before being able to edit this video. I have quite a lot more footage of our Scotland adventures that I'd love to share with you soon. I hope you don't mind traveling back in time with me. ;) Back then there wasn’t so much coronavirus about, and most of the Islanders were keen to welcome careful visitors. Still, we made sure to self-isolate before and after the journey, just to be safe. Now though, even the Outer Hebrides are in strict lockdown, and there has been a terrible coronavirus outbreak on Vatersay and there is no hospital. So if you are thinking about following in our footsteps soon, please make sure you’re up to date with the current rules, and also with what the island communities want.
I decided to get up at the crack of dawn to walk down to the beach
and watch the sun rise over the ocean.
The sea breeze in my hair and the sun on my face,
there's something really special about the first sunlight of the day.
So I chose to capture a few of my favorite moments.
To take at least some of this early morning magic back home with me.
I don't naturally wake up early, quite the opposite really.
It takes a good reason, willpower and determination to get me out of bed before eight.
But it's so worth it when I do.
Watching the sun rise and flood the world in its warm light,
it just fills me with so much excitement and happiness
and the sea feels like the best place for it.
So I walked back to our temporary home on the island
for a cup of coffee, some breakfast and then like most mornings,
Josh and I studied the map of the island to choose a place to explore for the day.
Today it was going to be a chain of long sandy beaches,
secluded bays and rock pools along a peninsula on Watase.
I was walking along the beach when a head popped out of the water,
a pair of curious eyes looking at me.
The seals swim closer, diving and coming up again
and following us all along the coast.
We passed a few rock pools with an abundance of seaweeds growing in them.
Seaweeds are not plants, they're algae and some of them are really tasty.
We picked a couple of handfuls of sea letters.
And I think it's worth mentioning that when you forage seaweed,
don't just pull it off the rock.
It's best to use a knife or a pair of scissors so it can regrow again.
We tend to bring a knife and Tupperware box on our hikes
just in case we stumble upon something we want to forage.
The rocks of the Outer Hepates are some of the oldest in Europe,
about two or three billion years old.
On this peninsula, lots of the rocks are scattered with mineral veins.
Some of these veins are more and some less resistant than the surrounding rock
to erosion and weathering by the coastal forces of nature,
such as the sea spray and windblown sand.
This leaves furrows and ridges crisscrossing in beautiful patterns.
One of the beaches was almost entirely made out of tiny fragments of shells,
coral and sea urchin plates washed to the shore by the tides and the waves.
Back home, we washed and prepared the sea letters
and fried them until they became nice and crispy.
I truly am in awe of this expansive, mysterious sea
and all of its distinctly different moods.
Sometimes even within the same day,
first big angry waves crashing against the rocks
and then, just a few hours later,
so perfectly still, the surface a vast mirror reflecting the sky.
If you enjoyed this video,
liking, subscribing to my channel or signing up to my Patreon really helps me create more.
I will see you next time.
