Elgol, the Kayaker at Dusk

When someone called Merlin tells you to try Elgol for sunset, you go for it.

It was April on Skye and, as always, we were looking for somewhere to watch the sun go down. Asking a local is always a good place to start and Merlin did not disappoint.

We headed off down the road to Elgol, unsure of what was there, but as the light was already starting to change we had to go with it. The tide was pushing in by the time we arrived, but we followed a line of rocks round the edge of the cliff, doing our best to keep our feet dry. We knew we could come back over the headland if the water came up too far, so we carried on, with the dogs taking the direct route through the sea, making it look easy.

The Cuillin looked huge and impressive across the water, with the angle of the sun causing those layers of faded blue I love to see. It was a calm, still evening and the loch reflected the colours in the sky as they changed from pinks to soft blues. We sat there for a while and just watched the light change.

Then a kayaker slowly appeared from the north. A small yellow boat moving across the water with no sound and hardly a ripple. She was part of the scene now, paddling through the last of the light with the whole mountain range behind her.

We stayed a while as the blues began to darken, but walked back before it got too dark. Our feet got wet this time as the tide had covered the rocks and we chose to wade round the edge rather than climb back over the headland.