Summer 2025

Holy Island

Have you been? It’s this crazy little island that’s only acceptable during the low tide. Set off England's north east coast, it’s a short trip from where I live in Edinburgh.

Me and my wife took a short day trip in early summer. It was. Typical early summers day, with changeable weather and all the energy and excitement bubbling under the surface. 

A short 10min drive over the causeway brings you to the islands only town. Except for a couple of shops and cafes, the only thing to do is walk around the island. We headed north until we met the sea and a giant pointy thing, then doubled back towards the castle.

We paid the hefty entrance fees to enter the castle and monastery. The castle was lovely, and well worth a visit. The monastery on the other hand, while beautiful, wasn’t worth the fee. The history of both structures is striking and interesting.

Edinburgh Fringe

Edinburgh Fringe was very tiring. As such, I didn’t take many photos. The below collage is a small snippet of the whole of August.

Edinburgh Fringe is always tiring. This year, I opted to cram as much as possible into the first two weeks. Next year I’ll do the same, but I’ll take time off work.

Reflecting on shows and performances, this year I had a new feeling. The feeling of not hating improv at the end. The feeling that on average, the shows I was part of were good. It was a lovely feeling.

Inverness & The Cromarty Firth

In July, me and the wife took a trip north to Muir of Ord, a small village 30min outside of Inverness. The village itself is unremarkable, but provided access to a beautiful part of the country we’ed yet to explore.

An unexpected charm of the trip was exploring the beauty of the Cromarty Firth. Firth is a beautiful Scottish word for estuary (mouth of a large river).

It really felt like an unsung gem of Scotland. I’ve rarely heard anyone remark on it, but found the scenery, towns and people delightful.

The above image might seem unattractive, but the rigs stationed in the firth give it an an impressive sense of scale and presence. They aren’t actually drilling for oil, they’re there for repair.

One of the main attractions to heading to this part of Scotland was to visit Dunrobin Castle. The french stlyle architecture and beautiful gardens on the coast are picturesque.

While visiting the castle, we were treated to a falconry display. It gave me the opportunity to play with my telephoto zoom lens. Photographing falcons is quite difficult. Only about 4 or 5 photos from 400 or so were in focus. Thank goodness for high burst speeds.

It’s a corner of the world I hope to return to. Perhaps another summer.