Tiny Harbours - Castletown
Brough Pier & Castletown Harbour, Caithness, Scotland
As part of my ongoing tiny harbours project, I drove the North Coast 500 route in Scotland and on the same evening took the opportunity to visit 2 very different tiny harbours in close proximity to Dunnet Head, the most northerly part of mainland Great Britain.
Brough harbour was the 1st stop. An extremely tiny harbour with just the 1 stone-built pier jutting out towards Orkney on the horizon with an imposing sea stack just off the shore providing some nearby interest within the water. With it being low tide at the time I visited, the stack was joined to the land by a very rocky and uneven seabed. I would’ve liked the tide to be in to isolate the rock but I was only passing and you get what you’re given I guess.
Castletown harbour was a more typical design with harbour walls all around creating some respite for the moored boats against the relentless North Sea that batters the nearby shoreline. 2 boats were moored within the harbour but all buildings around were derelict with many being severely damaged and partially demolished. Such a shame. I bet these buildings were the life for past generations relying on the herring trade that was so prevalent within this region.
All the below photographs were taken with the Fujifilm XT5 and 23 mm f2 lens (so 35 mm equivalent focal length). This setup is fast becoming my go to for everyday travel photography as it allows for sufficient detail to be captured within the image so that context is there without the choice of focal lengths, different lenses etc.
