Tony's Steps.

After the long drive up to Cullen yesterday for a short break I had a nice refreshing walk along the coastal path from the pet cemetery to Findlater Castle. I need to have some degree of fitness for the trip back to St Kilda in a month’s time when I hope to be keeping up with youngsters half my age on rough and heavy terrain. Having been watching videos on compositions with a wide angle lens, my target for the day was to practise what I should have learnt, on the beaches at low tide.
 
I’ve probably told this story before in this journal but, the Blip is of the cairn built by the good folk of Cullen in memory of Tony Hetherington who took a vow of silence for the six months it took him to build the steps in the background, using only two simple tools, in 1987. He died just six years later while white-water canoeing in Austria with friends from the RAF. This spot is a popular training ground for climbers and the extra is taken from the top of the steps (out of view in the main picture) before they descend on the other side of the ridge. I’ve estimated that the weight of many of the stones used is over 200 lbs. (90 kg or 14 stone), but I haven’t tried to lift any.