The Mermaid of Assynt

It was a day cold enough to freeze the wotsits off a wotsit. 

We pulled over to gaze at the pines that materialized from a small island in Loch Assynt, Near Lochinver in the North West Highlands of Scotland.

Further down there is a castle. Folklore tells of MacLeod's lost daughter, Eimhir and her continued appearance in the Loch. Instead of jumping to her death, people believed that Eimhir plunged from the castle into the caverns of the Loch. She hid from the devil to whom she was promised. Eimhir made a new home beneath these dark cold waters. She was the 'mermaid of Assynt'. When the loch's water rise above their usual levels, these are Eimhir's tears mourning her life lost on the land.

Light was falling and we returned to the car, leaving Eimhir to her waters.

Pine Trees emerge to greet those who stop to look.