Helen Mark heads for Sutherland, on the northern coast of Scotland, where she observes the changing moods and colours of the sea in a single day.
Daybreak finds Helen with Rachel Skene outside her tiny octagonal house perched on the end of the causeway across the Kyle of Tongue. It's a very calm morning, with not a sound from the sea - but, as Rachel says, you never quite know what the elements will throw at you when you step outside the door in the morning. For Rachel, the vastness of the sea brings comfort and reassurance - it's a constant, she says, in a constantly changing world, and its great expanse puts our problems into perspective.
As the sky brightens, Helen heads round Loch Eriboll to meet Graham Bruce, a headmaster at Durness, who takes Helen to his "secret beach", where in 20 years, he has only once met anyone else on the shoreline. For him, the beach is like something straight out of a storybook, a reminder of childhood, with its caves, its rock formations, its crystal-clear water and, best of all, its craggy natural arch. While the seas can be savage, Graham loves the power of the ocean, the wildness of the local landscape and, in particular, the clarity of the light in this part of Scotland.
Helen makes her way to Skerray, a tiny crofting community whose name translates as "between the rocks and the sea". Marilyn McFadyen explains the pure pleasure of watching the sea in its constant variety, and how simply observing it can take hours of her day, while Meg Telfer, an artist who draws inspiration from the sea, reflects on dùthchas, an old Gaelic word describing that sense of belonging where everything - the people, the land, the sea - works in harmony. That harmony, though, is not easy to maintain - Sinclair and Babe Mackay (who was born just a mile up the road) tell Helen about the dangers of the sea, a force which should never be underestimated, while writer Bruce Sandison explains why he views the sea as a vital part of our heritage, to be protected, nurtured and treasured rather than feared.
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