This is perhaps one of Scotland's most distinctive hills. The mountains of Sutherland may not possess the gross height so appealing to Munro baggers, mountaineering's very own trainspotters - though having said that, ascent usually involves a good hike from the road and more often than not commences close to sea-level, rather than a thousand, automotively negotiated feet above it - but what they lack in point-scoring altitude, they more than compensate for in singularity and character. The reward awaiting those who reach their summits far exceeds that to be found atop their larger southern cousins. When one reaches the top of a Cairngorm all one sees is another Cairngorm in a farm of Cairngorms.
Nor are they arranged in militarily orderly rows defining and enclosing oppressive claustrophobic glens. They stand alone, ageless monuments in a timeless wilderness, visible for miles around, each with a personality of its own.
Suilven dominates the Assynt skyline. Its appearance is constantly changing. I sometimes photograph it without realising. This is not some deep-seated obsession. The photographer is always seeking something new. This hill offers something different by the day, by the hour and by the minute. I have yet to take a picture of it that I have been entirely satisfied with. As if knowing this, it looms over me, demanding that I try again. Capturing it perfectly is not possible. The day I take the "perfect" picture of it is the day I give up, for if I ever believe I have done so, I will have lost whatever it is that makes me want to take photographs.

Location: Assynt, Sutherland