The Golden Cape Mabou Highlands from West Mabou

After leaving the Colindale guardrails, I continued on to West Mabou: I was on my way to one last dinner at the Mull in Mabou, but, when I reached the pond near the Cèilidh Cottages and Campground in West Mabou, the sheer beauty of the scene in the golden sun compelled me to stop for more photos of this beautiful area. This location is further north and inland (east) of the Colindale guardrails and rather higher in elevation, with a wider view of the southern Cape Mabou Highlands extending from Mabou Harbour Mouth to Northeast Mabou.

Photo #1 is a very wide-angled view of the lovely terrain seen from this vantage point, showing much of the pond faithfully reflecting the skies in the foreground, a very small strip of the Mabou River in the centre, and the southern Cape Mabou Highlands basking in the golden sun. The browns, tans, and golds of the beautiful scene are enhanced by a small touch of red from the few remaining leaves on the small tree in the left foreground.

The next three photos form a more or less connected panorama, showing portions of photo #1 in considerably more detail. Photo #2 looks at the right part of the (unnamed) mountain at the left of photo #1. The land on the lower slope at the far left (as well as the open areas below and to the right) has been recently ploughed, leaving furrows that can be picked out in this compressed version only with some squinting, but are readily visible in the original. I have long been intrigued by this prominence with its open areas at the summit and what appears to be an open path through the forest reaching there: the views must be spectacular from the top! The Mabou River is invisible in this view, but the line of utility poles spanning the photo is along Mabou Harbour Road, which follows the river’s course fairly closely.

Photo #3 looks at the centre of photo #1, where the folds of the Highlands show fall colours enhanced by the golden sun. The Mabou River is clearly visible in this photo, apparently in the foreground, but actually about 1 km (0.6 mi) away and considerably lower than the pond. As seen in photo #1 on the previous page, the area of the folds still has good bands of colour, though many of the trees on the upper hillsides are bare. The orange tree about a quarter of the way in from the right stands out here as well as in the aforementioned photo; in addition, this view shows bright colours remaining on the trees above the water’s edge on the north side of the Mabou River and a vivid stand of orangish trees in the centre of the photo, though the rest of the colours are mostly post-peak.

Photo #4 looks at the right of photo #1, where the great bulk of the highland above Northeast Mabou requires a shorter focal length to capture than was used in the two previous photos. The bands of colour seen in photo #3 continue inland, but magnification reveals fairly dull post-peak colours and many bare trees on these slopes—the sun makes them appear considerably more colourful than they actually are, as I can attest from my drive through the area earlier in the afternoon, which lacked any sun.