Reflecting on Dunnottar Castle

Dunnottar Castle is in an amazing setting. It is on a tall pillar of rock almost cut off. It;s what a proper castle should be like - ie a bit Game of Thrones - and you can pay to go in. It's worth the trip to Stonehaven to see it. As you can see, I was having trouble photographing it into the Sun. I've been posting before about working out that the colour of the sea is usually a reflection of the sky. So think about the bright sections of sea furthest away on these photographs. They look like they are directly reflecting the Sun because they are in line with the Sun. But there's a problem - they are effectively behind the Sun. Sunlight has to bounce down and up off the sea so that the angle of incidence = angle of reflection. That should light up somewhere in the foreground. Light can't easily go away and then bounce forwards. Here are two possible theories. 1. That the waves were strong that day because of the wind. This presents a vertical reflecting surface that will fire light forwards again. 2. That the Sun is brightly illuminating clouds in the distance and this is what is reflected. I'll have to check theory 1 on a calm day.