Dumbarton Rock – Knightshoots Landscape Photography

Dumbarton Castle, Renfrew, Cloch Lighthouse and a Deep Depression.

South West Scotland 2021: Part Six

8 & 9 September 2021

As I planned, I scouted the area the other side of Dumbarton Rock, driving over the river and parking up near a small park area, and some smallish industrial looking buildings. The view was really nice, but the low tide definately didn’t do any favours here. I was right in thinking it was a high tide spot. Everything was how I wanted it on my return and I was pleased to see the weather was actually playing ball too – although all the local birdlife definately wasn’t. Every time the reflection looked clear, I opened the shutter for a long exposure shot to smooth the ripples that were blowing, and it seemed that this was the cue for every bird to do a sudden swim across the scene. I won’t lie, it actually got very frustrating to see shot after shot marred by happy white streaks as they sauntered right through the otherwise perfect reflection. The tide turned and I started getting convinced that I simply wouldn’t get this shot in time before the water was too shallow again, but finally they left me alone for a few minutes and I was able to get the shot I hoped for. Actually the sight of the rocks just under the water is quite pleasant, so maybe fate was guiding me to a slightly lower than high tide shot after all….

Then I finished Dumbartonshire.

Next up was… Well I was terribly indecisive. In the end I settled on East Renfrew, since it was just below Glasgow. I could head westward after, through the top counties, then head south along the coast to capture the Ayrshire ones. On the way through, I passed a spot I had marked as a lovely waterfall, so pulled off very excited to see it. Rouken Glen is a park just on the bottom part of Glasgow, and the photos I had seen of the falls here looked awesome. Not for me today however, for me, the falls were pathetic, and to my eye, literally not worth photographing. I couldn’t even get into a good position to capture the little dribble presented to me, so less than half an hour later I was walking back to the van wondering what to do next.

One of the spots I had marked on my map, was little more than a vague hope that the location was correct. I had seen a snap someone had posted from (I think) a fishing trip, labelled simply ‘White Cart Water, East Renfrew’ but the view behind him was something I thought I would love to see for myself. Trying to find the exact location however proved to be very tricky. Following the map closely for ages, up and down this very long river, I finally found some falls near a building that looked like they might be the right place. I’d marked this spot on my My Maps route planner, and today I drove on over, really hopeful for this one instead, as it was likely to be very picturesque. I got to the spot I thought it was at, only to discover, it wasn’t. There was nothing there. A small weir, with a ton of teenagers on it, and the building was non existent – just a seperate cottage not linked to the water at all.

I felt very frustrated. Maybe Fate was telling me I shouldn’t be here…

So I gave up on East Renfrew for now, and headed for a sure fire spot I was really excited to photograph, and plotted Inverclyde as my next county instead. There are several locations here I wanted to photograph, so I felt that it was going to be one of the easier counties on this trip. There was one lighthouse that I was particularly looking forward to photographing, and my greatly dampened mood was picked up as I drove on over there first. When I eventually got to it however, I was devestated to realise that there was literally nowhere to park. For such a highly photographed lighthouse, this was totally surprising to me. Where on earth do people park?!! Outside the lighthouse were a few parking spots very clearly labelled as residents only, but after a few drives up and down the road again, I felt I had absolutely no choice but to stop here for a few minutes to gather myself, and to work out what, if anything, I could do about this. I eventually had to get out to try to work out how to get down to the beach, since everything was so unclear. In the end I still couldn’t work it out, since there was no obvious tourist path down there – it seemed you had to climb down? I was so confused!! It began to feel so ridiculously impossible. With my stress levels rising, I walked up a bit instead, and found an easier climb down (still a climb though), and a possible parking spot to use… but I wasn’t overly thrilled at it. I would have to park right up on the pavement, and to the edge of the drop to allow enough clearance for walkers to get by safely without forcing them onto the road. Not that many people walked by here I mused, there seemed to be little else around. I drove back there anyway, carefully parking up, and I went down to the very rocky beach for a quick recce. It was a very uncomfortable walk, and even River seemed reluctant to walk across the oversized stones for too far. I stomached the pain of the twisting ankles for now, as I caught sight of my quarry, Clough Lighthouse. It was just as lovely as I hoped, however, I’d forgotten to check tide times, and the water was nowhere near as close to the building as I had hoped, leaving a pretty unslightly forground for my shots. Sunset was in about 30 minutes, so I took a picture of the glow on the lighthouse with my phone, quite hopeful that the colour might pick up and really kick off over the next half hour.

With plenty of time, I started back to pick up my main camera before I thought to check the app again for the sunset time. I felt a little suspicious that it might be sooner than 30 minutes, but the app said not… Not totally convinced, I double checked a secondary source though, and to my deepest disheartenment, saw the sun was setting NOW. I was really frustrated that the app had been wrong and hadn’t updated to match my location as it should, but more than this, that it was yet another thing going wrong today. With the roller coaster of high hopes and dashed plans on top of everything else over this week, I was at the end of my tether. Everything had been gradually chipping away at my morale and I suddenly began to feel chronically despirited and defeated. I miserably got back to the camper, kicking myself for not bringing the camera straight out first time, and I struggled to put on my sturdier boots. It all felt totally pointless. River angrily barked at anything that moved past us. It grated where it became such a repetitive and loud noise, and she just wouldn’t stop. The traffic passed by loudly as well, shaking the van with every big vehicle that went past, and as is want by some drivers, honking horns to disturb a camper sitting quietly, happened here too. My negativity finally spiralled completely out of control and I went into a mini meltdown, struggling not to cry. Did I want to move the van? Try this tomorrow? But move to where??!! It’s getting dark, and I don’t know this area enough to know where I might stay! But I dont want to be here! But where else would you go?!!

As I just sat for the next 40 minutes, totally unable to function, it started raining outside, and I just gave up. I hadn’t even seen the cloud roll in, I was so locked in my dark place. Sod it. Stay here, I am probably unsafe to try and move Fred anyway right now, and who knows… maybe tomorrow morning all this will all look better. I curled up into bed and gave in to the tears. It was the only thing I was physically able to do right now.

It rained all night.

9 September

Today started where yesterday left off. It was rainy, grim, and visibility was poor. I made breakfast, a cup of tea and just sat there totally unable to focus or think. I had no idea what to do. It just felt like this whole week had been a battle.

Then Emily text me asking if I could transport a large item for her today or tomorrow. I quickly checked the lighthouse, and seeing that there was definitely no shot there, I told her I would be over in an hour. I tidied everything away, making it safe for driving (nothing worse than things flying around the van when you are concentrating on the road!), and started the drive back to Glasgow. To my horror I instantly realised I had no wipers working. I really couldn’t believe this on top of everything else!! Thankfully the rain was minimal, so I drove gingerly to Greenock where I spotted a kwikfit and pulled in. I almost couldn’t believe the bad news that they didn’t do any electrical work on vehicles. Seeing my distress however, the guy at the desk very kindly directed me to a road which was full of garages that would probably be able to help. I thanked him very gratefully, wiped my screen dry and followed his directions. My luck continued as it started… The first garage there, had no electrician, and he directed me to a second – the second was too busy and directed me to a third – the third – well the third completely ignored me standing in reception. They saw me there, stood around chatting among themselves, but no-one had the common decency to speak to me or even acknowledge me. I didn’t dare open my mouth for fear of what might come out by now. I had been working myself into an ever downward spiral, so eventually just left, fuming, desperately low and close to tears yet again. The rain had temporarily stopped, so I thoroughly wiped the windows again and headed to Glasgow instead. If I could get there, maybe the AA could help!

When I got there, Emily gave me a big hug and made a warming cuppa while I called the AA. They arrived in quick time, and the chap did a really thorough check of everything. He eventually had to look at every single fuse individually when he found the wiper one to be fine. It took him a while, standing out in the drizzle, but he was good natured and very calm as he methodically worked his way through the problem, eventually finding the dead one. He changed it, and everything worked again, including a bunch of other things that I had noted wern’t working, but hadn’t really thought too much about – Wipers, blowers, cigarette lighter sockets and the reversing camera. He suggested that whoever had put the reversing camera in, had connected it to this circuit, and that perhaps it was a bit too heavy a load for the fuse. He gave me two spare 10 amp fuses so that if it went again, I would be able to drive safely home, and then I could take Fred to a garage. What a relief… I suddenly felt such a weight lifted. Had all these little things also being weighing me down as well?

I took Emily’s thing to her studio, then we went back to her flat where we had a quick bit of tea. She had to go back out again, so I sat quietly, safely, and warmly, while I backed up all my photos, charged the laptop and my phone, had a shower and just watched a bit of TV. Tonight everything felt so much better!!!

My Adventures

Dumpling and Dumbarton Castle

South West Scotland 2021: Part Four

5&6 September 2021

I woke up in my lovely forest parking spot quite refreshed, but I really struggled to get myself motivated. I had no idea why. I think maybe yesterday had been a bit of a blow, even though I had managed some recovery in the end.

I eventually got myself together, and made my way to the first location in my next county, West Dumbartonshire. Here I found myself at the northernmost location on my list, The Dumpling, a perfectly positioned hill that overlooked the southern end of Loch Lamond. Parking was easy, and the walk, although steep in parts, wasn’t long, and before I realised it, I was standing on top of the hill looking out at the view that was… well, very disappointing. I have seen some cracking shots from here, but today, even though the sun was shining, most of the loch was lost to a very heavy haze. I had a small lunch with me, so I waited some time, just chilling to see if it would lift, and though it did a little, after nearly two hours I gave up. I hoped I might be able to recover whatever shots I had managed to get, in the editing stage, but I dont think they are too great. I pretty much only saved one of them – sort of – its definately not of a quality I am happy with. Strangely, my eyes could see more than my camera at the time, which actually quite curious.

View of Loch Lamond from from The Dumpling

On way down my footing slipped on the very dry and dusty ground, and I instictively reached out to grab something to break my fall. Without looking, my hand found a thick, very thorny bramble, and as I went down it tore through my flesh. I startled (and worried) River as I landed, yelping in pain. My hand instantly poured with blood and I had to stop to pull out a bunch of thorns and try to supress the bleeding, before I could continue any further. This really dragged me down on top of a whole bunch of things I was already feeling. I gingerly continued down until I got back to the van, managed to clean and dress my hand properly, and made myself a calming cup of tea. I sat for some time, contemplating what to do next. I was now out of milk, and still needed anti histermine for my very itchy face, so went to find a local shop. Unfortunately, they only sold the expensive branded stuff (I won’t pay for a name if I can help it) and no skimmed milk, so I changed my plans a little and went to find a supermarket at Dumbarton instead, aiming to get some fuel at the same time.

Now I was here, I hoped to try Dumbarton Castle – only to find it closed due to covid restrictions. This just felt so sad on top of everything else. Feeling a little sorry for myself, I settled for a wander instead, with River, my mobile phone, and no weight on my back. I took a snap of the castle from the front and then explored all around the castle rock to as far as I could walk. The last of the blue sky quickly left, turning more and more cloudy until it gradually started raining. I returned without exploring much further, loosing motivation completely for tonight, had some dinner, and just stayed put.

Mobile photo of the front and lower levels of Dumbarton Castle

I did find this castle to be an interesting location to be sitting next to however! It struck me as being a very unusual looking hill, and you could see it from quite a distance as you drove in. It was very steeply sided, while there was no other hill close by, and the town of Dumbarton was laying all around the base of it. Curiosity grabbed me as I settled for the evening and I found myself looking up its history, both geological and human. Turns out it was formed by a volcano some 350 million years ago. A lava flow basically hardened in the middle of the volcano, plugging the vent, and after years of weathering, ice erosion and ground movement, the outer, softer layers of rock gradually wore themselves away, leaving just this ‘plug’ of hardened basalt rock. From Iron age times, it has been used by people as a spot for a fortification, being particularly suited to seeing enemies well before they are near, and being fairly impenetrable once they had arrived. It also housed prisioners (like William Wallace) and served to hide monarchy as they waitied to flee. (Mary Queen of Scots hid here before fleeing to France) Quite a spot I think!

6 September

It rained all night and quite late into the morning. Eventually it stopped at 11ish, so I took River for a walk just to get her moving and to go to the loo if she needed it. She didn’t want to come out initially, but I made her anyway and she eventually loved it when we got going. I left the camera in the van not thinking I would see much in this miserable weather, hoping simply for an exploratory walk upstream. I had my mobile for any reference shots if I needed it. As it goes, I did end up spotting an interesting view that I hoped would work at high tide – if the water stilled long enough. (see header) I went back to the van, had lunch, and decided to leave again at around 1-ish ready for high tide at 2. River chose to stay, so I headed out alone for the picture I aimed to get. The tide was now fully in, but the water didn’t really still completely as I had hoped. I did manage to get a shot that showed the volcanic dome well though. Now I knew the history, it seemed all the more interesting to me and I really found it fascinating to try and visualise a much bigger volcano in this area.

I tried a couple of other shots of some rotted pier legs (I assumed that was what they were) but the shots didn’t really work here. It gradually started raining again and I didn’t really want to leave River alone for too long so I made my way back to Fred and chilled out for a while.

When the rain stopped, it was much later, but I decided to go out again, this time back to the front of the castle. The light wasn’t great but I hoped that when the tide was fully out I could possibly try a bit of bird spotting as there seem to be quite a few wading birds here. Unfortunately I struggled to photograph or identify any birds, because the tide had already gone so far out, they were impossible to see clearly, even with my 400mm lens! The castle was grey and dull with a heavy black cloud over it, so any pictures there were a bust too.

As I stood aimlessly looking downstream, I noticed some sun rays were trying to break through the dark cloud. They looked really pretty as they danced across the scene at the end of the river. Initially they were quite a distance away, but then I realised the cloud was actually very slowly making its way up towards my position. I watched and hoped they would come up this far for a while, before I realised I should be photographing them!! I hurridly got the camera out, focused, and snapped a few shots, fearful the beams would fade one last time. They never did come right up to me, but just as a nice one was streaking through, I heard geese behind me. I didn’t dare turn round but kept my eye on the beam as the light strengthened. As soon as they started to dim, I thought, I would press the shutter regardless – but at the same time I prayed that the birds would get into the shot. Please hang on, please hang on, please hang on!!! I held my breath as I prayed, and then, there they were – 4 birds were flying through my frame! I pressed the shutter. Hoping and praying I had a decent shot as the screen went black, I gasped when I saw what I had captured. Those geese couldn’t have been in a more perfect position!!

The beam was just on the turn, so the timing couldn’t possibly be any better either. The shot looked great and I was over the moon! The hole in the cloud closed shortly after this, and in no time it got to a point that there was no light at all and so close to sunset that the cloud effectively presented a prematurely dark and grim night. Nonetheless…it was a happy end to the day!