Greenan Castle – Knightshoots Landscape Photography

Girvan, Turnberry Lighthouse, and Greenan Castle

South West Scotland 2021: Part Seventeen

21 September 2021

When I awoke I felt a bit more refreshed, but didn’t want to push myself too hard to start, so I took River for a short walk to have a look around and a bit of an explore. Although Girvan was a stopover location, it wasn’t marked as a photographic one, so I wasn’t too sure what else might be here. We were parked right by the beach, so it was a really pleasant start listening to the sounds of the sea! I looked first to see if there was fresh or waste water service points, but couldn’t find anything but another loo disposal. I didn’t need that sadly, so just left it and took River down to the beach. She liked it here (as did I to be fair!) but she still didn’t venture into the water. This pooch loves a river or lake, but hates going into the sea. Fussy or what?! As we walked, I noticed some lovely light on the harbour arm, that also hit two houses way off in the background, so I went back for my camera and decided to try my first photos of the day right here.

River and I walked the length of the concrete bit of harbour, aiming for the lighthouse at the end, but I didn’t find it too pretty and the sun refused to hit it to help any chance of an image. I turned round to face back towards the rocky arm and the view that had first caught my eye. The sun was now only on the two white houses, but I took a number of photos here, waiting for the light – which flatly refused to move back to my subject. Eventually I gave up. The breeze was a little too much and I got cold, so I packed everything away, and started back towards the van. It was a real bonus seeing the view walking from the opposite direction, as I realised that the composition of my scene started looking better, and then as if to prove a point, the sun suddenly hit the arm again! I quickly got everything out and managed to capture a much better image. This not only had the sun on it, but where the framing was much better, I was over the moon! What I’d realised was that by walking back halfway down the concrete arm, the end position of the stone one moved more out in the open compared to it being cluttered and lost in with the rest of the land. Perspective. Not a thing I consider usually. How many other shots might I have missed?! By the time I got back to the van I felt a little chuffed, since this was a location I had stumbled on by accident. What a start to today!

From here I decided to check out Turnberry lighthouse. I knew I wanted this for a sunset shot, but right now it was fairly close so worth checking out for the parking, if nothing else. The parking was easy, and as I walked over to the lighthouse itself, the sky cleared and offered a warm start to the day. Walking in the sunshine felt lovely and calming so I took my time really enjoying myself as I checked out some nice positions for later. To get to this lighthouse, you have to walk through the Turnberry golf course, but River was very good and didn’t venture near the golfers, choosing to sniff the edges of the paths and the rocky outcrops near the beach area instead. Where the weather was so nice, I dropped back to the camper and picked up my camera. River didn’t want to come back out so I left her in there while I ventured back to get a shot of the lighthouse in the sunshine. It looked quite nice, though it definitely would have benefited from some side light to give the building some shading. As it was, my timing, and its position meant you either had it in full light, or total shadow by photographing from the other side into the sun. I knew I was aiming to come back later anyway, so wasn’t too worried.

Once back at the camper, I had a lunch, and headed back to Greenan, just for one last chance, and found myself there at almost the right time for the tides. I was still slightly late, but watching the water recede at such a pace, I realised it would take some fine timing to get it perfect, and quite likely, a need to walk out into the water before it receded too much. I set up nonetheless, with the weather flicking between sun and cloud in just a short time. As soon as the wind dropped, I managed some pretty reflections, which satisfied my hopes for this location a little. Yes, I could think of better conditions, but on my third attempt, I was happy to get this much! I noticed the light hitting the curve in the rock base really nicely, so I took shots from a different angle until I was happy that I had done all that I could today.

The breeze was still a bit of a pain, and the tide just a tad bit low, but I almost managed the reflection shot I hoped for.

With 2 hours to sunset, I headed back to Turnberry, and couldn’t resist taking a simple shot of a golfing green in a burst of sunshine (see header). The green looked incredibly lush against the growing black clouds in the sky. Then I realised that the clouds were building where the sun was going to set, and my sunset hopes were being dashed again. I went straight one spot I had checked out earlier, and set up anyway, grabbing a nice shot of sunbeams over a fisherman. He wasn’t there for long after I took this, and I often wonder if he was as in awe of this light as I was, or whether he was too engaged in his own hobby to even notice.

What gorgeous sun rays tonight. and the fisherman just finished this one off perfectly

I hadn’t checked out the tide level so was disappointed to find that the water was totally out when I got back to my final position of the day. However, I was really pleased to notice that the volcanic plug turned island, Ailsa Craig, could be seen really clearly in the background from here. I moved a little left and right, up on a rock, and lower to the ground until I managed to position it nicely in shot… then one thin bit of light hit the lighthouse… I had to shoot right now!

Turnberry Lighthouse just as the sun was setting. Would love to retry this with a higher tide.

As I was taking the photo I heard River crying a little, over to the side of me. Concerned she was stuck on a rock, I called her over only to notice her acting a little strange. I immediately left my camera and dashed over to her talking calmly, and trying to encourage her down, but I noticed her moving a little oddly. She seemed fixed in place, and on one side, one front leg and one back leg seemed to be doing their own thing. The look in her eyes showed absolute fear. Concerned I gently stroked and reassured her, checking to see if she had hurt herself or was caught on anything. Eventually, after finding nothing obviously wrong, I was terrified she was having some kind of stroke. However, within a minute, whatever was happening passed, and she began moving normally again, acting like nothing had happened. I just brushed it off in the end, keeping her much closer to me so I could keep an eye on her. She carried on as normal after that, and on seeing her happy wagging tail, the worry fell to the back of my mind.

Once it became clear there was not going to be any colour in the sky, I packed up and intended to drive down to Loch Doon ready for my East Ayrshire stint. I hadn’t really wanted to do that drive in the dark, but today felt like a such a success I wanted to leave on a high note. I hadn’t actually plotted anywhere to stop the night, so I began the drive as the last of the light faded, trusting to chance at finding somewhere en route. I stopped a fair bit later when I spotted some motorhomes nestled in among some trees nearer my location. I had no idea where I was, but I was too tired to continue driving safely, and I knew I wasn’t too far from where I hoped to be tomorrow. This seemed like a good enough spot for sure, and once bedded down, I was asleep in minutes!

My Adventures

Clean up day, the Irving Dragon, Greenan Castle, and…

South West Scotland 2021: Part Sixteen

19 September 2021

I had a glorious nights sleep… Possibly the best in ages, and I seriously did NOT want to get out of bed. Lazing until gone 9.30, I finally got up and just did a slow potter, cleaning myself and the van at a very gentle pace. I took a short walk out with River to give her a chance to stretch her legs and spotted a small rainbow over Hunterston Pier, before wandering back to the camper. It was all very chill!

I was very mindful of needing to empty the portaloo, and get some water, and even though I was tempted to retry the castle later, I decided that these items were getting to be a priority. I looked at Ayr, where the council were trying a scheme allowing motorhomes overnight parking, and services for £5. I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay a night there however, (it wasn’t near any of my photographic locations) but I had no objection to just paying for the services and thought a good drive might also help Fred’s Leisure batteries. This then, would be my first course of action today. I arrived at the car park, and found the motorhome parking area easily, although couldn’t immediately find any services. I eventually found an unmarked (or labelled) yellow portaloo disposal point/ thing, with no instructions on what to do, so I had to inspect, and guess how to do this. I couldn’t see anywhere for my waste water, or any fresh water tap either (the term serviceS was obviously a bit of a stretch! LOL). Maybe the waste water went in with the loo water, but I had no way to transport it FROM the tank in Fred, so had to leave it. Normally, you open the tap under the van over a grating, and they clearly didn’t have that here. Maybe I should look into finding a sports bottle or some such just for an alternative disposal method. Looking at my park for night app, I found two symbols I didn’t recognise… One was a public loo… But the other, thankfully, was a water fountain! I drove closer, had a look at it, and then filled as best as I could – 3 loads of my small water carriers, taking an absolute age each time, and proving quite heavy to carry and lift! Putting the water into Fred, it raised the tank level to half full… Hopefully enough to finish the trip. Now I just needed to conserve the leisure batteries, and hopefully find another area for the waste water over the next few days.

Unsure on what to do next I decided to drive to Irving for a sculpture I had seen that had really taken my fancy. The Irving Dragon was created by artist Roy Fitzsimmons, apparently using the red sandstone from an old demolished railway bridge. I’ve no idea how old it is, certainly not ancient, but I found mention of it being there in the 1980’s at least. On arrival I found a huge car park a very short walk away, and several campers here. After parking up, I took River for the short walk to find the dragon, deciding to come back when the light was a softer shade of yellow. It was a bit harsh at the moment (see header), although in hindsight I quite like lighting in the photo above. As sunset approached, I climbed the hill again, but was saddened to notice that although there were still very few clouds above me, several were building on the horizon. Another chap was there with his camera, and began chatting to me. He grabbed so much of my attention that I missed my chance to capture much at all, and completely missed the sunset in the end. Disappointed, I tried what I could, but once the sun had fallen behind the cloud, the dragons colour went very flat.

Just missed the best part of the sunset… but maybe I’ll have better luck tomorrow?

I returned to the camper and watched as night fell, and the moon rose. I simply couldn’t be bothered to try a night time shot, so stayed in bed really struggling to sleep… looking at my watch for the last time at just gone 3am.

20 September 2021

I was awake again at 6.30, but refused to get up. I tried my hardest to go back to sleep but it didn’t happen, eventually getting up at 7.30 and pottering around the van. Finally, I decided I should try the dragon in morning light, preparing to go without the full camera bag, and to just travel light. I gathered the tripod, dog and left to see what I could get. There was a cloud building, but it still gave a few intermittent bursts of light that looked great. Setting up the tripod in one of the positions I had settled on, I went to grab my camera off my shoulder, to realise it wasn’t there! I checked if I had put it down. Nope… then realised I must have left it in the camper! Full of annoyance at myself, I picked the tripod up and trudged all the way back down the hill, noting that the cloud was actually closing in pretty fast. When I got to Fred, I saw it sitting on the drivers seat waiting for me. (how lucky was I not to come back to a smashed window, and missing camera eh?!) I slogged back up the hill again, just as the last beam of light hit.. Then it was gone. I set up anyway, and waited just in case another glimmer happened, and I waited… and I waited. Eventually I gave up, I took a few cursory shots, anyway, and came back to the camper. I was too tired and grumpy to stick around.

With North Ayrshire done, I decided to start South Ayrshire, and I headed to a location I was very keen on seeing – Greenan Castle. This castle was literally perched on the edge of a cliff, giving a chance of a really dramatic shot – if I could time it right! I drove to the car park nearby, and the cloud abated in the wind giving me blue skies for a little bit. As I arrived at the car park I was saddened to see that it was another with a height barrier, so just parked on the street. The walk over was fairly easy, but the tide was far too high for the shot I hoped for. I had a good wander though, setting up in a different position to the side and by a pool, waiting for the wind to settle to take the reflection shot… I waited… and I waited… and again gave up. It wasn’t going to happen, and in reality, I wasn’t that pleased with the water level at this spot at any rate. I took one shot of it between gusts of strong wind, (well I was here after all!) before picking everything up and walking back to Fred.

Greenan Castle. I almost got this shot breeze free… almost. Need the water here to be a little higher to cover the seaweed too I think. Otherwise I like the position

I thought I would try Dunure Castle instead, and drove there as the cloud made its return. The weather was very changeable in this wind today! The ruined castle looked very flat in the now cloudy light, but again, looked pretty dramatic standing on the edge of a cliff. The cloud did lend itself to a moody shot instead, so I tried that. Unfortunately, for some odd reason, I couldn’t really get it to work for me, even though I tried from several sides and angles. I realised that I was very tired from the lack of sleep, so didn’t beat myself up over it, putting today down to being a scouting day instead. These locations had a lot of promise despite my inability to get the dreamed for shots today. This one for instance, I think would look great with a little dramatic light directly on the castle and a higher tide.

Dunure Castle…. This would be perfect with light on the castle, plenty of mood behind, and a higher tide, I think!

As it was on its way out, it didn’t really work here, but I realised that I might have better luck back at Greenan castle instead, now the water was lower. I drove back there, went to look, and was shocked to see the tide was actually so far out, that I had missed my chance entirely! With a tidal water that moved in or out extremely quickly over the beach area, opportunities for the shot I hoped for, at this location, were obviously only available in a very small window!! I gave up for today.

Instead I decided to have a drive down to Girvan, to hopefully see if the services and parking were better there, and to pick up a little shopping. I got to the parking spot after the sun had set, so just settled in for the night, planning everything else for the morning.