road trip – Page 2 – Knightshoots Landscape Photography

Greenfield Brook

Greater Manchester 2021: Part Two

18 November 2021

It took a lot to get me out today. I had no real reason for it, but maybe yesterday had hit me harder than I thought. I just wanted to hide away. Eventually though, I told myself I was only going to do one thing – a waterfall – and then I’d be back to Fred. Yes, it would be a pretty long walk, but it was going to be mostly flat around the reservoirs. Maybe, I would try a hike right up the river that I’d come a cropper at yesterday, but I would see how I felt. I wasn’t going to be silly, if the falls I wanted proved to be above my spot yesterday, I would leave it for a different time… I wasn’t ready to hike up that far after seeing the lack of a footpath last night!

And then, there I was, after much heavy persuasion, I was finally out. The walk there was a very slow plod. I felt tired, and heavy. My knee kept feeling like it was going to give out, so I took it all at a gentler pace that I could manage. Looking up at the hills, I was glad I had done that hike yesterday though, as the tops were all gone, sitting under heavy cloud and mist, which persisted down at ground level as a light but constant drizzle.

Eventually I got to the point where I could see up the stream I was aiming to follow, and to my joy, right at the top I could actually see the waterfall I was hoping for. As a double bonus, beside the river here, I could see a footpath! The river tumbled down several smaller waterfalls, but my eye was on the big one… I did feel slightly reserved as I looked at it, today it was gushing, and well.. maybe not quite as pretty as I had hoped (fussy moo right?!)

Undeterred, I started the hike up, and as the trip continued, I found myself climbing and slipping over large boulders, until eventually, the route was totally impassable. I could see my foot path actually headed to the stream instead here, so I followed it and saw that it might be possible to cross here – sometimes. Today the water was gushing past at some force, and although I did get halfway across, there was no chance I was going to make it all the way. I would either have to find a method to scale a huge smooth boulder, or I was going to have to wade across. I wasn’t about to do either with this torrent. As I pondered the situation, I came to realise that this shoot, sadly, was going to have to be abandoned for today. Late spring might be better, with a good flow of water, but not so much that the river was flowing at a possibly dangerous rate. Oh, and maybe after a dry spell, so the boulders to the sides, wouldn’t be so slippery – these were proving a little lethal at the moment! Well, I consoled myself, at least I had tried, and I HAD worked out a better time that might be far more suitable for this particular location. Satisfied that my efforts weren’t totally wasted, I started back down. After a short clamber, I spotted a second possible crossing point. Again, the flow of the water was just that bit too aggressive for my liking, but I felt this might be a better crossing point for my return visit in the future.

As I looked upstream, one of the smaller falls caught my eye, and I suddenly realised that it was stupid to abandon this hike altogether, just because I couldn’t get to the bit I’d hoped for. This one, on its own, was also lovely! I took the camera out and very joyously took the photos. (see header) This felt so much better, and the images looked wonderful on the back of camera. Normally I am not fond of a ‘yellow’ waterfall. The mud washing down in the water always looks dirty, but here? Here I thought the colour worked perfectly, reflecting all the autumnal yellows and oranges around me, balancing the shades out. I found myself loving it here!

A short walk later and I stopped a second time. Another gorgeous cascade… I took this shot wide enough to capture the moody atmosphere. The mists had dropped all around me, giving a very closed in feeling to this part of the fall. I loved how it helped intensify my feelings of a private seclusion. It was just me, and this little bit of landscape at one point. (see image above)

A bit further, and I stopped for lunch before considering a third angle at yet another cascade. As I sat there some workmen pulled up in an open backed truck, and started work a short way ahead. Initially, I thought they might be rescue workers coming to help someone stuck up where I had been last night. The thought gave me the chills, even after I realised they were just fixing the fencing, so once lunch was finished, I just focused on my next shot.

After this I ventured down towards the path entrance, when I looked up, and spotted the area all around the Trinnacle rock formation covered in mist. It looked amazing, like an impressive castle perched on a premium look out spot – only there was no man made structure there at all… this was all Natures work! I quickly set up the camera, loving the layers on view above me, and just missed the best of the sight as the mists finally started lifting for the last time. The shot still give a fairly good idea of what I had witnessed however.

From here I grabbed a shot of yet another cascade, from a finger of land that stretched out right into the middle of the stream. As I stood here, two intrepid hikers passed by on the main path… And then a few minutes later came back. Well, I am glad it wasn’t just me being a wuss – I had clearly made the right choice!

View of the Greenfield Brook from the bottom of the cascades

I made my way back to the main path and chatted to the workmen for a bit as they finished up, and then just stood enjoying the beautiful view from this spot, looking down the stunning rust covered valley towards the reservoirs. I stared at this view for quite a while, and waited until the workmen had completed their drive down the winding route out, before taking first, the bottom of the cascades shot (above), and then the one of this valley (below). The gold colours seemed to be made from the dying ferns, and grasses, but the receding heather also had tinges of rust in them as the flower heads had died off. It seemed strange to have such an abundance of autumn colour in November, but with the dull greys of the grim fog/cloud raising and lowering above me, it was a welcome dash of colour to my eyes.

The incredible rust colours looking down this valley left me totally gobsmacked.

The hike back was a little easier, with the mobility in my knee feeling slightly better, although it was still nearly dark when I got back to the van. These early nights are a bit of a pain when there’s no sunrise or sunsets to get excited about, but at least it restricted the amount of energy I expelled and encouraged me to rest more. I was definitely in need of that after two intense days out!

My Adventures

Bamburgh, Newbiggin, Tynemouth and Newcastle

Northumberland 2021: Part Fourteen

17 June 2021

After the excitement of the night at Berwick Upon Tweed, I was happy to begin my drive south, and I thought I would stop at my favourite spot, Bamburgh Castle for my last night. I secretly hoped the sky might clear so I might try an Astro shot here, but that didn’t happen, so I aimed to simply have a relaxing night and start to the day, before I said goodbye to the castle for this trip. Dawn revealed a light mist, but no further photos were worth doing here, the tide wasn’t where I wanted it, and the film crew at the castle had built all manner of bits around the grounds that spoiled the features. Instead, I had a slow breakfast, and pondered ideas on what to do today. The mist might help the Newbiggin Couple photo I had wanted to get, as this time it wasn’t too thick, but possibly enough to cover any other features I didn’t want in the shot… so I decided this might be worth checking out for my first stop.

It must have been a very localised mist, because even though Newbiggin is a relatively short drive away, by the time I arrived, there was no mist to be seen, and even the overcast sky was beginning to clear. Since I was here though, I thought I may as well give the shot a try. There might still be enough grey left to pull my vision off. It didn’t work as I hoped however, so I guessed another attempt at another time would be in order. I could still try to get either a full on sunrise, or a smooth, flat, misty background, minimal type of shot here – so prospects are plentiful. Whilst here today however, I also thought to have another go at the sand again. I have never played enough with the tripod to see of I can get a vertical shot with it though – and that became an annoying fact as I felt that it was actually needed for the shot here. Because of this, it wasn’t a great shot, but I tried anyway. Seems this particular location still needs some work for me to get into…

The Couple Sculpture, weather wasn’t quite what I wanted… but this is getting closer…

With no set plans for today, I thought I would continue south, and give the river Tynemouth lighthouses a try. These had been mentioned by Alan Blakey the other photographer I had met at St Marys Lighthouse earlier in my trip, as another favourite of his.

The mouth of the river Tyne is marked by 3 lighthouses, although I only found two, being, at the time, unaware of the third. I found parking very easily, and wandered on down to the first spot, The Tynemouth Lighthouse. It had a long walk down a harbour wall (called the pier, tho its not technically a pier, as its a solid structure), and the walk was really pleasant in the sunshine that was now beginning to bathe this area. At the start of the walk were warnings that this pier would be closed in bad weather. Indeed in 1897, a couple of years after the completion of the initial build, a large section had been severely damaged in one of the terrible storms that can hit here. They ended up starting the build from scratch in the end, the destruction was that bad. At the end is the taller of the two lighthouses, and you can easily see across to the South Shields Lighthouse and the pier that that one stands on, marking the southern entrance to the river. South Shields Lighthouse is a much smaller, dinky little thing in comparison to Tynemouth, and it was, like its sister, built in 1895.

It was so nice today that I just took my time and simply had a good explore of the lighthouse and its view, before ambling back down and having a scout of the small beach area near the beginning of the pier. The tide was fully out, but I could see it was coming in, so I snapped a couple of pictures of the pier to gauge a shot for later. The foreground here was very messy and too distracting at the moment. To kill a little time afterwards I went for a short walk. I wandered from here to the top of the hill where the rest of the car park was, hoping to find a sculpture I was looking for, but it seemed I had the wrong location for that particular one. I then walked around to the edge of the Priory, which stood on the hill at the base of the Tynemouth pier. As I checked that out, I found I had to make an appointment to go and visit due to the Covid regulations, so left here too and simply had myself an ice cream from the van parked here instead. It had been a while since I had treated myself to a whippy ice cream with a flake in it, so thoroughly enjoyed tucking into that!

After 45 minutes I wandered back to the beach and was pleased to see the water had come in enough to cover the rocky foreground to help simplify the scene. I took some nice long exposure shots, and was really happy with the reflections in the water where the tide was coming in so gently. Whilst down here I chatted to several people. One lady walking her dog had moved here from down south, and had not regretted her move north, to the slower pace that she was now living here. She suggested some other locations I could try, several were further over into Sunderland, however, at that point, I mistakenly thought the city was in Durham county and hadn’t considered locations there. Ultimately, since I had tacked the upper Tyne and Wear area onto the Northumberland county tour this time round. I can simply tack the lower Tyne and Wear areas onto the Durham one next time.

After the water shots were taken, I took a second wander up to Tynemouth Lighthouse. The crowds had thinned a bit, so it looked much clearer, and the sky was a happy blue without being solid in colour. It was almost a picture postcard kinda sky, but for the slight haze on the horizon. I wasn’t about to complain though – back home they were apparently having torrential rain! As I stood composing the shot, I felt that, ideally, I wanted to get down to the lower section of the pier (which members of the public are not allowed to get down to) On the lower level are rails and I imagine a camera placed low down to one of those would give a fantastic dynamic shot. From the top of some steps, a similar, less dramatic view could be had however, and I managed this one at least. This would have to do me, I sighed. I went back to Fred and wondered what to do next.

Since I had the Covid test tomorrow, I decided that I might try Newcastle quayside again, and leave really early in the morning to drive directly to the test, before going home… so I headed there. With plenty of time to dusk, I settled myself down and had some tea before heading out at 9 to see how the water looked today. Remarkably – it looked pretty flat. Now how was that possible? This is a river!! As on my previous trip, this fact confused me considerably. I went to the prime position I had found last time to see another photographer here trying some shots with his drone. Ian was waiting for another photographic friend, but happily chatted to me and explained the water. At the turn of the tide, he told me, you have around 20 minutes or so, where the water goes really still…’its like glass sometimes’ he explained. Its something to do with the meeting of the sea water with the fresh river water I seem to recall him explaining. Well that certainly helped me understand what went wrong the last time I was here! It had been nowhere near the tide turning time back then, but more to the point, I had by pure luck timed it almost perfectly this time. He happily chatted, and introduced his friend Andy, and then they invited me to join them in their walk along the quayside this evening, so I, rather shyly, tagged along.

I couldn’t help but get captivated by Ian’s enthusiasm and excitement, and despite not knowing either man, by evenings end I had enjoyed a really pleasant time, had moments of excitement, and some points of real laughter. As we walked further upstream towards the bridges, the water was even more still, and some stunning reflections were to be had (see header) The men pointed out some good spots worth photographing, demonstrated new ideas, positions and techniques. Ian literally stood in the road at one point, and quickly snapped a view of a church reflected in a puddle by putting his camera right down to the floor and roughly aiming it in the correct direction. This was an interesting technique for me to observe – especially as someone who has to see the image through the viewfinder, focus carefully and adjust everything accordingly BEFORE taking a shot. Not this one. Down, snap, up, step back to safety, and only then see whether it worked. Ian was clearly an adventurous and experimental photographer, willing to try and see what happened. I found it highly refreshing and rather awe inspiring to watch him. Andy seemed a little more like me, more traditional and conservative in our approaches, although he wasn’t at all as shy at getting his camera out, as I was feeling. (Why was I feeling like that?! – I remembered I was the same when I went on a few photowalks a few years ago. How very odd!!) At another point we spotted another beautiful shot, and we all desperately wanted to take it. The problem was that the obvious, and likely best position, was on a boardwalk along the waters edge, but there were notices banning people from crossing the barrier to get there. Ian, being the excitable and adventurous one, tried his luck however, climbed up and stepped half and half to take his shot, before a disembodied voice from nowhere asked for ‘the man straddling the barrier to please step back!’. We all had a good laugh and then each leaned as far as we could to get the shot, ahhh well… I thought I was gonna get pulled up with my tripod leg over the other side, but I was left alone, and managed this one.

We all desperately wanted to get down to the boardwalk, but what a lovely spot – even from the roadside

After several hours chatting and photographing everything, it grew closer to midnight. Andy had to leave while Ian wanted to stay a little longer. Since I had to get up early to drive home, I too had to say my goodbyes to them both, and received encouraging ‘when you get back here, drop us a line and we will meet up and show you the city proper”. This was such a lovely warm welcome to a city I had never seen in my life before this trip and I waved a happy goodbye as I started my wander back towards the camper. As I got back to my original ‘prime spot’ I saw that the water was, rather remarkably, still almost glass like down at this point, so I grabbed my camera and set up to take the shot here. With the moon lighting the back of the clouds, and the midsummer hint of daylight still lighting the sky a fraction, it looked wonderful to my eye, and much more the classic vision I had hoped for back on 10th June.

Iconic view of the Bridges crossing the Tyne at Newcastle

Now this evening proved to be the perfect end to this trip, and as I walked back to Fred, I was super happy.

As I drove home early next morning, The sun still beamed until about 1/4 of the way into the drive.. from here I hit a wall of rain that didn’t stop all the way to the Covid test, and then home – can I please turn round and go back?

My Adventures

Spittal Beach and Berwick Upon Tweed

Northumberland 2021: Part Thirteen

16 June 2021

Today, when I got up, I hobbled like a 90 year old. The soles of my feel hummed with extreme pain, and to this day I have issues with them (particularly the heel pad part of my feet). I fear I may have overdone it and injured something inside. Because of this I abandoned plans to do the other side of the wall walk from Steel Rigg to Cawfields, and instead looked at trying to get a shot I hoped for, tonight, instead of tomorrow night. This would then basically give me a days grace before I had to drive home.

So I headed for Berwick upon Tweed, and realising I pretty much had the whole day to myself before this evenings shot, detoured off to Spittal beach a little to the south. It was a relaxing, stress free drive, that my aching body was grateful for, and once there, I did little more than take a very gentle stroll down the beach. Once I was at a further end, I just sat on the sand playing with the pebbles. As I sat in there, I just thought to myself how lovely this felt, and realised that when you are as physically and mentally tired as I was right now, there was little better I could have done, than coming to a beach and simply making footprints in the sand…

So that’s exactly what I did.

When you are tired and worn, what better way to spend the day than to leave footprints in the sand…

The pebbles here were a wonderful array of colours, and I was a little awestruck at the rainbow at my feet. They were such beautiful colours that I collected a few, and made a foot for each member of my family; me, the children and their children and I sent this photo to them with a chuckle. This play time was so chill and relaxing, I must have spent well over an hour just gently gathering the stones and arranging them in a nice way. After I had finished this, I took a slow walk over to some of the larger sandstone rocks with the most beautiful striations, again, of rich colours. Here the rocks were just amazing to see… I wonder why this, and the pebbles, are all here, in this one spot and not like this all up and down the Northumberland coastline? I snapped a couple of pictures of the beautiful sandstone formations here, although I found the shots a little tricky to compose. This type of shot isn’t one I have executed much at all, so I suspect I need to practice it more. I’d left my tripod in the car, and as hand held wasn’t a thing I was used to still, many were poorly thought out and not as pin sharp as I would have liked. None the less the view was a feast for my eyes, and a couple of the shots weren’t too bad. (see header pic)

After this, I went back to Fred at the car park right on the water front, and made a cup of tea before I gently wandered up the beach to take a couple of photos of Berwick pier and lighthouse. I was a little more in my element here, and found it to be an ideal spot for a long exposure, as the tide was just coming in and the perfect height to part cover some old decaying groynes. Everything was just gentle, and today was turning out to be exactly what I needed.

From there I poodled back to the van, and had a bit of lunch, before considering driving round to where the light house was, to try a shot there. It was fairly easy to get to, but I didn’t find my photos to be as pleasing from this position. The light wasn’t particularly great, and it left the features lacking character for me. I climbed onto a wall, and took a couple of shots, just to see if anything would work, but for today at least, it didn’t spark my enthusiasm. I wasn’t worried though, it was still a lovely relaxed day, and ultimately this was an unplanned bonus for me. As I sat looking out at the water, and the view across to Spittal beach, a man passed me and asked if I had managed to get a photo of the dolphins. Seeing my confusion, he pointed them out, and sure enough, there were two in the bay, just where I had been looking! (blind or what??!!) I tried to photograph them, but they were quite a distance away and it was too hard to predict where they would come up. In the end I just stayed put, and simply watched their activities instead.

The time eventually came for me to try the bridge, and the shot I’d been waiting for. The cloud was heavy, very heavy, so I didn’t expect too much, but I was still going to try – there’s always the chance right? I went along to the spot I’d visited before and found the water level to be perfect. Climbing into a nice position I waited and prayed for the sky to do something, and sure enough, behind me, the cloud started clearing on the horizon. It cleared just enough to let the rays of the setting sun peek out from under the heavy blanket, and it finally started colouring the underside of the grim sky. On the horizon the orange-red colour became amazing, but it didn’t seem to want to get to my spot – although I did notice that it was still slowly creeping across the sky – really slowly – so slowly I ended up begging and praying for the colour to reach the cloud over the bridge. Just as it seemed to reach within my viewfinder however, it looked to be fading. I was gutted – until I saw, just under one of the arches, what appeared to be a rainbow forming. I was very confused by this as it wasn’t raining at all.. not a single drop. Perhaps there was some moisture being held in the air I couldn’t feel? I didn’t know, but as I sat there the thing grew and grew into a massive and unbelievably bright arch. From my position it was impossible to capture well, and I dithered – do I stay or do I move?!!! I wasn’t too familiar with this location, but it was clear that this spot was useless for this shot, and I might get a better opportunity further back away from the bridge. I instantly stopped thinking and just moved. I grabbed everything and RAN. I didn’t care too much where, but this rainbow wasn’t going to last long, and I’d tried here – so I HAD to try something else. Once down the path, I spotted an old bit of tree trunk and decided to stop there and turn back – only to realise the rainbow was now a remarkable red one, and a DOUBLE. I did no more than plonk the tripod down in the nettles, try to level at speed, adjusted my focus, and finally fired a set off. I was shaking like a leaf with excitement! The rainbow lasted, and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to capture this particular one. Red rainbows are very uncommon, if not rare. They need the combination of a normal rainbow (not an everyday occurrence as it is) teamed with a setting sun. They are caused by the red of the setting sun stripping the blues and greens from the spectrum, in the same way the dying light strips the sky of those colours to give us a red sunset. Conditions for a red rainbow therefore, need to be really specific – and to have caught one as bright as this was unbelievable – let alone a double one!

Rare red Rainbow over the Royal Border Bridge in Berwick upon Tweed

As I stood there snapping whatever photos I could, a man walked by with his dog. ‘That’s a beauty that one, isn’t it?’ he commented.

Sure was!

My Adventures

Simonside

Northumberland 2021: Part Ten

13 June 2021

Today I was going to take it easy and just go for a hike when I was ready. I cleaned up Fred, completely washed myself head to toe, and waited for my hair to dry off a little before setting out. I should add that I DO wash daily (!!) but its usually just a quick one of essential areas (you know the one – better known as the religious bath/cowboy bath/whores bath… so many names for this but basically: Face, tits, pits and bits) Today’s one was the big top to toe one to completely refresh and reset myself. I am on my own and outside in the wild most of the time when I am away, so to conserve water, there’s no real need to be super sparkly clean is there!? (so yes, I can skank out a little on an extended trip – I apologise in advance if you ever come across the old cave lady with mad hair, covered in dirt and filth, smelling like a cow pat – that’ll likely be me on day 6 of no human contact…)

Today’s hike took me through woodland before it started climbing, then I followed the path through some areas of cut trees. This developed into open moorland on the left, and trees to the right, before curling around and taking me up the final steep climb to the highest point of this ridge. The views from here were lovely, of course, since you could see for miles, but I’m not one for huge, beautiful vista shots. I love them, don’t misunderstand me, but I don’t think I have a developed eye for a good image (yet!) and I really I struggled to see any exciting shots from here. I tried a general view with the cairn being the focal point, but it didn’t feel particularly breathtaking to me in the way I would have liked.

I did keep trying though – one day I will nail it and amaze myself! As I was here pondering what wasn’t quite working, a family came up. They were a big group of about 6-7 people, and all the excited young women in it, got mum to photograph them with the view behind. They then got her to photograph dad, dad with them, selfies with mum, and then they all jumped over to the cairn taking their phones out to snap further shots of their own. A very typical and adorable family day trip image. However, coming up at the rear was a young man of about 16, who very clearly had some kind of mental handicap. He was able to communicate, but he spoke very much younger than his years. My heart broke when he asked to have his photograph taken too, but no-one heard his multiple requests, literally brushing past him in their excitement. It was almost like no-one saw he was even there. More disappointing was when mum blatantly ignored him, focussing solely on the girls when he asked her, twice again, in his very gentle tone. I’d heard him though, so how she didn’t escapes me. They all sat around the cairn, and in small groups took each others photos – again the young man was being pretty much left out. I felt so sad! In the end I hated just standing there watching his treatment. I asked if they would like a group photo, and they eagerly said yes. I did no more than group them together, with the lad very clearly in the middle of the shot, and took several photos with their phones. Now I could see a happy beam on his face, and I felt so much better for him. Finally, he was a member of this family, albeit for a brief moment.

Shortly after they left, I met a young couple here too, Georgia and Gary, and we also chatted for a while. They were out taking photographs, Gary explained, trying to pick some locations for a night time milky way shot. We chatted about all things photography, and I noticed they both had an interesting clip they used to store their cameras on their shoulder straps. (I imagine it could also clip onto a belt). Gary explained that it was a Peak Design ‘Capture clip’, that it clips securely onto most straps, and has a safety on it to lock the camera in place as well. They both sang the praises of the design, and I have to say that it looked really good, and a super efficient way to grab your camera quickly for a hand held photo. I took a photo with my phone with the intention of looking these up when I got home. (Nb. I did, and I purchased one and although its not quite as good for a larger camera with an L plate attached, I can see I would have some use for it)

After everyone had moved on, I did too, and ahead of me I noticed what seemed to be a snowy scene. Now, all the guides I read this morning, just before I did this walk, led me to think I was here too early for the best of the colour (they all suggested August for when the heather is in bloom) so I wasn’t expecting anything too exciting out of this trip. As I approached this ‘snow’ however, I was blown away by the mass of white flowers that filled this particular area. There were tiny while balls everywhere, blowing in the breeze, and, against the darker background of the tree filled hills, I felt they looked amazing. I now know this to be Bog Cotton. ‘Why do none of the guides mention THIS?’ I thought, and I snapped a ton of photographs of this stunning scene, trying out a closer shot (see header), wide ones and, after I had followed the path right through them, a shot looking back to the cairn. I liked this one a lot. I liked these flowers a whole lot more too!

Looking back over the bog cotton to the cairn on top of Simonside hills

The rest of the walk was essentially just hiking, and other than a couple of rocky outcrops that marked the tops of Dove Crag, Old Stell Crag and Little Church Rock, its a very flat and open hike. The growing dark clouds left the landscape extremely flat looking, making any vista shots even harder to see, but I found it interesting how, where I had to restrict myself, I managed to cut certain ideas out of my head, and started looking at things harder and differently. This meant that I found myself I experimenting with more variable, or intimate shots. Once home, I picked holes in them all… too off balance, wrong angle, to flat, too boring… so I clearly hadn’t learned the art of photographing things that work well in this scenario just yet! But that’s fine, this was a fairly new experience for me to concentrate on and I wasn’t expecting miracles! Having a play was a good thing, and on the plus side, I found that as I got into the walk, I started seeing different shots all over the place, and before long I found the experience really exhilarating. I need to do a few more of this type of hike I feel, just to get the experience in, and to help train my eye to not be so lazy in future!

I had a packed lunch with me, so I absolutely took my time over this walk, easily doubling the recommended length of time it is expected to take. This day out, for me, wasn’t quite as much about the photography, as just trying a different type of hike for myself, and seeing what might be involved with trying to get these beautiful vista images. Photography aside, this had been a most enjoyable day! As I reached the end of the ridge, I looked back to see a band of light washing across the scene in front of me, racing towards me at quite a pace. Thankfully I had just enough time to grab this shot, which I really liked. I totally get the guides on this one though, had it of been in peak heather season, this would have been stunningly colourful!

Panorama of the Simonside hills taken as I started the descent

From here, I turned down the hill, and made my way through the woods again to the camper. This had been a very full afternoon, and I returned at around 8.30pm very satisfied with what I had experienced. I would be happy to try more of these I feel, but I really need to look into what makes a ‘nice view’, a ‘great vista’ photo… because I’d really love to be the photographer behind one of those!

My Adventures

Dunstanburgh Castle, Howick Bathing House and Bamburgh Castle

Northumberland 2021: Part Three

28 May 2021

I woke up in good time, had breakfast and wandered over for my costume fitting. Once this was done I had a think of what to do today, and settled on having a look at Dunstanburgh castle, and Howick bathing house. To start with I thought I would just gauge the area, so headed to Craster to look at the nearest car park in readiness for a higher tide later today. There were only a couple of spaces in the car park, and, (much to my irritation) I had to park in one of them just to get out and have a look at the parking prices for later. It took a couple of minutes to read the prices and then get back to the van to leave, but several cars passed through in those moments and found no available spaces for themselves. My apologies to those that were right behind me but who had to leave when I ‘took’ the last space!

When I did leave, I headed further along the coast, to check out Howick bathing house. This area had looked really intriguing when I saw photos of it online, but when I got there, I realised none of the photos I had seen, were doing the area any justice. I had never seen a coastline quite like this before! The sections of sandstone were broken by swathes of a hard black/grey rock sliding down at a gentle angle into the sea. They formed a striking line against the edges of the white surf washing up against it. This location shows its former volcanic past here. It was once a lava bed and forms a huge area of volcanic dolerite in Northern England, which spreads all the way across from Cumbria. Research shows there were numerous lava flows in this area around a similar time (approx 300 million years ago) which form several small ‘sills’s’. These sills together make the overall region known as the Great Whin Sill and this particular flow, the Alnwick Sill, can be seen in patches all along the coast to Dunstanburgh. I found it awesome to stare at!

Dolerite rock revealing the volcanic past of this area

Eventually, I wandered further along a small path, just having a gentle stroll, no kit, no pressure, and making my way down to the waters edge. (being very careful as the tide was coming in, and some waves were really strong). I spent some time here just watching waves crash against big crags in the rock, falling away and making loads of mini waterfalls as they retreated… each wave being different to the last. It was very hypnotic, and I fell in love with this area as I just sat here. I had two thoughts for photos – Ideally this would look great with a high tide at sunset or sunrise… but did the two coincide for me..? Not during this visit… maybe its worth popping back later though… The second thought was to capture intimate shots of these small waterfalls… but I had sat here too long for that. The tide was getting high and missing the particularly picturesque craggy rock face which showed the waterfalls off at their best. I needed to come back and try that one at another time too…

Looking at the map, I realised Craster was the wrong side of Dunstanburgh for the shot I wanted, so I looked for an alternative spot, finding a long layby the other side of the castle that I could use instead. The sun was beaming, the temperature was hot, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. None of these lent themselves to any photographic excitement for me, so rather than trying for photos, I left my kit behind, and just went for a second long, relaxing, exploratory walk instead. I found a huge field of rapeseed in full bloom, and when I followed the farmers track into the field, the view with all this yellow – added to the beautiful fragrance here – blew me away! I sent this video to friends and family… and I ask you the question I asked them…When yellow is your favourite colour, is this the definition of being in heaven… I think it is!!

I walked down to the pebbled part of the beach and found the rough spot where many classic shots of Dunstanburgh are taken, but the sun was so hot, none of the stones stayed wet for long, and the shot I hoped to recreate looked drab and uninspiring to me. I ended up leaving this spot for now, perhaps when the tide had peaked and was on its way out, this would work better – and the light definately needed to be much gentler. For now, I decided to go back to Howick to try and capture the bathing house there, with a high tide lapping on the dolerite rock face. It was a few hours off sunset still, but the shot was worth taking now the tide was nearly at its peak.

The Howick Bathing house was built by Charles Grey, (Viscount Howick, the second Earl Grey and yes, he of the Tea fame) in the early nineteenth century. He had 16 children and built the bathing house as a spot for them to get fresh air and to bathe safely in the sea. As I stood fully enjoying the movement of the water with this lovely house in the background, I took loads of shots with the waves falling in different positions. I was loving all the variations each of the shots gave me, and I tried lots of different exposure lengths to see which worked the best… this one was my favourite in the end.

After this I sat for a while trying my hardest to get to grips with hand held photography. This has always been one of my weak points, and I am not very good at it. After some experimenting however, and careful thinking, everything finally fell into place in my head. I was able to capture pin sharp waves for the very first time, following them in with the camera and pressing the shutter at optimal moments. I was over the moon and excitedly snapped over 50 waves… now I just need to find a perfect spot and go out on a super stormy day!!!! (if I can actually remember what I did here of course – the excitement and exhilaration of an awesome storm is very likely to obliterate my memory banks entirely!!)

Woo hoo! Hand held wave shots capturing all the detail!

As the time went on and sunset approached, I considered going back to Dunstanburgh and capturing the castle in a nice light, and hopefully with the tide now heading out, with wetter rocks. I reluctantly left the waves here and headed back, but as I reached the camper, my phone suddenly leapt into life and a bunch of messages pinged to my phone. (clearly I’d had no signal down by the water) Most were just rubbish, but to my dismay, one was from an agent about a job I was due to do towards the end of the following week. They told me that a covid test had been posted to my home for me to do, and that I needed to post it back first thing Monday, in time for the results to be given to the production. This was unexpected, as no-one had said anything about doing a test in advance, and I had assumed it was going to be done on the day.

My dismay was sparked because it also meant that my trip was to be cut short by 4 days.

This threw me and I struggled to think on what I wanted to do, and where my mood suddenly dropped, Dunstanburgh didn’t feel like where I needed to be. I had so many places I wanted to explore before going home!!! Do I want to stay here? Do I want to cram in another new location quickly, do I want to go somewhere familiar in the hope of a sunset… what should I do, where should I go?!! My brain went into a real tizz trying to suddenly think all the planned locations through, and the only thing I could finally settle on was going back to Bamburgh, where I knew I had somewhere safe to park for the night and calm my thinking down.

As I very sadly drove back there, I noticed a haze affecting the orange evening light. As I got closer to Bamburgh, driving into it made the sight ahead of me look stunning – Deep oranges fading into layers in the mist, and the silhouette of the castle standing high on a hill, lay in front of me. I literally gasped at the sight but once my brain had engaged enough to realise what I was looking at, the roads were lined with double yellow lines – there was nowhere for me to pull over!!!! I regretted not having the camera on the passenger seat ready to quickly grab (I might have been cheeky, and stopped for a quick shot), but my mind was so distracted that all I could do was keep driving.

I pulled into my camping spot a few minutes later, and on seeing that the haze was actually a sea fog coming in, I quickly just grabbed the camera and hurried down onto the beach. The sight here was just SO beautiful!

With my back to the setting sun, the evening colours this way were all muted into pastel tones by now. With just one cloud over the castle picking up the warm hues, and two surfers to the far left in all black, giving it a little scale, I captured what was to be my favourite photo of the trip. This eased my current mental state, and as the fog began to thicken, I went back to the camper for the evening to eat, relax and to consider my options.

My Adventures

Bamburg Castle, Holy Island and Routin Linn Waterfall

Northumberland 2021: Part Two

27 May 2021

I woke up for the dawn, and looked out the window in full hope for a pretty sky… saw the cloud cover, pulled the curtain closed, and went back to sleep…

Thus was the start to my day!

I eventually woke up, and though the sky wasn’t quite as grim looking, it still wasn’t especially exciting. Instead, I took my time getting ready, and then had a gentle wander down the beach, exploring the area a little better than I did last night. To my horror, I found a ton of flies pestering me, (mostly) around the grassy areas. They weren’t biting ones thankfully, but there were a LOT of them, and they were absolutely everywhere! (eek!) My curiosity eventually got the better of me though, and I calmed myself a little (absolutely not a fan of bugs!) and I found myself watching them closer. They were a little odd looking as they flew around me, not like the traditional fly I knew and (didn’t) love, but ones who flew with legs dangling down behind them. I’d not seen flies like this before, so I took a photo on my phone of a stationary one as a reference to look up later, and noticed that most of the rest seemed to be pairing up… I guess today was clearly mating day! I now know these to be Hawthorne Flies or St Marks Fly (as they normally appear around St Marks day- I think the cooler weather this year has put them back a couple of weeks) The lifecycle of these insects is short… very short. Once they reach adulthood, (all at the same time) they have around one week to live apparently, and once the females lay their eggs in the soil, they die. Next time I see them I will try not to be quite so worried or irritated by them, as these are the last days of their time here, and they are just completing their sole purpose for living. Interestingly, these are the flies that fishermen emulate when they make fake flies as bait for their rods… bet you didn’t know that eh?! (well, maybe you did, but humour me here, and fake ‘OOoo’ with interest along with me..!!)

Hawthorne fly caught with my mobile phone

After I finished a rather long amble and explore of the beach, I went back to the camper and studied the rape seed field in full bloom next to me. Rape isn’t normally planted in the same fields year in year out, so it being here this year was a bit of a bonus for me to see, since it’s unlikely to be here next year. As I looked out on the sight of beautifully blossoming flowers, I wondered if the yellow field might make a good foreground for a castle shot, so picked my kit up and had a wander up the side of the crop to have a look. The yellow was lovely… but the sky was really letting me down. This shot would be one of those rare occasions where a clear blue sky might just set all the colour off – but alas, right now, this wasn’t going to be the case, the sky was a sad grey and not even a dramatic shade at that. I did give it a go however, it would be daft to not do so right?

I set up in a nice position where the edge of the crop dipped in a little and filled the foreground, and I was able to get the impression of being in the middle of the field, without actually standing in the crop itself. I then tried several shots, trying a set to focus stack where I struggled to get the whole view into focus in one shot. I wasn’t too excited by the photos I was getting – they just didn’t jump out at me in the way I hoped and even when I tried to focus stack during the editing stage, it was a real struggle. (Where the breeze was moving the plants, none lined up and the stack was just a mess) In the end I just settled for an image with the foreground in soft focus although I sadly couldn’t get it to ‘pop’ in the way I hoped. Despite this, I felt that although it wasn’t as nice as I imagined in the end, that it was still lovely to see such a mass of yellow flowers, and have this as a memory. They are my favourite colour after all.

Perhaps if the sun had been on this scene it would have been the striking image I had hoped for, so I will watch the area with keen interest for future opportunities!

Bamburgh Castle rising from the Rapeseed

After a spot of lunch I looked at my map and decided to find out where the popular Lindisfarne Island – or Holy Isle – was. I found the route easily, and pulled into the car park with no issue some 50 minutes later, but as I considered what I wanted here, I had a quick rethink. For me, I wanted a sunset or sunrise, and preferably tide out. Looking at the tide times on a board here I realised that the tide was actually already on its way in, and that later on tonight would be better for what I wanted. Judging by the timings listed here, this meant that I had two options right now… do I stay here and wait, or do I come back? The thing about this location is that it’s on an island with limited access. Once the tide starts coming in, the road to the mainland gets flooded and you are stuck until it goes back out far enough to drive over safely again… and right now remember, the tide was on its way back in ! The sky wasn’t too promising still, so I decided that maybe I would wait until later, and come back when the conditions were better suited to what I hoped for. I got back into Fred and made my way back out again, noting that the causeway would only have been drivable for about another 10-15 minutes, so it was lucky I had decided quickly!

Once safely on the mainland, I pulled over for a few minutes, and looked at where else I might check today, and found a waterfall I wanted to visit. Perfect for an overcast day, so I typed it into google maps and headed off. The route was easy at first, then it got to narrow roads, then it finally dropped to a single lane that seemed to go on forever. Eventually that ended at a private farmhouse and went no further. Gagh!! Where is this waterfall??!! There was no sign of it, and confused I did a (tight) turn and slowly drove back down the road looking left and right for anything that might indicate where it was. Did I miss a sign somewhere? A parking spot? A turn off?? Nope. Nothing. There was literally NOTHING there, no way off the lane and nowhere to pull over to walk – yet the sat nav persisted in trying to tell me to turn round. Eventually, frustrated, I decided to check every map and reference I could find, and found that there were actually two waterfalls in this area – both similarly spelled. Even though I had typed in the popular one (Routin Linn), and not the cascade (Roughting Linn), I realised that Google maps was actually directing me to the wrong one. Somehow (actually, it was an easy mistake by them), they have mixed the two and they direct you to the cascade instead of the falls – To my annoyance they don’t have the route for the second one however. I spent some time studying the route to the falls I wanted, and tried to guide myself there using the old fashioned method of looking at the map itself every so often… Go olde worlde methods! – I found myself finally at a spot where another car was parked and as I went for a quick explore, I bumped into two ladies who confirmed that this was indeed the spot for the falls. I grabbed my kit and headed off as they drove away.

The walk was fairly easy, just 5 minutes or so, with one steep-ish drop and when I saw the falls, their simple beauty had me immediately. As an added bonus, I was the only person here!

So many spots to photograph this fall from!

This was one of those falls that offered perfect photo opportunities to try out a whole bunch of shots I had seen from other falls online. The sun intermittently started breaking through, and I had so many opportunities for such ideal photos (well, for me anyway!)

There was the beautiful overall, dappled image (above), then there was the get down lower and use a specific subject to fill the frame more:

This log was perfectly positioned, and especially lovely when the sun danced across it!

There was the more intimate shot of the falls, seen from straight on…

… and the attempt at a more abstract image of the gossamer curtain of water…

I walked all around, and took as many photos as I could – well mostly because it was SO peaceful and I didn’t actually want to leave..!! Eventually, 3 hours later (!!) I had milked the scene for just about everything I could think of, so I had to leave… I took a walk around the area for a bit, and then tried a bit of bird spotting and photography. This is something I would love to do better, but I really struggle to even spot the birds sometimes (sometimes?! Be honest Sandy, you rarely spot them!!) – let alone identify or, heaven forbid, try to capture a photo of one!! – the pictures I tried were not great.. but they were good enough for a friend to identify that I had spotted both a (very noisy) chaffinch, and a buzzard – and they helped encourage my desire to try more at some point!

The dot very high above me, was this Buzzard.

After 4 hours at this wonderful spot I finally left and headed back towards Holy Island. The sky had totally cleared by now, but there was still a little hope that there would be a worthy sunset… and either way, as the tide was on its way out, I would at least be able to have a little explore without stressing about the tide cutting me off for many hours. When I got to the causeway, there were two cars tucked to the side, I think waiting, but I could see a fairly clear road, so drove on past them and made it with only a couple of puddles to drive through. It was 7.30 by now and about 2 hours to sunset, plenty of time to have a look.

The only downside to this timing was that everything was shut, so rather than explore the island fully, I decided just to head to the main attraction and look at the classic photographic positions to view the castle. The boat house spot really didn’t do it for me, so after wandering around there, I left without taking my camera out, and walked up the path towards the castle. To my pleasure, the little beach bit had a lowering water level, and the spot I wanted there was very easily accessible. Sadly the clear sky really didn’t lend itself to a fantastic photo, but it was a nice one to try, and one for the bucket list collection – been there, saw it, took the photo sort of thing, and even then, its not an entirely unsatisfactory picture. This would look so much nicer if I ever get the chance to try it with a characterful sky however. (now why wasn’t the sky like THIS. this morning?!!)

There was still a while before the sun was going to go down, so I decided to just have a slow wander right around the location. I was getting tired by now and I missed a few other possible shots, but I just wanted to wander, and considered this visit to be a recce to a look around a place I had heard a lot about but had never visited before. As I got up to the castle I noticed a path that continued round to a large grassy area to the left of the building and just followed it, enjoying the gentle stroll. As I crossed a small bridge at the back, I was struck by the sight of a gorgeous shaft of light that the lowering sun was throwing underneath me. Tired or not this was a sight that I couldn’t ignore! The colours were rich, the light just perfect, and I ended up taking a shot I haven’t actually seen anywhere else before.

Evening light behind Lindisfarne castle.

Shortly afterwards, the sun dipped behind a cloud on the horizon that wouldn’t leave, and although I hovered around the site just in case, the sky just dulled into evening light, and faded into darkness without any colour. I wandered back to the camper debating whether to try and stay for a dawn shot before leaving for my fitting in the morning (4am/8am = plenty of time), but the car park had ‘no overnight parking’ signs everywhere, and I had no idea where else I could park. More to the point actually – what would one do if you got stuck here at this sort of time – where could you park then?! The plan failed further when I also realised that the timings of the incoming tide and sunrise would be really tight to get off in the morning too, so I abandoned the idea and simply drove back to Alnwick, parking up where they had previously told me I was able to, in readiness for the morning.

It was 11:10pm when I pulled in, and boy was I ready for some sleep!

My Adventures

Glen Nevis, Steall Falls and Torren Lochan

Scotlands Highlands 2020: Part Twenty Four

16 August 2020

Well, I have two days free, what shall I do with them?

That question went round in my head for the night and into the morning, and eventually I settled on going back to Glencoe to re-do some of the areas that I had tried back in January. Everything back then went so badly, I literally haven’t written or thought much about the trip, although I guess I shouldn’t dismiss it entirely – I did get a couple of nice photos out of it, and it was, ultimately, a really good recce trip. It gave me a good idea on the layout of locations in the glen, as well as which sights I wanted to revisit, the conditions I hoped to try them in, and better than these, some spots that I had yet to find. One on the ‘yet to find’ list really struck me. ‘How on earth did I miss this one?!!’ was the question I asked myself when I found out about Steall Falls. Its only the second highest falls in the whole of Scotland (!) really picturesque, and a reasonable hike away that shouldn’t take a whole day… Today I decided that, as I now had the opportunity to find them for myself, this should be the location for my next exploration! Settled on this plan, I drove on over.

The route from Corpach was easy, and 45 minutes after leaving I found myself driving through beautiful hills where the cloud moved in the breeze, leaving dapples of sunlight dancing across the scene everywhere. Eventually I found a car parking spot and ran up a small mound to capture this:

I didn’t realise it at the time, but I was driving through Glen Nevis, and wow, what a beautiful Glen! I continued to follow the road through here, absolutely loving the views with every turn of the road, and I found myself at a car park near a waterfall on the river that wound through here. I got out to have a quick look and saw that this wasn’t the Steall falls I was looking for, but the ‘lower falls’ on the Waters of Nevis, a much smaller one. I noted the price of the car park and the waterfall for future, got back in the camper, and continued following the road. It had started getting more forestry now, and as I passed a second car park (smaller this time) I thought that I might be getting near. The road carried on still further though, and then I started noticing cars parked up all along the roadside. Shortly after I found myself in another car park, that was crammed, and the road ended in the middle of it. This one was the Upper Glen Nevis car park. It looked to hold about 30 vehicles, and, as luck would have it, just as I debated how on earth I was going to turn round, someone behind me signalled that he was about to leave. Lucky me! I basically had the last spare spot, and rather pleasantly, this one was free parking as well! I sorted myself out and eagerly left for the hike that I understood would be through a gorge to the waterfall itself.

It was not the easiest hike – some points involved clambering over large boulders, a few were very slippery as some of the surfaces were largely scree or wet from trickles of water, many areas nearer water were heavily infested with midges, but I actually found myself managing all this pretty easily. At one point I over took a group of 5 Indian men who were huffing and puffing at a slower pace than mine. Clearly my fitness over these last few weeks had improved dramatically, and I wished I had thought of a better route for this whole road trip that’d maybe had the harder, more monro/mountain hikes, towards this point of it. I probably would have managed to have gotten one in after all had I have jigged the locations more considerately… Oh well, I might rethink other trips now I realised this. After a hike of about 45 minutes I started passing several people on their way back towards me. I also passed a deep bit of the gorge where I could hear water falling, but there was no way I could see the falls there… they sounded substantial though! Then the valley opened up properly, and as I turned round a bend I could see the falls in all their glory.

WHAT a place this was!! It was totally secluded here, and a large open grassy plain lay in front of me, with a gentle river flowing through it from where the water fell from the waterfall. As I walked along the side of the hill where the path still followed, I noticed that there was another river coming from further to the left and that the meadow opened further and continued on round that way. This to me would have been a perfect place to hide out from a threatening enemy. The mountains around the sides offered perfect cover, and as the sun beamed down, I could feel barely any breeze, which I assume would mean this place may have its own microclimate of more placid weather. Back then, without an obvious, well trodden tourist path, it would have been harder to find an obvious way in, but the open plain, fresh water, and lush carpet of grass may have been a perfect safe haven for a few hideaway huts or cottages. There was no evidence of any of this however, no ruins that I could see, and no big information board with a history telling of any of this, so I wonder if anyone ever lived here at all. For me today however, it looked incredibly peaceful, and although there was a steady stream of tourists milling around the area, I can’t say it was heaving.

I walked over to the Water of Nevis in front of me, and crossed over, realising that the ground was quite boggy in places, and then I had to cross again closer to the falls where the stream from those cut across the meadow. Further down, after the two waters joined, there is a rope bridge, but that was not possible for me to use with a dog, so I had walked on to find to find the shallowest bits of river. Today that wasn’t really too hard, the water maybe got as high as half way up my wellies… but I am not sure how easy this might be at wetter times of the year! (Having said that, there are no formal wooden or stone bridges here, so maybe its never been an issue…?) I took photos of the falls from every angle I could, from one side, from the other, and from the bottom where you can actually climb over big boulders to stand right by the base of the falling water. Here I sat for ages just taking in the sound of these stunning falls. As I sat here, I watched as a number of tourists made their way from one side of the falls to the other over these huge stones and through the pools of water that the falls made in between them all. Some were clearly having an absolute ball, but I was quite sad to watch one man pretty much bullying his partner through them. She was quite clearly feeling highly unsure of the jumps across and the steps down into unknown depths, but I could see from the gestures he was making, that he had no patience for her fear and was pretty much forcing her to go across with him. It really left a mark on me watching her trying so hard to please him, but him being totally ignorant to her needs. She was clearly terrified as she paced each rock, or sat on them, trying to stretch her legs across enough to just touch the next boulder, before working out enough courage to either jump or slide over. It brought back some bad memories and feelings I didn’t want to remember…

Once they disappeared out of view behind the trees and bushes in the middle, I decided to get myself a little closer and to try a selfie. I don’t generally do these, but I wanted something that would help show the height of these falls when you were at the bottom. My phone didn’t do the height any justice sadly, but cropped, it made a nice shot for the header of this blog…

I was here for several hours, partly because I just felt so at home here, and partly because many of my shots were hampered by visitations from my favourite (!!) pest. I would set up and either tolerate their tickles, or move around until they had cleared and then went back to the camera to quickly snap a few shots. Eventually though, I had captured much of what I could, and I had to leave this beautiful place. River and I walked back this side of the falls, and found ourselves by the rope bridge. Well, I obviously couldn’t use it to get across the river, so I decided that I would simply have to walk across. It was deeper here, and wider than the river closer to the falls, as it was two streams of water merged into one by this point, but some of the rocks on the riverbed helped form a sort of stepping stones across. Halfway I met another woman coming the other way, a lovely big black lady with a fantastic accent from somewhere I couldn’t pinpoint, and a glorious laugh. For a few moments we actually had to hold onto each other for balance in the middle of the stream! We laughed as we paused to regain ourselves and she explained that she couldn’t do the rope bridge because, unlike her boys, she felt it was way too scary. I think she was partially regretting that decision now though! I nodded towards River happily paddling across and we laughed at how easy she was making it look. Once balanced, we let go of each other, made sure each other were OK, and continued on our ways.

Steall falls, as I left the valley – with the rope bridge showing down to the bottom right.

As the walk progressed through the gorge, I stopped at a beautiful viewpoint and wondered about taking a photo of River and I together. I wasn’t sure how I could set it up, and take it without her not sitting ready, as the moment I moved to the camera to take a timed shot, she would surely come over with me. As I mused over the sight, pondering ideas, I was stopped by a couple who asked if I could take their photo with that view behind. I happily obliged, as they were so nice about it. I often get asked, as (I assume) they think I might be very capable of taking a nice shot (having a full kit gives that impression!) I am not sure where they were from, but although neither were British (judging from their accents), I didn’t think they had the same birthplace either. He looked Scandinavian, and she oriental. (I am not a good judge of accents, but they spoke differently too) As a couple they were really beautiful together, but she, especially, was a beauty I was happy to photograph. It struck me by now, that nearly every interaction I had been having here, and indeed many throughout the whole road trip, were with people non native to UK soil. As this was still in the midst of Covid restrictions, I became most curious as to how each of them had ended up here, in this country, at this particular moment…

After I gave her phone back she asked something no-one has ever asked me before. ‘Do you want me to take your picture?’ I was most taken aback… no-one has EVER asked ME before, most people just say thank you and go on their merry way. I obviously answered in the affirmative, but explained that I didn’t want to just stand there looking at the camera, would she mind taking a photo of me and River looking out at the view?? She happily did as I asked, firing several pictures off on my phone, and commenting on how beautiful it looked like that. After taking my shots, she moved her partner into a similar position, and took his photo too. When I saw the photos on my phone, I fully agreed, and I absolutely loved them – she did such an awesome job framing them up!

Chatting to River about the view looking over Glen Nevis

After this I was left with a bit of time. Evening was definitely creeping on, but it wasn’t so late that I couldn’t look for somewhere else to visit. I thought back to January, and remembered that one loch, in particular, was nice and quiet, but hadn’t produced a photo I wanted because of the low cloud that had obliterated all the mountains. This was Torren Lochan, so I decided that I would drop past there to check it out, before I headed off to my planned stop for the night. I turned up and happy that the mountains behind the lochen were visible, trotted over to the waters edge on a little island in the middle. Sadly there were less chances of reflections than there were in January, but I just sat for a while taking in the calm, watching as the water tried its best to smooth out (it genuinely seemed to be trying to comply with my hopes!) There is something about this particular place that really grounds me, and I can’t put my finger on it. I could sit on the little island for hours given a chance!! Maybe its because its small, almost private, maybe because its not a particularly huge tourist draw, being so dwarfed by the many other sights of Glencoe – but no matter what the reason I felt so good here was due to, the spell was broken a few minutes later when a big group of people entered the water with paddle boards. Any chance of the water calming was totally gone, as was the peace. So, for now, I have to settle with my reminder photo from January to keep me encouraged to try here again a third time. I suspect very early morning would be my best chance for super still water… and looking online, this may well be my dream reflection spot too, as the Black Hills behind are very picturesque… normally (!!)

Mobile photo of Torren Lochan as it was in January,

My Adventures

Glen Affric, Fort Augustus, Bridge of Oich and Invergarry…

Scotlands Highlands 2020: Part Twenty Two

14 August 2020

I awoke in the morning to mist, but readied myself anyway and headed off to find the spot to photograph this morning. I found a nice picnic area just at the top of Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhoin, and spotted through the trees, what appeared to be, a glass like, still water. I parked up quickly, grabbed my kit and ran to the waters edge full of such excitement that I was like a small child! I have wanted a water like this for SOOOO long!!! This view was stunning, and incredibly peaceful. The trees to the other side of the loch were hazy due to the lifting mist, but the trees nearer were now clear. Everything looked perfect. This wasn’t the snowy tipped mountain reflection I always dreamed of – but oh my wasn’t this pretty! I had the tripod in my hand already, and set it up quickly whilst being tickled in the face as I did… ah… yes… here were our friends coming to check out their breakfast… I tried. I tried really hard… but within seconds of stopping moving, and trying to set the camera up, I was swamped. The midges were on my face, in my ears, up my nose, and one in my eye, and it just got a bit too much… no amount of flailing would dissuade them, and eventually I ran away… I kept coming back, and doing the next bit of the camera set up, and finally managed a couple of photos before I remembered that a few days back, I had purchased a midge head net. I ran back to the camper, and picked it up clearing my head area completely of the biteys before throwing it on… and… there it was… a moment of total bliss this morning…

I tried to continue, but then struggled to manually focus through the netting so had to keep lifting it. (guess which daft idjit forgot there’s such a thing as AUTOFOCUS – duh!!!) This of course let the biteys in. And so the battle continued for an hour like this. Eventually a breeze began to flutter across the surface of the loch, and the glass reflection was no longer there, so I packed up and left, with around 10 photos for my mornings efforts.. I caught it though, and an really pleased to have this as a reminder of how peaceful it actually was at the start…

Glen Affric reflection. What a beautiful peaceful place.

Once safe in the camper I decided to leave Glen Affric for another (midge free) time. I left and looked at touring round some of the other Loch Ness sites, before heading out further west. My first stop was Fort Augustus, and I wont lie, its not quite for me. It didn’t help having a really unpleasant experience at the Monster Fish and Chip shop as I drove through on my very first day. Less said about that the better, but needless to say I wont ever visit that chip shop again, and I think that, sadly, it tainted this whole town for me. I did stop off for about an hour despite my negativity about the place, but although the view of the Caledonian Canal locks might have been nice on another occasion, today, with a now harsh sunlight and no water pouring gracefully over them, the view was severely lacking. I left and moved on completely uninspired, but pleased I had at least taken a look.

I started the drive towards Invergarry castle, but 10 minutes into it realised I was both hungry and thirsty, so pulled over at a spot where I noticed people having a picnic. As I enjoyed a quick snack, I saw I was in a central point (island area?) over the Caledonian Canal, but not yet over the river Oich. It was really pretty here with lovely open views of Loch Oich. Next to me was an older bridge built in 1854 spanning just the river section (now only for foot traffic) It was built after floods swept the old stone bridge away some 5 years earlier. I didn’t explore too much, but grabbed a picture on my phone to mark in my diary for reference. I think in a less harsh light this might be a really nice spot. I noted it for the future, and took a quick walk across, just to have done it. A nicer photographic position might have been from the opposing side, down on the bank, because as I continued my drive, it actually looked really nice seeing the whole span in one.

I moved on to find Invergarry castle. I didn’t really know much about this one, but had randomly saved a picture of an old painting showing it from the waters edge. When I arrived at where google maps told me it was, I found myself pulling into a drive of what looked like a big country mansion. This left me feeling a little odd, and like I was trespassing, but the castle is near the entrance, so I don’t think this was a problem. When I saw the castle, I realised this visit might be another bust. I couldn’t find a way down to the waters edge, not that there would have been much of a view I suspect, as all the back between the castle and the water was heavily overgrown. The castle ruins only had a bit of a square tower left, and what was here was surrounded by trees and bushes on 3 sides, so it was very hard to get an interesting view sadly. Instead I grabbed one shot on my phone as best as I could, and had to leave here. There wasn’t much else I could do, as there were no information boards, and no other viewpoints. My stop had barely been a 10 minute one… I was quite sad.

So, What now? It was only 2.50, and with so much of today failing me, I had to look at my map for another location to try! I had Loch Morar on there, but it was a bit of a distance away. I considered it further however – maybe an evening shoot, an overnight and a dawn shot of, hopefully, another still loch…? (yes, I know – in the beautiful full sun of today I totally forgot that the midges would also be there!) It seemed like a good idea, and the few photos I had seen showed a pretty and tranquil loch, so I decided that I would simply enjoy a nice casual drive, and try this one. At 3pm I left Invergarry castle and headed off, following the sat nav along the A82 and then the A830. An hour and a quarter later and I pulled over in a long layby to visit the loo. Another car had pulled over here and the driver was snapping some photos of the view. We were high up overlooking Loch Eilt here, and the view had a small island smack in the middle of some trees. It looked nice from the van, but I continued the drive, as I had no idea how much further I had to go.

I followed the road round until I came to Mallaig, and here the road seemed to just stop. Confused I pulled over and re checked the route, and to my disappointment, I had completely misread the instructions… from here it seemed I was supposed to take a ferry round a head point to Tarbet! I was gutted – there didn’t appear to be a road around the loch at all! I had just driven for 2 and a half hours for nothing! I allowed a few minutes for the disappointment to set in, then realised that I had actually fully enjoyed the stress free drive itself, so didn’t punish myself any further. Instead I briefly checked the map again to be sure I hadn’t misunderstood, and simply considered my next options. The day was glorious, the views gorgeous, and the pace of the drive had been super chilled and relaxed, would I enjoy it as much as I retraced all the route back? Of course I would, and on the way, I vowed to snap my own photo of the spot I had stopped at.

When I arrived back there, I decided this might make a nicer view at some other time. For now, the sun only hit the hills behind so it was putting the main focal point into shadow, making an image that was lacking in any real interest to me right now. (I should have jumped out earlier!) A phone photo was fine for now though, and again, this was going to be a record for a later addition to the map. It felt like today was very much a recce day so far!

It was nearly 6pm, so I wanted somewhere else to view, and hopefully stop the night. The closest to me here, was one I had planned to spend a day at anyway. Glenfinnan. So off I went, hoping that getting there early wouldn’t be a problem…

My Adventures

Suidhe Viewpoint, Invermoriston, Falls of Divach and Plodda Falls.

Scotlands Highlands 2020: Part Twenty One

13 August 2020

Today was a real pendulum, swinging from low to high!

In the morning I awoke looking forward to the shoot at at the Suidhe viewpoint, but to my utter disappointment I found nothing but mist outside the van. Instead, I slept in further and woke up a few hours later. It was still very flat, although the fog had mostly gone, so I debated whether I should stay put or move on. I had no set plans for today, but I really didn’t fancy just sitting here, so I pulled up my ‘My Maps’ and had a look to see what was nearby. I was just south of Loch Ness, but almost directly over the other side of the loch, was Invermoriston. This looked promising for a grey day, so I sorted myself out with breakfast etc., and took a casual drive round to there. I drove through Fort Augustus, and round the bottom of the famous Loch, trying to keep my eyes open for anything that looked interesting. Loch Ness is a really big loch, so big that the grey sky just made it look like a boring mass of featureless water. From this side, it didn’t really have anything to make it look stunning as I might have hoped – no mountainous backdrop, or small islands to break the water up. I am sure there might be a way to capture this loch, but I suspect it would be with smaller features rather than a great big vista. I kept my eyes peeled as I drove around the waters edge. Urquhart castle might have worked, I considered that as I drove past there before, but there was no where to pull over (a problem I noted most of the drive up from Fort Augustus) except for their own car park… and I wasn’t sure if that was for visitors only, and if I had to pay an entry fee for that privilege (I didn’t want to go into the castle…). With the traffic fairly busy on this stretch of road, I couldn’t stop and dither, so I had just kept going. I didn’t get as far as Urquhart on this drive, but I did try and keep extra vigilant for any other sight that might work for me. None leapt out.

At 10.30 I rolled into Invermoriston’s generously sized car park. Right next to this was a bridge and a forest walk, so I took a quick explore here. I walked first to the bridge, and although the road was fairly busy this morning, I stood and looked first one side, then the other, immediately warming to this location. One side had a gorgeous looking stone summer house overlooking the river and some small falls, and the other had an old double arched bridge, built by Thomas Telford (the third bridge I have come across built by him!) with some further small falls beyond. Excited by these two views, I took River back to the woodland walk, and started towards the summer house first. The forest floor itself was beautiful here, full of rust coloured pine needles, and very soft underfoot, and the gentle trek to the summerhouse took no time at all. This was built as a folly by an old laird of Glenmoriston, who built this as a viewpoint for his guests to watch the salmon on their annual migration up river. The view from here was gorgeous, so I took my camera out and shot the scene through one of the windows towards the two bridges. Although it was cloudy for me today, I imagine this view would look amazing with dappled sunlight dripping through the trees…

From here I walked down the path a little, just following the river, then after practising videoing some vlog ‘b’roll (you never know, I might actually make a proper video for all of you of all these visits!) I went back to the road, crossed over and explored the old Telford bridge. I took a photo of the Summerhouse from here (header pic) and turned my camera to the waterfall that flowed the other side. It looked wonderful, but again, I really wished a little light had fallen on it so it would really come alive. Even in grey light though, this location didn’t fail to impress.

Invermoriston Falls upstream from the Telford Bridge

From here I noticed that there were some other falls nearby that were on my list, so once I was finished with these areas I packed everything up, and decided that I might try and find Divach falls. I started off taking a wrong turn somewhere, then re routed myself, and ended up driving up some tight hairpin turns to the road where the very small car park was. It was a little tricky in places, I won’t lie, but it was also strangely fun to have to keep holding my breath and squeeze through tight spaces with the (thankfully occasional) oncoming vehicles. Once parked up however, I was highly relieved, and left the van with River feeling in desperate need for some fresh air. The walk was fairly quick, but very pleasant, the falls were… well… quite frankly… not worth it. I was really disappointed to realise that the summer trees blocked most of the view, and although there was a really nice small area to sit and take in the sight, the view of the waterfall was minimal and didn’t grab me in the slightest… and I truly LOVE a waterfall. I didn’t even bother to take the camera bag off my back, it was that uninspiring – however I did take one photo with my phone just for reference to myself. What I had hoped for, was a way down to the bottom of the falls to get a better, unobscured view. Up here there was a fence blocking any chance of that, and they hadn’t carved any steps down from here to help.

I walked a little of the way back, and noticed a lightly worn path going down to the left. Maybe this was the route to the bottom I wondered, deciding to follow along. It wasn’t long before the path disappeared however, and I ended up battling bushes and branches, getting into several tight areas that all just led to a steep drop. It was a hopeless experience, and I resigned myself to having to head back up to the main path… IF I could find it again…!! I had no idea where I was!! Lost, I basically headed in an upwards direction until I heard voices. Then I followed the sound as much as I could, crawling under one especially big branch, and getting my camera bag snagged most of the rest of the route. Eventually I found a path and hoped it was the correct one! I followed it left and after a few minutes passed a couple heading towards me. I asked if this was the way back to the car park, and on their confused ‘yesss…?’ thanked them and trotted on my way. I didn’t fancy explaining that I had just gone on an embarrassing off trail route into the woods, getting lost for a pointless cause…

Falls of Divach. These had such a restricted view 🙁

As I had no other serious plans, and I was already on the Invernessshire leg of my trip I decided that before I went much further, I really should change my portaloo cassette and grey water before I continued, so I went on a long leisurely drive back to Highland Campervans. I didn’t know anywhere near Loch Ness where I could do a service stop, and at least I knew what the deal was with these guys. At Highland Campervans, I had a chap explain the water release cap. I had battled with this for an eternity… ending up regularly wedging it off with a screwdriver where I couldn’t remove it, and I have been snapping the lock-in lugs in the process. Turns out you put the key in, hold the cap while turning the key, THEN turn the cap, and out it comes… who knew?!!! Apparently if it keeps spinning, you haven’t unlocked it – Ohhhhhhh…… (yes, I felt totally stupid… but there we go… that’s pretty par for the course for me really!)

While in the car park, I went back to my map to try and work out a route for the rest of Inverness-shire, and closest to me that I fancied right now was Glen Affric. There were a couple of spots I wanted to see, but mostly I was most curious about Plodda Falls. Another waterfall… I really hoped the view here was a better one…(!!) I went on another leisurely drive and found myself driving up a long forestry commission road to the car park near the falls. Excited for this one, I parked up, looked at the map on the board, spotted a sign that said ‘to the falls’ and walked in that direction… and walked…. and walked. Eventually I had to stop and listen, and I realised that I couldn’t even hear the river any more. I realised I must have gone wrong somewhere, so had to trudge all the way back up the hill I had hiked down. In the corner of my eye I spotted a figure that made me jump for a second, and when I turned I spotted this:

Horseman of the apocalypse roaming the woods of Glen Affric

Looking to all intents and purpose like a wild horseman of the apocalypse, I had to stop and take a picture. It didn’t look like it was a sculpture, or even a deliberate gathering of dead wood and twigs, but the grasses and moss couldn’t have been growing any more perfectly to give this creepy image!

When I was most of the way back up the hill (!!) I spotted a small red arrow on a tiny post and decided that I would follow this. I checked on google maps, and it did seem to indicate that I was standing at a path that was going to lead to the falls, so off I went. I got to a T junction, turned right, and ended up going downhill again… I found a viewing point at least, but what it was a view of, was beyond me, as I couldn’t see anything specific (trees..?) I was at the river at least, so decided to follow the route back again and see where the left turn of the T junction might lead me. This time I was successful, and I found myself at the top of some fall. I was very confused though, as these were definitely not the ones in pictures I had seen online. I decided to pause here for a bit to let River have a paddle in the waters, and to take a photo here, before following the path further. This lead to a viewing platform, so I very gingerly started across it, before I realised a) how high it overhung the falls and b) how far it jutted out away from the path. This was the falls alright, but could I get to the end of the viewing platform? Nope.. Nope… NOPE!!! My brain screamed in terror and I had to gently walk backwards to solid ground and wait there for a bit for my heart to return to a sensible beat.

The path continued straight on. or, as I saw, to the left – so I followed that one, and found myself going downhill. It was very steep, but the route was pretty clear, and before I knew it I was at the waters edge sharing the space with several tourists. A young couple were just leaving, and I spotted another couple coming towards me across the river, carefully stepping on some large stones that made a good route across. Once they were my side I decided to go the same way over, but I found myself really struggling with some of the larger steps across. I couldn’t quite work out why, but I battled to balance properly on these rocks. Eventually I had so much trouble, I literally couldn’t get the last quarter of the way over. I was stuck. Standing uncertainly and wobbling fearfully on a stone in the middle of the fast flowing river, I felt lost, confused and really embarrassed. A French family on the other side saw my struggle, and bless him, a man in the group made his way across with a big stick, offering it to me so that I could balance easier. This was such a massive help! I made it the rest of the way, and thanked him profusely. The family left shortly after, and I was really pleased to find I had the place entirely to myself. I made my way to the bottom of the falls and my breath was taken away with the sight.

A huge fall (over 150 feet if I am reading things correctly online) left the cliff in one long stream of water to a deep pool (I assume, as I couldn’t see from where I was standing here) then spilled out to some stunning smaller falls that lead to the river I had just crossed. The view was incredible. It took me a few minutes to just gaze at the sight before I became quickly aware that the light was beginning to go. It was 7.30pm.. and I had very little time to get this shot and get back out safely. I spent the next 45 minutes quickly grabbing shots, being pestered continually by midges. (Damn.. forgot these little sods!) In the end the midges and the light (or lack of) started to get to be too much to work with, and I packed up. There were other shots I wished I had gotten, but this was definitely a place I wanted to come back to, so I was content with the shots I had, and didn’t worry about the short time I had spent here.

Once moving the midges left me alone, and I very, very carefully made my way back across the river. Again, my balance was terrible, and I have since looked into this. It appears it’s a hazard many photographers face… and it is of course due to the unusual weight we carry on our backs to locations we aim to photograph. On flat even ground where we get a solid footfall, we don’t notice it, but on uneven terrain, where fine balance is necessary, it throws us off. I was so relieved to find it wasn’t just me getting too old for all this! Though I struggled to cross back, the stick proved to be a huge help again, and even after it snapped I continued using it as I clambered back up the steep slope. Its still in Fred to this day. Too short now to be of any further help, it serves as a reminder of the kindness of others, and the wonderful support you occasionally get from random strangers.

My Adventures

Carrbridge, Foyers Falls, and Suidhe Viewpoint

Scotlands Highlands 2020: Part Twenty

12 August 2020

This morning I left Moray. I didn’t bother revisiting the beach, but neither did I leave at the crack of dawn running away… I took my time, had breakfast, went for a short walk with River around the car park and then readied myself, leaving at 9.30. The relief I felt was surprisingly high, but I was a little more positive about my visit here. Moray will be on my list again, and next time, I would be better prepared. The drive in the bright sunshine was really pleasant and I took my time, enjoying the views, and rolling into my first location of the day, Carrbridge, a very comfortable hour later.

Carrbridge was on my list because it’s a nice bucket shot location with a really lovely and characterful old packhorse bridge. It was built in 1717, and is considered the oldest known stone bridge in the Highlands. It suffered severe damage in floods in 1839 but remained standing (just) when many others were washed away, and it now has barriers stopping people crossing because it’s not safe (not that it stops the determined!!) However, with a well positioned viewing point, and a perfect view from the modern bridge, it remains very photogenic from a number of positions. This is one visit I had really been looking forward to.

Carrbridge Packhorse bridge from the viewpoint.

When I left Fred with River to come and photograph here, I crossed a small park, chatted to a lady with her dog, and noted that even at this time of day, Carrbridge wasn’t heaving with tourists. The village didn’t seem very big, with a few shops, and a couple of coffee shops, only one of which was open. Perhaps it was still early for some, or maybe the lockdowns had still kept many people home… Either way, it meant that I had the bridge all to myself. 😀 The sun was really harsh, and the water very, very calm, so the pictures I took can, very easily, be improved on at some other time. With the river cutting through some trees in the background, I wondered how this might look in Autumn, with a greater water flow… I bet it’ll be gorgeous at that time of year! I took some pictures from the view point…(well OK… I might have hopped the barrier and sat by the waters edge for a few shots) and some from the modern bridge. I felt the best shots came from here, as the view of the tumbling waters were lovely from this angle, but not quite so obvious from lower down. Both were lovely spots to take in this gorgeous structure however.

From the road, you can see the tumbling waters much better.

Looking at the height of the bridge, one wonders on the levels of the flood waters that damaged it back in 1839. They must have been quite horrific to the villagers here at the time! With my musings and photos done, I went to the only coffee shop open, and had a quiet coffee while River lapped at a bowl of water they gave her. I then peacefully returned to Fred, and drove onto my next destination. In all, this very gentle and casual visit took just 2 hours, and River was being a very good girl today, so my stress levels were returning to normal.

My next stop was Foyers falls. It rang a bell with me, and didn’t at the same time. I assumed this was because of the amount of research I had done for this trip. However, when I arrived, I recognised it instantly. I had visited here in 2012 with the children! At the same time, it confused me a little. The picture I was hoping to recreate was that of a bridge over a nice big fall (see header pic) I didn’t remember seeing a bridge here though… I parked up down the road as the car park was full, and walked back up to where the short but steep hike started. As I arrived back to the car park, I saw a stream of cars parked inconsiderately in the road letting their passengers out. They were clearly one big group, but the cars were struggling to park anywhere sensible, so basically just stopped in the road, blocking all the traffic behind them, as oncoming cars tried to navigate around the sudden influx of pedestrians. This is where tourism gets a bad name… behaviour like that. It wouldn’t have taken the drivers much effort to find a safe spot to park up a little further up or down the road like I did, or to have unloaded passengers in the car park before leaving to find somewhere else to park. I silently rolled my eyes and kept my thoughts to myself, as I started the walk down to the viewing point.

Down here the Falls looked very impressive, but there’s really only one good spot to take a photo. I took it of course, but definitely couldn’t see the bridge over the falls at the top. The original old photo I hoped to re create , taken (as I now now know) in the 1880’s by photographer George Washington Wilson, must have been taken somewhere else along here… so I decided to go on a hunt.

I hiked down as far as the lowest view point, just in case it was an optical illusion, and the bridge was lower down… nope… definitely not here. So I hiked back up and decided to try and follow the river along to see if there was an ‘upper falls’. When I think of it now, for a ‘non explorer’, this certainly was exploring wasn’t it?! (Woo – go me doing the thing!) I ended up walking a distance but finding nothing. The best I found was a bridge over a drop, but the water was little more than a dribble, and there didn’t seem any way to get down the sides, which were heavily overgrown, to get to the base of the dribble. Confused, I went back to the camper, dropped River and my camera bag inside, and decided to ask in the tourist shop to see if they knew the spot in the photo. After looking at it while, the older man did. Then he told me a brief history of this location, telling me all about the Hydro electric scheme that had taken water from the falls to supply electricity. It dropped the strength of the water to the falls, he told me… so the waters rarely ran that strong any more – which in turn meant the upper falls were really small, almost non existent sometimes. It turns out that the bridge I stood on WAS in fact, the bridge in the old photo, and the dribble… well that was the result of the electric board’s re routing. This actually made me feel really sad. Progression has a painful price sometimes, but at least they left enough to keep the lower falls looking magnificent. I did wonder though – how awesome must Foyers lower falls have looked at full strength?!

This photo betrays the full size of these falls – this is actually a huge 140ft drop!

After my disappointment at the falls here, it seemed a little pointless to keep pursuing the hunt so I decided to leave here and travel to my next location.

This one was a little vague to me as I drove, but when I arrived at the rough spot on the B862 I spotted clear areas to park in a nice long layby, and a well worn path to the viewpoint. I parked up happily (in a large puddle!) and took River, and all my kit, for the hour and a half trek – it didn’t feel remotely like I walked for that length of time however, as it was a most enjoyable hike! This was the first vista sight I had actually visited, with my fitness level denying me the choice of high mountain hikes, and I was not at all disappointed… well, I was, but not with the view, which was absolutely gorgeous. Sadly the sun was glaring right in my face so all the photos I took had ugly sunspots all over them, and only one that I took with my mobile actually proved save able. This was a morning shot for sure I felt, so I planned to stay the night here, and re hike up for dawn. I imagined that the light coming from the other side would light up the mountains perfectly, which was more the view I hoped for. After I sat for a while taking the whole vista in, I ambled back to the camper, and at the roadside bumped into an older chap on a motorcycle. We stood and chatted for ages where he was so incredibly fascinating. He told me all about his worldwide travels on his motorbike, and how he had lived a free life for many years that way. He met his wife abroad and they continued travelling together for years before she departed this world, and he has now, only recently, settled in Scotland. He still yearned for the road however, and as we discussed my camper-life, I could see he had many fond memories of the freedom it brought.

View of Loch Tarff from Suidhe viewpoint.

After he left, I repositioned Fred for the night, and cooked myself some dinner. As I did, I spotted a number of wild deer wandering around the field near me. This felt so perfect here…