I’m sorry Scotland … I think I’ve taken this “snow” thing too far.
As I climbed in the car this morning at 7am I heard on BBC2 that there is snow predicted for much of south-west Scotland! I just wanted it to snow in Kingussie.
I have decided to head south-west, well sort of, I can hardly leave without having a look for Nessie, can I? So I am going to take a drive along Loch Ness and then loopback. Should take most of the day.
Before I leave I decide to take a another look at Loch an Eilein. The wind hasn’t picked up too much where I am, and there is a bit of mist about, so it might be worth a look for some more “atmospheric” images. Unfortunately down by the Loch the wind is quite a bit stronger and has dispersed the mist and ruffled the loch. However there is a bit of light on the castle so I decide to take a photo anyway.
Should have stayed in the car! The rocks are slippery and I end up landing on my hip, which has been giving me trouble getting in and out of my matchbox car before this. Luckily the hood on my lens is flexible and prevents “big-bucks” damage against the rocks as well.
Safely back in the car I head off and into the weather. The first part of the journey is mainly motorways where it is hard to stop which is frustrating because it’s snowing quite heavily now, well for me it is! Three weeks ago I was in “sunstroke city”. Hills which were bare a few days ago now have quite a covering of snow and it’s growing denser all the time. I can’t stop until I have descended down out of the snow line quite a bit to take this photo but two days ago this hill was bare of snow.
I have to admit the drive along Loch Ness is without incident, although there are lots of waves and shadows which could convince the willing gullible that there are things out there, but I have never been accused of that foible yet.
The most interesting thing is the “Falls of Foyer”. Lower Foyer is a strange little town perched at the bottom of a cliff and requires a deviation from the main road to get there while Upper Foyer is the Café and local store above it on the main road. There is a sign to the falls, and I need to stretch my legs so I decide to take the steps down to the falls. They are quite significant, the steps that is, the falls are a narrow stream tucked away in quite a dark cleft in the rock and I didn’t think to bring my tripod with me. No way I am going to make that trip twice so I brace myself against the railing and do the best I can.
The time is getting on and my map is not detailed enough to show any detail from Fort Augustus other than the main highways which will require quite a large loop further south-west so I set my GPS to the shortest route to the cottage where I am staying and survey the results. I don’t have to take the highways, despite my half days driving I am only 34 miles in a direct line from the cottage. But that will take 109 road miles and a further 3 hours driving to return, thank you!
The most interesting part of the drive is the first 20-30 road miles out of Fort Augustus, I think, the downpour is now a steady spate of rain with occasional snow thrown in. There are what seems to be many interesting “details” around but very few places to stop and I’m not keen on hiking through the weather at this time.
But I do stop long enough to take a photo of some interesting little falls along the way when there is a break in the rain. I’m not quite sure where they are so I will have to track back over the GPS log if I want to find them, or any of the other interesting bits, again. Actually it’s not the falls themselves but the area around them which is interesting … sure to be called “Fairy Falls” or some suchlike …
Today is a day of hillsides of interesting colour glimpsed through the rain. It’s hard to know how to capture these colours without interesting compositions to frame them and doing it in the rain is even more difficult so I just snatch the odd detail as I go when there is a break.
And sometimes it’s just the geometry without the colour …
Around 4pm I am back in familiar territory, so now it is just some quick shopping for dinner essentials in the Newton-Moore co-op and back into the warmth of my temporary home in Thyme Cottage.
As a P.S. I managed to catch the local wildlife last night when they tripped the motion sensor on the back lawn … the owners put out food for the badgers and birds.
Never having seen these creatures, that I can remember, even in a zoo, I am fascinated to watch them for about the 5 minutes it takes them to devour everything and disappear back into the darkness …
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