Scottish Tour Guide's Blog

This evening, I am focusing on the somewhat bleak and rugged Rannoch Moor which lies south of the Great Glen fault below Glencoe. Key features:

• Comprises a plateau at 1200 ft surrounded by mountains rising to between 2500ft and 3500 ft.
• Underlain by granite and features a number of small, irregular lakes which were formed by severe glacial erosion. These lakes are separated by collections of glacial debris.
• The Moor was where the last major ice sheet to cover Scotland began to form about 25,000 years ago and also where it was finally extinguished about 10,000 years ago.
• The ice moved along the valleys which radiate out from Rannoch Moor to the north-east (Speyside), east (Tayside), south (Firth of Clyde) and west (Loch Linnhe).
• Each year hundreds of thousands of visitors traverse this Moor travelling to/from Glencoe  many of whom may not appreciate the geological significance of the site.

As will be evident from the images provided here, the winter does present excellent opportunities for landscape photography when the right combination of weather conditions are present.

 

 

 

 

 This evening I have complied a composite of the first two days of a recent photography tour of Scotland during winter. At end of day 1 the town where we stayed had no electricity and hence I was unable to collate and post images which in turn placed my blogging sequence in arrears. Tonight’s exercise is a ‘catch up’.

After collecting guest at Edinburgh Airport we drove north-west past Doune Castle (above) to Callander where we had a brief stop for photographs and refreshments. 

 Next we continued through Strathtyre, Crainlarich and on to Rannoch Moor passing through some interesting Trossachs scenery en-route.

 

 Rannoch Moor provided some wonderful photo opps.

 

 

 After Rannoch Moor, we cotinued north through Glencoe, one of Scotland’s most stunning scenic areas.

 On arriving at Corran on Loch Linnhe we took the ferry and then continued on the west side of the loch up to Glenfinnan and then our final destination of Mallaig where there was no elctricity due to the recent hurricane strength gales.

After a cold night with no hot water we caught the 8.40am ferry to Armadale, Skye which took us past the spectacular Knoydart Peninsula- and more photo opps.

 On arrival on Skye we stopped first at Knock Castle and then Isleornsay.

 

 Further on we stopped for pics of a small herd of Highland Cattle  before going on to Kyleakin and its ruined castle.

 

 Next, we travelled across the Skye Bridge to Kyle of Lochalsh and then a short distance to the famous Eilean Donan Castle- and more photographs.

 

 Next, we continued trough increasingly wintry Highland scenery via Glen Shiel, Invergarry and Loch Laggan.

 

 

 On arriving at Pitlochry, we called in briefly at Edradour Distillery, Scotland’s smallest such whisky producer but just missed the last tour of the day.

 

Finally we drove on south and then west, first to Aberfeldy and finally to our destination of Kenmore on the northern tip of Loch Tay.

Overall, a great 2 days during we benefited from a very fortunate combination of winter scenery and sunshine- ideal for photography.

This evening, I am in Kenmore, central Scotland at end of day 2 of a winter photographic tour of the Highlands.

Last night we were in Mallaig which was subject to an electricty blackout due to the recent hurricane. No electricity=no blog post and hence this is my first post for two days which covers a selection various Highlands scenes including Skye and Rannoch Moor.

Tonight I am presenting a selection of images from the past two days which cover various sites visited over the past two days. We have been incredibly lucky with weather for the time of year, benefiting from sunshine and clear weather for most of the tour.

In course of next few days I will view and edit the portfolio of images acquired. In meantime present a selection of images from the tour.

Below is the famous Skye Bridge against a wintry backdrop. This was taken from Kyle of Lochalsh.

This images was taken from Isleornsay.

This images was taken form the ferry en-routre from Mallaig to Armadale.

This image shows a small herd of deer on Rannoch Moor.

Mountains reflecting in the sunlight.

Rannoch Moor

 

So far this photo tour has proved something of an adventure with many superb photo opportuniities. The tour is now about 80pct complete. There is a chance of more good weather tomorrow, the final day when, hopefully, we can obtain images of the area around Loch Tay in winter.