I stayed at the Kingshouse for Christmas again this year. After a very grey first day, for the rest my stay there were blue skies and sunshine. Temperatures never reached much above freezing so the boggy parts were firm and easy to walk on. Sadly the lack of cloud meant that I didn't see the stunning sunrises and sunsets that Scotland is capable of, but then, you can't have everything.
I spent Christmas in Scotland, staying at the Kingshouse. The food and and accommodation were as good as last year, sadly the weather was less kind. The first couple of days were nothing but hard rain and strong winds. Things picked up a little on Christmas day. Boxing day saw blue skies and sunshine, before Storm Gerrit arrived the following day, to give an interesting drive home.
I detoured on the way home from Glencoe, spending a night in South Queensferry, just so I could photograph the Forth bridges. I arrived in just about enough time to check into my hotel and find a decent viewpoint for the blue hour. Sadly, with all the cloud, it wasn't that blue and the rail bridge wasn't very well lit.
The next morning dawned just as grey. It was another case of trying to maximise foreground interest. Toward the end of my shooting time, it did brighten a little, giving some nice reflections of the two road bridges.
It kept snowing throughout Boxing Day night and into the 27th. This was a travel day for me. Conditions were a little lively, but the ploughs had done their work, so the roads were passable. As I was driving over Rannoch Moor, I couldn't resist another stop. The conditions were naturally monochrome and the resultant images really lent themselves to a 'soot and whitewash' look.
In the early hours of Boxing day, the rain had turned to snow. By dawn (8.55 am) there was a light snow covering that gave the landscape a lovely Christmassy look. On the downside, it was windy, still snowing and the mountains were all lost in the grey. It seemed like a morning to try and maximise foreground interest. So, from the hotel, I walked up the West Highland Way, to the most famous piece of foreground interest in Glencoe, Blackrock Cottage.
I spent some time fighting to keep the lens clear and hoping that, if only for a little while, it would stop snowing. Eventually, there was a small break in the snow, Buachaille Etive Mòr briefly made an appearance, and I got the kind of snowy Blackrock Cottage shot everybody wants.
Lunchtime, and I was back at the hotel when there was a real break in the weather. Suddenly the mountains could be seen. I fully expected it not to last long enough to drive to another location and decided to get what I could from where I was. A short walk down the West Highland Way, in the opposite direction to the cottage, gave some great views. The hotel's resident ducks were also very obliging.
By the time lunch was done, the snow was falling again. I was hopeful of another small weather break before the end of the day. I was also in the mood to shoot another white building against a white background. I took a short drive to Lagangarbh Hut, in the shadow of Buachaille Etive Mòr. I pulled in to a layby and waited. And waited. It kept snowing and I kept waiting. I started chatting to a 'tog from Norfolk who was also hoping for the same scene. With only 45 minutes left until sunset, we decided to brave the snow and see what we could get. We struggled with the conditions for a while. But, just after the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, the sky started to clear. For 30 minutes or so we had some lovely ethereal light.
I even managed an after dark shot, facing the other way, of Beinn a' Chrulaite, picking up some traffic trails from the A82. But after that, another set of dark clouds coming at us from the west, meant it was time to pack up and head off.
I spent Christmas at the Kingshouse on the edge of Glencoe. For the first couple of days, the weather was quite dull and rainy. It was slightly better on Rannoch Moor than in Glencoe, so that is where I spent my time.
Last set from Dundee. Next to the V&A, in dry dock, is Dundee's other historic ship, the RRS Discovery. Discovery is a sail & steam ship, built for Antarctic research. Launched in 1901, she was the first vessel to be constructed specifically for scientific research and one of the last wooden three-masted sailing ships to be built in Britain. Among the crew for Discovery's first Antarctic expedition were Ernest Shackleton and the incompetent fool Robert Falcon Scott. After this first expedition ended in 1905, Discovery was used for many years as as a cargo vessel. But she returned to research in the 1920s, making further expeditions to the Antarctic and southern ocean. Discovery ended her sailing days as a training vessel for sea scouts and Royal Navy reserves.
As well as the ship itself, there is also a visitor centre, which puts Discovery in context of Antarctic exploration. When I visited this was undergoing redevelopment. There was a temporary entrance, and the 'Discovery Point Dome, offering 360°panoramic views of the city, waterfront and River Tay', was behind schedule and not yet open. But the exhibition itself was good, offering far more detail than could be achieved on-board.
