A 4am rise saw us arrive at Knapps Loch just after 5am, nearly an hour before sunrise.  We were greeted with loads of mist rolling over the loch.  In fact at times the three boats on the Loch were completely hidden by the mist!

The first image is taken not long after we arrived as the sky started to lighten with the rising of the sun.

Another image taken just a few minutes before sunrise.

two images from after sunrise where the cloud formation and lack of wind made for some great reflection shots.

Although it would have been perfect if the rising sun had lit up the underneath of the mackerel clouds, we did have a  good trip with a few keepers and worth the effort of a 4am rise.

The weather forecast looked promising, light winds with a low of -7c. Ideal weather for a trip away. Glencoe is about 100 miles from my house, so planning is important as I don’t like to squander time (or money) on a wasted trip.

The plan was to get a sunrise at Rannoch Moor. Either Loch Ba, which would mean facing towards the sunrise, or Lochan Nah Achlaise which would mean the sunrise light hitting the Black Mount behind the Lochan.

I left around 5.15am, a little later than planned, luckily the traffic was light. As I travelled further north, the temperature gauge on the car started going lower and lower until I reached Loch Tulla and the gauge was showing -15c. The whole of the Loch was frozen over, which I thought would be a good picture opportunity for later on. There was not a cloud in the sky until I went up the hill towards Rannoch Moor. As soon as I got closer towards Rannoch Moor, I drove into a bank of freezing mist with visibility was down to around 30 feet. This was no use, you couldn’t even see the sky never mind the sunrise. I made the decision not to hang about and started back down towards Loch Tulla where I knew I would be able to get something decent.

This first picture was taken by the side of Loch Tulla after a climb over a fence and down towards the Lochside. The sunrise was still about 10-15 minutes away so the predawn light was starting to change from dark blue to shades of pink and purple.

The next couple of images were taken after sunrise with the sun hitting the black mount behind the Loch. After I had exhausted all possibilities for sunrise shots, I decided to head back up to Rannoch Moor and see if the mist had lifted.

On getting back up to Lochan Nah Achlaise, I was greeted with the glorious sight of the mist starting to lift revealing the sunlight striking the Black Mount behind the Lochan. A few shots later and it was in the bag. It’s moments like these that I love, you know you have got a good image and it makes the trip worthwhile.

After leaving the Lochan on a high, I made my way towards Glencoe. I decided to get an old favourite, a standard postcard shot of the ‘Black Rock’ cottage with the Buachaille behind it.

Continued in Part 2…

From here it was on towards the River Coupall, which to my delight was completely frozen over. I parked the car in the nearest lay-by and made my way across the moorland towards the frozen river. The ice was a good couple of inches thick, so I decided to risk it and, going down onto my hands and knees, slid my way slowly towards the centre of the river. I managed to get a few shots of the frozen river with the Buachaille behind. The sky was pretty plain though as there was no cloud cover at all, but you cant have everything!

I messed about with a few more locations and then as it was approaching midday, I decided to head down through Glencoe towards Glencoe village and Ballachulish. I had a short stop for a bite to eat down by the side of Loch Leven. The water was very calm and I managed to get a nice panorama of the loch itself with the Pap of Glencoe in the background. Just to the left of the pap, is the moon! It is a bit small in the frame but the full size image shows it quite clearly.

Turning the other way was just as good. The clear day meant that visibility was high, which was a good thing as it meant that the hills behind the Ballachulish bridge were clearly visible.

Suitably refreshed I made my way back towards Glencoe. This time I headed down the Glen Etive road. Even though the snow was about 6 inches deep, the roads had been well gritted and were still passable. I made my way alog the road until I got to Lochan Urr. The Lochan was half frozen over, so I decided to park the car and walk down the hill towards the Lochan.

I took a few pictures from here, this one was probably my favourite. The golden colour of the reeds and hills contrasting nicely with the frozen Lochan.

After climbing back up the hill to the car, I decided as time was getting on to start heading back towards Rannoch Moor. I did manage to stop a couple of times to capture more shots of the frozen River Etive as the late afternoon light started to light up the hills behind it.

My initial idea when I planned the trip was to stop once again at Lochan Nah Achlaise for the sunset. When I arrived there late afternoon, I realised that it wasn’t going to be such a good location after all.

I did take a few shots however of the low afternoon light really showing the flakes of snow that had frozen onto the surface of the completely ice covered Lochan.

Time was running out now with less than an hour to sunset. I decided that maybe I could get a few panoramas of the sun setting over Loch Tulla. I headed towards the viewpoint overlooking the Loch and waited for the sun to set.

The sky was still practically cloud free, so my main focus was on the light striking the hills behind Loch Tulla. This first image is of the sunset over Loch Tulla and Beinn an Dothaidh.

The second shot is another pano shot taken from the same viewpoint but concentrating on the last of the light hitting Beinn Achaladair.

After the sun had set, all that remained was a trip to the Real Food Cafe for a bite to eat before starting the 100 mile journey back home.

I arrived back home at 8.30pm. It was quite a long day as I had left the house at 5.15am that morning. It was well worth it though as I got a few images I was pleased with plus I managed to fulfil something I had wanted for a long while, A day trip to Glencoe with loads of snow.

This is a view from Ardrossan Harbour looking through the breakwater towards Arran.

This is Loch Arklet with Beinn Narnain, Ben Vane and Ben Vorlich in the background more commonly known as the Arrochar Alps.

We headed back to the cottage in late afternoon.  By this time the cloud had started to move in and we debated whether it was worth the trip down to Elgol for the sunset.  We decided that as it was our last night we would go anyway and make the most of the evening.  We got to Elgol a couple of hours before sunset and started to look for suitable positions to capture the sunset, if we could see it through the cloud.  I took a few images of the loads of smooth rocks along the waters edge, knowing that a mono conversion might be best for these due to the grey sky.

As the sunset got closer I headed to the spot I had picked out on my recce earlier.  I waited patiently for the sunset and got a couple of shots that were OK.

At this point I was starting to pack up the camera gear. I thought  that the sunset was over, then the bottom of the clouds started to turn pink and it was a mad rush to get everything back out and get somewhere with decent foreground interest to include in the sunset. The next shot was just the start of an amazing display.

For the next 5 minutes we were treated to one of the best sunsets I have ever seen.  The whole sky lit up with angry shades of red, yellow and purple.  It was hard to stop watching it and try and get a picture or two.  The images cant really do the sunset justice as it was one of those ‘wow’ moments that last a lifetime.

It was a wonderful end to a great week of picture taking.  I think the final tally was around 1900 shots taken.  Out of that 1900, a lot were multiples of the same thing and a lot of shots went into making the panoramas.  Out of the remainder I have got nearly 40 images that I was pleased with.

Once again Cameron has provided a video of the day’s locations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eevGyJESFA

Our last day on Skye.  We decided to head to Talisker Bay.  Once we parked at the end of a single track road, it was a short mile or so hike along a farm track to the bay itself.  The walk was worth it as the bay revealed golden sand and loads of interesting rocks amongst the sand.  While this location is prbably better later on in the day when the sun is lower in the sky, I still managed a couple of images I was happy with.

After the nice early evening light at the fairy pools, the clouds started to roll in so we didnt want to travel too far for a sunset.  We decided to have a look at the area around the narrows of Raasay, a small peninsula called An Aird.  While Cameron decided to wander along to An Aird itself, I decide that the bay before it called Camas a Mhor-Bheoil looked a bit more promising.  I walked down to the edge of the rocks and started looking for a good vantage point.  After exploring the area for an hour or so the sun started to set, but the sunset was pretty poor with the heavy clouds and the slight spits of rain as well.  I did manage to get a couple of images that I liked though.

A 5am rise saw us head for the Otter Haven at Kylerhea.  After parking the car, a forest track leads to the viewing cabin.  Unfortunately the cabin is some distance away from the waters edge. This meant that there was no chance of close-up photography even if we did spot any otters.  We saw loads of seals playing around and basking on the rocks and the cabins binoculars came in handy to watch them.  Cameron did manage to get some videos of the seals by stacking teleconvertors onto his 500mm though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ2S9z4wdU

In the afternoon we headed for Glen Brittle and the Fairy Pools.  These are a series of crystal clear, aqua pools along Coire na Creiche.  A short walk of around a mile takes you to the start of the waterfalls and pools along the Allt Coir’ a Mhadaidh burn.  We waited a while for the clouds to lift and the sun to reappear lighting up the Cuillin’s behind with early evening sunshine.