Tarbert Castle

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Tarbert is a small fishing town on the main route down to Campeltown at the end of the Kintyre peninsula.  Sitting high above the pretty harbour is the ruin of Tarbert Castle, one of the most important castles in Scotland at the time of Robert The Bruce and later in the reign of James IV. 

 Tarbert Castle is located on the southern shore of East Loch Tarbert at the north end of the Kintyre peninsula. Tarbert Castle was a strategic royal stronghold during the Middle Ages.  It overlooks the harbour and although pre 14th century in construction, the tower dates back to 1494 and the visit of  James IV to the Western Highlands. 

The castle is now a ruin with just the remains of the tower still standing but you can still see the outlines of the building and curtain walls that made this such a strong fortress.


Today the castle is surrounded by walks and is part of the Kintyre Way that runs down to Campbeltown.  We didn't have that much time so we went for a walk up the hill to an outcrop overlooking the loch and across the water to Portavadie on the other side.

 The surrounding woodland and moor is home to common frogs and we saw a few on the path as we were walking. We were careful to step over them.  We were also surprised to see frog spawn in the pools of water and had to remind ourselves that it was only February.  While the weather was unusually warm it was still very much winter in the Highlands.

 We then walked back down to the harbour to get some provisions before heading off.

 All of the images were taken on the Fujifilm X-Pro2 and either the XF18mm f2 or the XF50-140mm f2.8.

 CLICK HERE for more information on Tarbert Castle and HERE for information on the Kintyre Way










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ALL IMAGES (UNLESS INDICATED) ARE THE PROPERTY OF MACLEAN PHOTOGRAPHIC AND CANNOT BE USED FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION

MacLean Photographic run Tours and Workshops in East Lothian and the Borders of Scotland.  CLICK HERE for more details and availability

Jeff Carter is an Official Fujifilm X Photographer and was named as a Fujifilm brand ambassador in June 2015. In 2016 he worked with the company on the launches of the Fujifilm X-Pro2 in Tokyo and the Fujifilm X-T2 in Paris in July 2016.  You can view his profile and gallery on the Fujifilm website HERE

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