CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Yesterday we visited the small Scottish island of Inchcailloch, a 52 hectare piece of land situated in Loch Lomond and reached by a short ferry ride from the little village of Balmaha on the loch's eastern shore. Inchcailloch lies in the south east corner of Loch Lomond, within Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park and is cloaked by oak woodland which is particularly important because of its rich flora and distinctive communities of mosses, lichens and birds.  There are also deer on the island but we didn't see any during our short visit. The ferry goes from Balmaha boat yard , which is a short walk from the free public car park.  The return trip costs £5 per person and runs from 9am to 5pm.  The 'Margaret' was our boat, a beautiful wooden vessel that was built in Cockenzie in 1947 for the Balmaha Boat Yard. The crossing to the North Pier on Inchcailloch took around 5 minutes and then we had two hours to explore the island.  The...

Sunset in Glen Lyon Yesterday's blog was about climbing Ben A'ag to capture the pre dawn light over the Trossachs National Park.  We arrived back at the car park at the bottom of Loch Achray around lunchtime and after a coffee and a bite to eat we set off for the next stop at Loch Lubnaig on the A84. Loch Lubnaig is around 5 km long, and has depths of up to 44.5 metres. The loch nestles in the space between Ben Ledi and Ben Vorlich. The name is derived from the Gaelic Lùbnaig, meaning crooked. When we arrived we noticed the near shore was frozen while the hills on the opposite bank was still covered in snow.  We pulled into the car park opposite a boat house on the far shore and used the frozen reeds on the bank as foreground interest. After 30 minutes we carried on heading north up the A84 before turning west on the A827 through the village of Killin and the famous Falls of Dochart.  We decided not to stop to capture the falls as ...

Yesterday morning I got up at 3:30am to drive north to The Trossachs National Park with the intention of climbing to the top of Ben A'an to photograph the sunrise.  I was joined on the trip by friend and fellow photographer Alistair Spence. Ben A'an is a 454m high hill situated next to Loch Katrine and Loch Achray. On the south side Ben A’an is forested. Even though Ben A’an is not a high mountain the views are excellent. From the peak you can see Loch Katrine, Loch Achray, and Ben Venue which is just next to Ben A’an. The translation of “Ben A’an" means “Small Pointed Peak”. When we arrived it was still two hours before dawn and, with the lack of light pollution, the stars were very bright in the night sky above the car park.  We packed our kit and then began the steep climb to the summit.  The track is well marked but very boggy due to the snow and ice melt. The sun rose in the east over the hills beyond Loch Achray, bathing the landscape...