Just got back from a 11 night visit to the Scottish Highlands, this will be a largely pictorial post of that visit.

This picture is the first of several from a series of waterfalls in Glen Etive. The weather throughout the trip wasn’t ideal, but it could have been a lot worse.

Eas nam meirleach Waterfall

The rock is a wonderful pink and deepens in colour when wetted.

A close-up view of a section of the falls showing the motion of the water.

Another close-up, but this time freezing the motion to show the chaos in the flow. The rocks are showing a wonderful golden hue to them.

The pink tones of the rock here are complementing the autumnal colours of the glen. The longish exposure has turned the water into a milky white flow.

The flow of the water showing ever changing shapes and textures. In the top center right of the frame an additional water course can be seen entering from the left hand side of the stream. I was rather shocked to see just how thin the vegatation is covering the mountain side after many centuries of growth.

After a morning shooting the many waterfalls I decided to head up to Fort William. I just managed to grab this shot of some boats on Loch Leven before the heavens opened. With gale-force winds forcast this was the last mirror like reflection I was going to see for some time.

Once through Ft. Bill I head straight for Spean Bridge and the Commando Monument Memorial. This shot was actually taken about a week later, on my return from Skye – hence the snow on the tops, but I thought I’d post the two pictures together.

A floodlit memorial.

Back on the road, this time heading for the Isle of Skye, I was just approaching Dornie as dusk fell. Looking into the car park for Eilean Donan Castle, I could see it was busy, so I kept driving, but as I crossed the road bridge a quick glance out to the right and I saw the village of Dornie lit with a stark white on the buildings and a brooding sky.

As soon as I had crossed the bridge, I pulled off the road, grabbed my gear, and ran back onto the bridge. This was the view over the left side of the bridge.

A closer view

A bonus was to be found by crossing to the right hand side of the bridge. Didn’t get so many keepers from this side of the bridge as the full force of the wind was shaking the tripod.

The next morning whilst cooking breakfast on a cliff top near the Old Man of Storr, I happened to turn around and saw the sun trying to break through the clouds. Managed to avoid burning the breakfast.

Heading towards Staffin I saw a wonderful rainbow develop, but before I could find a suitable location I’d driven through it. A typical day of sunshine and showers. The shower that had produced the rainbow that I didn’t capture is off to the right.

Returning to Portree I stopped of at another fall, which I have found it to be called Bridal Falls, I cannot find any mention of it, anywhere else though, but it’s well suited.

Whilst darkness was falling I set up my camera and took some pictures of Portree harbour waterfront. Not as photogenic as I’d hoped, but not bad.

I decided to drive across the island to Neist Point, not much chance of a sunset, as there was no sun. I had wanted to take some night shots there, but, due to gale force rain and torrential rain that didn’t happen. As can be seen there was a glimmer of hope/sunlight, I did manage to get a couple of handheld shots.

Neist Point

Waterstein Head

Moving on from Neist Head, I drove to Talisker Bay, although the weather was bad I thought I’d have a look as it’s a location I’ve been meaning to visit for years.  When I walked to beach I was greeted with high tide, rain and strong winds. I did take a few reference pictures, this one intrested me because the way the wind was pushing the water back up over the cliffs.

This one’s been heavily processed as the orignal was rather washed out with little detail as it was raining quite hard when I took this.

Highland Cattle – I love these critters, they seem to be so light on their feet and have an unusual gait.

An un-named waterfall

Back on the main land.

These old sections of road really fascinate me as they give a great insight as to how difficult travel was up until quite recently.

Back in Fort William I was planning what to next. A quick trip up Ben Nevis was what I was hoping but with gale-force winds and heavy rain I decided to wait for the following day. With a light coating of snow on the top and 2 degrees at the base and a wind-chill of about -16 I decided against it, afterall I had been up to the top on previous occasions.

Glen Nevis

The Milky Way from the upper car park Glen Nevis. The orange “flames” are from sodium vapour lamps lighting up the clouds.

Looking out the car window whilst having lunch sitting in the car park overlooking Loch Linnhe.

A wonderful looking house in a fantastic location.

Back into Glen Etive whilst en-route to Ben Lawers National Reserve. A diffent set of falls, name unknown. Taken just after dawn, before the mists cleared.

Watching the river flow…

..and flow..

Whilst checking these falls out for diffent perspectives

Some people turned up to play – waterfalls are not just for photographers.

Ben Lawers National Reserve was a washout, moved up to Pitlochery, pretty much the same, so I drove down to Glen Lyon and in the surrounding area I found this.

And a fantastic section of road.

Then it was time to head home.