Tuesday November 20. This morning we set off for Glenfinnan Viaduct. This is another location I’ve wanted to visit for years. It would have been better in the summer as now with the onset of winter everything is looking a bit dead. However, it’s a magnificent piece of engineering and the view along that curve just begs to be photographed. Ideally I would have liked to see the classic shot of a steam train crossing the viaduct but those tourist specials stop running in September. We parked at the National Trust car park paying £3 for the privilege. Leaving the car park we weren’t sure which way to go so we followed a sign for a viewpoint of the Monument and the Viaduct. The Monument was built in 1815 as a tribute to all those who fought in the Jacobite Risings. All this stands at the head of Loch Shiel amidst stunning scenery in every direction. The viewpoint was at the end of a relatively short but steep walk and we got there only to find that this was not the view of the viaduct I wanted. To be honest I knew it wouldn’t be, but I wanted to see the view of the Monument anyway. The resulting photographs aren’t the best compared with others I’ve seen where all the trees are in full lush foliage but at this time of year that luxury wasn’t an option.
We carried on to the viewpoint for the viaduct that I actually wanted. This took more time and was a little more challenging to get to. It was easy to find though and didn’t take long to get the photo I wanted. The frustrating thing was that on our way down, a train did come across the viaduct and had we stayed just five minutes longer I could have got the shot with the train albeit only a two carriage local passenger service. It wasn’t to be though and I had no idea how often the trains ran anyway.
Once we were finished we had to head back towards Fort William before continuing north towards Kyle of Lochalsh. The reason for this journey was to get to Eilean Donan Castle, another iconic photography spot. After passing through Fort William once more we stopped alongside Loch Lochy to eat. While we were there I heard the sound of passing jets and looked out just in time to see two F15’s flying low along the length of the Loch. As a fan and frequent visitor to the Mach Loop low flight training area in Wales I wasn’t aware that they flew through Scotland too. Arriving at Eilean Donan Castle it was already getting dark. Last minute photography never works and I pretty much proved it by taking a bunch of bracketed shots (3/5 various exposures blended later in Lightroom) none of which really worked. I managed to salvage two images from this visit. For some reason I’ve not managed to work out yet, the merging of the bracketed shots didn’t work particularly well so I’m only including two images here.
Another half hours drive saw us arriving in Kyle of Lochalsh. I’d already checked out a place to park and it was right in the middle of this bustling metropolis. We parked on the waterfront and having worked out that there were no restrictions on overnight parking we took a walk around the town. We were back at the van less than a minute later! That’s how bustling the metropolis was! We settled down for the night with the wind rocking the van. Considering we were on a public car park we had a peaceful night in Kyle of Lochalsh.
Wandering Wildman 