We travelled North and West a few days ago, heading right through the heart of the Cairngorms, the high cold heart of Scotland. Here the Blue Hag of Winter has her home, and here she makes her last stand against the rising light and warmth of Spring. The air is stubbornly cold with snow and ice still clinging to the mountains
The thin air seems to suck the snow from the high ridges, weaving it into clouds of liquid light. This field of cairns seems to stand watch over the glowing waters of the loch far below. After this point the road begins to drop down into the softer warmer glens on the western side of the Cairngorms. A place to be thankful for having made it this far across terrain which claims many lives each winter. A place to appease the mountain spirits if you are travelling the other direction, for here you cross into the territory of the Mountain Cailleach.
a few glens and ridges later we had dropped down to sea level and we passed Eilean Donan Castle wreathed in golden daffodils beside the salty waters of the sea lochs. We had reached the west coast and were nearly at the end of our journey, the beautiful village of Plockton in Wester Ross. Spring was waiting for us, but winter still clung with all her heart to the mountain tops, as she is want to do.
breathofgreenair 
Remarkable set of photos. I am glad that I randomly came across our blog today,
Best Regards, Aquileana ;D
Thank you, delighted that you found the blog….and enjoyed it enough to comment 🙂
The picture of Eilean Donan Castle and mention of Plockton bring back such memories – once seen, never forgotten.
Every minute of our single brief spell of motoring through Scotland and Skye was sheer magic.
Delighted to reunite you with your memories….it’s a landscape so filled with beautiful combinations of sky, sea and mountain…everywhere you look another beautiful shot. My memory card fills up quickly when we visit 🙂
You are the seanachie…to the manner born.. I’ll sit around your campfire forever if you keep writing and showing me these things 🙂
I promise I will Liana…and where did you learn to speak Gaelic?
How close to Seonaid…she-on-itch…is seanachie….she-on-ach-ee?
Very cool….story tellers unite across the ocean 🙂
Great photos! I’ve yet to visit Eilean Donan castle but definitely on my list of things to do. Cheers!
It’s a lovely site at the point where 3 sea lochs meet…..holding the land for milennia 🙂
The inside is a little kitsch for me….reinvented just 100 years ago….but there is undoubtably much history lurking between the rocka and soil on this tiny island 🙂
You will love walking this part of the country…..so much dramatic beauty 🙂
Chillingly beautiful Seonaid … glimmers of Spring with daffodils haloed in sunlight reflection …
Lovely comment Poppy….and thankfully it’s much warmer down by the sea. The flowers are blooming and the leaf buds awakening….
Beautiful word and picture snapshot of our stunning but capriciously-temperate country. It is pretty wild that it can be so, so bone chilling (Blue Hag) but daffodil-dappled and warm within a few miles. I hope you enjoyed your deserved break very much. See you next week x
Kellie what a deliciously worded comment….I love it!
We are still enjoying some west coast sunshine and scenery, filling up with peace and space before heading back to Edinburgh early next week. Catch up then Xx
Beautiful … but, you know that! We have gone from cold, ice, an snow to milder temperatures, saturated ground and drenching rains … this is bound to bring on the lambs. Keep your fingers crossed! D
I’m crossing all my fingers and toes for your forth coming lambs….looking forward to some beautiful images of new life 🙂
Delighted you enjoyed the latest shots….do you think I’m improving at all?
Promise you won’t unfollow me? You’ve got to promise. If you’ve asked, I believe that means you expect an opinion … right? Promise you won’t unfollow me? It wouldn’t be worth it! Ok. I think, in terms of the subjects you choose to photograph and the composition of the photos, you’re spot on. All of your images beckon to me as I’m sure they do to others – so that’s great. I think that some of your shots would be improved with a bit of post-processing. Do you use something like Lightroom or Photoshop? For example .. the shots from the Cairngorms seemed a bit unbalanced. The brightness of the setting sun was blown-out (way over-exposed) leaving the foreground underexposed and lacking detail. Something like Lightroom would have allowed you to brighten shadows and cut down on the harsh highlights. That is … unless, of course, this was your intention. I can’t believe I’m preparing to push the reply button … talk about self-destructive behavior. If I’ve offended … can we just pretend this didn’t happen? D
David of course I’m not going to unfollow you….we’ve been blogging friends almost since I started this crazy blogging thing! I always love, in fact hang out waiting for, what you have to say about my latest posts 🙂
I don’t do much processing on my images at all….and even less when I’m away on a trip….I think I just need to get better at capturing nature at her most beautiful….I’m definitely still learning, and happy to be doing so! I love your suggestions and will see how I can improve my exposure 🙂 thank you as always for your wonderful contributions. Sxx
Whew. I’m glad we’re still friends. You said you would work on exposure … but that’s just it … some situations cannot result in a well balanced final image … period. The only way the image can be put to right is after-the-fact, and on the computer. Do you see what I mean about the images in this post? The tonal range goes all the way from absolute white … to black … and these extremes are lacking detail. That’s nothing that could have been helped when you took the photo – it was the nature of the light which presented itself. What you can do to balance this situation out a bit (and provide more detail in the very lightest and very darkest areas) is to cut highlights (in and around the sun) and increase details in the shadows (in the foreground) … and this can be done with a little bit of post processing. And, by the way, herein is the value of a really nice camera (with a large sensor) … it’ll record all of this information. Even though the details in the shadows don’t ‘show’ in the image as you view it on your LCD the information is there in the RAW file … all you’ve got to do is tweek it to show. So, there you go. Please assure me we’re still friends! D
What spectacular scenery but brrrr – it looks cold.
It is cold, I stayed out of the car until my fingers were frozen white…..but the air heats up quickly as you drop back down into the sunlit glens….worth a little discomfort I think?
It’s a fabulous landscape but one I’ll never seek out, the Blue Hag is safe from me in her icy pocket of planet.
Well Gilly she guards it jealously so I think you’re wise…..her apron pockets are large and cold, filled with black boulders and winter storms 🙂
stunning scenery …. brilliant!
Delighted you enjoyed the peek 🙂
we were there long ago, in summer, so I loved seeing the winter scene!
So magical – capturing the essence of winter and spring – dancing back and forth.
And dance they do every year….I love the transitions where both are present. Even down in the warm glens if you look up the mountain tops are dusted as though with icing sugar….so pretty, especially from a safe distance 🙂
Such magical words and scenery, Seonaid. I could almost feel the intense cold myself, even though I’m sitting in our mild South African autumn temperatures. The last pic is just breathtaking. 🙂
Yes the amazing scenery and the intense cold were both vying to steal my breath away….the scenery won and I stayed out until my fingers were white and numb, clicking and smiling wildly 🙂
Such a wonderful sequence, the cairns and your prose are entrancing.
Entranced is the perfect word for the enchanting scenery….and the cairns always leave me with so many questions…..whose hands….whose feet….
Wow! These images are absolutely magical. The lighting warms the cold darkness, creating a space to simply appreciate the awe.
And awe is exactly what fills me in these big mountainous spaces….the light just added the gasp factor 🙂
The gasp factor! 🙂
Indeed!!
And gasps are always so much better…..
How nice to meet spring toward the end of your journey.
It really was, and the light and warmth have continued in wonderful ways….more pictures to follow 🙂
Breathtaking photos. It is no wonder so many tourists have Scotland on their bucket list of places they must see. 🙂
Thanks Judy, it’s really hard not to take a good photo when the scenery is laid out and lit so beautifully….Scotland really is beautiful….but I think there’s beauty in every corner of the world 🙂
Absolutely stunning!
Thanks Hanne, always lovely to hear from you….and you always say such lovely things 🙂
I can only say ditto 🙂
I have seen some incredibly lovely photos on your blog, Seonaid, but none more lovely than this. The cairns and that backdrop are amazing in the second shot, and the daffodils at dusk- pure genius! 🙂
Jo you always give such lovely feedback, but this is the best yet! It’s delightful to hear how much you enjoy my photos…always great encouragement for me to keep going 🙂
That final photo is such a haunting image. Sublime!
What a lovely comment, thank you….the light was delicious!
Wow, how pillow-like and the stuff of fantasies. Beautiful x
It’s an amazing journey Deena, and wow is exactly what I said as we turned the corner into the cairn field with the mountains and loch as a backdrop. Glad you enjoyed the view 🙂
.The third photo fascinated me..The Jonquils with yellow front/ blending with the colors of of the clouds, hills, the castle on the top right looking down toward the lake 🙂
Anthony
March 27th 2014
Thanks Anthony, the castle is one of the most photographed in Scotland….looking down Loch Alsh towards the mountains of the Isle of Skye….a views which delights what ever time of year we visit 🙂 Vikings, Bonnie Prince Charlie, St Columba….so many famous visitors!
I Must come to Scotland 🙂
Miss MacKenzie,
I often as student in College…reading English Poems “The Romance Period” the word ( Lock )
appears. exactly what is the definition:( I use Lake!!?
Explain to me how I can send pictures of the Ocean on my side to you. I tried without avail.
Only a five hour ride to Logan Air Port Boston, Ma
Anthony
Anthony, loch is the Scottish word for a lake….a body of water 🙂
You pronounce it ‘law…ch’ (ch being the sound we make when clearing the back of our throats gently)
You can send images to my email….seonaid@infernalmachines.co.uk
Or post your images on your own blog with a link to mine 🙂
Would love to see the world from your side of the planet….
Eileen Donan is magical. I visited there once in August when the heather was in bloom.
It really is Brenda, any time of year….it sets my imagination off on hyperdrive…fairies, dragons, Vikings and kelpies…..where to start!
Viking, kelpies and dragons, oh my! LOL Awesome place.
Brenda you would love it….myth and legend drip from every stone and stream….so much inspiration 🙂
I would love it. I wish I could visit again. 🙂
Wowser! It looks like an illustration for a fantasy novel 🙂 I can just picture a heroic warrior on his warhorse with wolves and elves running fearlessly by his side into battle with orcs and warlocks!
Sarah, this is such a gorgeous comment….and of course we must share the same eyes because I can see the elves, wolves and warlocks too 🙂
I thought you must be able to see them 🙂 Our imaginative visions are a big influence on how we capture a photograph of any particular scene.
Sarah that’s so true and something I haven’t thought enough about. I love to think that my imagination is shaping the capture of my photos….thank you….and watch out for those Orks! ( all the way from Orkney of course!)
Ha ha! Of course they must be 😉 Much of my family comes from the land of Hobbits which would explain my lack of height!
And mine come from the land of elves which explains my glamour by magical nature and her landscapes….and a slight trait towards craziness in the family 🙂
However I think I’m married to a hobbit ancestor…not due to his height ( he’s 6’2″) but due to his feet….
And yet my feet are small and definitely not hairy! I think my magic and dramatic nature comes from my fathers side of the family who held fort in the last lands of the Druids 🙂 My crazy side is given away by the red heads in the family, all from the land of the Fae 😉
Well your genetics sound impeccable Sarah….a red haired druidess…perfect 🙂
I’m most definitely “of the Isles” 🙂
You used such a descriptive word for that lingering winter high up on the mountain: Heart of Winter…it sounds warm but it is just the opposite, more like the frozen core of winter. I took the funicular up to a viewing platform at Cairngorm last summer. There are spectacular views from up there.
Absolutely, winters cruel cold heart..the core of frozen snow….which melts into clear mountain streams…so refreshing 🙂
Winter can most certainly be beautiful too – but now we all long for daffodils and spring! Beautiful!
We really do Anna Christine, and down on the mild west coast it’s colours come a little early….loving the daffodils this year 🙂
They are just shyly lifting their heads here in SkÃ¥ne…the nights are frightfully cold still.
Utterly beautiful!
Delighted to have you along for the views Sue 🙂
Happy to be ‘there’ with you 🙂
Beautiful as always!
Thanks Livvy 🙂
magic!
It really is….otherworldly 🙂