Road Trip

Last weekend was a very busy one, but a smashing one!



My mate Helen and I set off from Berkshire at 10.30am with flasks of coffee, sausage rolls and a whole lot of sweeties ready for the long haul up to Dundee.

Stopping for the obligatory wees and walkies along the way, we made good time and arrived at Discovery Quay just in time for tea! Except we couldn't be bothered going out so just spread out the provisions from the road trip and had a picnic on Helen's bed! Much better idea!!

Saturday was a bit mixed, as the morning was taken up by a return to my old house to collect the rest of my things. I'd brought all my clothes and camera gear down before, but now I had to find room in Helen's car for all my books, photo albums and a large globe... oh, and a rather statuesque santa with a bell on his hat!!!

We'd made the most of the Dundee stop though, making sure we dropped by Clark's for a black pudding & egg roll, mmmm, and an apple slice to be saved for later! Clark's apple slices are to die for!!! I've had nothing like it since moving back down south and I was dribbling all the way up the M6 in anticipation!!!

So, loaded up with both calories and books, we headed across to tour my old favourite haunts. First stop was Glenshee. The weather wasn't what you'd call perfect, but it was ok.



The rain stopped long enough to take a short walk along the Callater Burn where we found a lovely place for coffee and a peer through the bins for whatever birdies might be about. Helen's hubby, Mick, had made a couple of walking sticks for us and wow, what a great idea! I couldn't believe how much strain they take off the hips and the lumbar spine!! They are amazing... and beautifully crafted too, I am so very, very impressed!



Thanks Mick!

Next stop was in Killin, but we took a slightly scenic route to go and see the caravan I lived in for 4 years when I first moved into the area. Slightly disconcerting was the fact that even after 9 years, the lady in charge at the campsite knew who I was... and she didn't even live there at the time!!! Hmmm, I took it as a positive thing, let's hope it was!

We then drove across Moulin Moor and stopped at the layby opposite Auld Mr Soutar's Hoose for more coffee and the scrummy apple slices... more like apple thins now actually, as they were buried under a hundredweight of books!!! Still tasted scrummy though!

On to Killin and a reunion with Walter, Susan and Sid, my Intrepid friends who were up for the night as well. It was a fantastic night, good food, great company and such a good laugh, real jaw-aching, belly-aching laughs! Superb!!

A few real ales and some lemon vodkas later, (and some rum in Helen's case), we stumbled up to our twin room in the attic with vague notions of maybe getting up for sunrise if the clouds cleared overnight.

Thankfully the clocks changed that night, springing forward by an hour. Again, this was a positive thing... rather than losing an hour in bed, we gained an hour of our holiday and, thankfully, sunrise was now roughly 7-ish instead of 6-ish!!! Much more sociable!

Peeping beyond the curtain at a little before 7am, I saw the sky was already pretty light and that the clouds had lifted and it had the makings of a beautiful day!

But we were very, very close to sunrise and we had to run if we were going to make it. So we did. Straight into a bog and a bootful of peaty water!! Which was nice!

Undeterred, we circled round the bog and arrived at the shore of Loch Tay with moments to spare!



The initial rush and panic over, we had time to sit and drink in the beauty of the morning and the peace of the landscape...



but, I have to be honest, wishing we'd packed a flask of coffee and thinking really hard about whether to knock on the fishermen's tent to see if they'd share any breakfast with a couple of slightly hungover photographers!

Luckily Helen found a couple of hot cross buns left over from the day before at the bottom of the bag, so we ate those instead and the fishermen were left to sleep in ignorance of how close they'd come to losing half of their breakfast!!

We wandered back to the hotel in time for breakfast with Susan, Walter and Sid, and plans were hatched for a tour round the Ben Lawers range. The map showed a promising looking drive from Killin that cut round behind Ben Lawers and then popped out at Kenmore. Perfick! Except there was no mention on the map that the road was now shut halfway along it due to enormous potholes that developed after the hard winter they'd just experienced up there!

Back in Killin, we agreed to follow the sat nav to the tearooms at Bridge of Balgie. Susan was driving ahead of us to lead the way, but by some oversight we also left our road atlas with them... so they had the sat nav and the map!

That wouldn't have been a problem if the road hadn't suddenly turned into the M25 as soon as Susan pulled out onto it, meaning we were delayed in setting off. Susan saw a blue car behind, thought (not unreasonably) that it was us and carried on following Mr Tom's instructions. We were left to follow our noses. It didn't go well.

It was very scenic and we did spot a hen harrier while out on our diversion, but we were a LONG way from any tearooms, let alone the one at Bridge of Balgie!! Deciding that the best thing to do was turn around and go back along the main road, we eventually found the turning that we should have taken first time! Oops!!

We'd tried several times to ring Walter but no signal put the dampeners on that. We were a good 2 hours behind the others before we eventually caught up, but we were reunited and all was laughed away! Slightly hysterical laughter maybe, but we laughed it off anyway!

The poor Intrepids were stoked full of tea, so it seemed a plan to make the next stop at the toilets a mile down the road. We then carried on to Fortingall to see the 5000 year old yew tree at the church. It's astonishing to be in the presence of something that has seen the whole of history in that place... absolutely mind-blowingly astonishing! Yew trees are found in just about every church yard up and down the UK. Respected for their ability to rejuvenate and grow, prehistoric and medieval peoples believed the Yew to have magical properties. I'm rather inclined to think so too!

A bite to eat and another wee stop later found us at the Hermitage by Dunkeld. A favourite haunt of mine, I was desperate to get there before dark to have a good look round.



It's a fantastic place, I've written about it before, but you really do need to go and have a look if you ever pass through Perthshire on the A9. Trust me, it's well worth the stop!

A night in Perth and then it was back down the road to home and reality again.



My life in Scotland may be done, but I can be very, very sure that I'll be back!

Rebecca, X
http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Glenshee & Sausages & Hogy & Me!

This blog post is also a bit late in the writing, for which I apologise, but it was also a bit of a painful one to write and so I kept putting it off. I'm happier now though, and it's good to remember good times, even if they were tainted by bad memories afterwards. Let's not dwell on all that though, 'cos this was a jolly good day and was rounded off by a lovely evening up at Glenshee.



You may remember that I did my first wedding as a photographer back in June, and as much as I loved it, I also found it extremely hard work and very, very stressful... not in a bad way stressful, but the adrenaline certainly was pumping all day! Talk about needing eyes in the back of your head!! We were constantly on the alert for the whole time, making sure we didn't miss anything and making sure that we got everything we wanted and, obviously most importantly, that the bride and groom had requested!

So it was a busy day, a stressful day and my head was still buzzing for hours after. What better way to wind down than to take a disposable barbecue, a bottle of beer, sausages and steaks and head up to the Glen with the pooch!!



Splendid!!!

We went to a spot just about a mile before the ski centre, away from the road and down by the river. It was the perfect spot. Rocks to sit on and cook on, water running by, and a nice big grassy area for Hogy to bimble about in.

He's a great dog; he just sat by waiting patiently for his supper and splashing about in the river. He was in his element... food, companionship, fresh air and the wind ruffling about his fluffy hairdo! Obviously he didn't get a beer, he had to make do with water, but he did rather enjoy his meat feast... made a change from his usual dried biscuits anyway and he wasted no time in scoffing it all down!!



Ah Hogy bear, I do miss you my boy!!!

Glenshee is a lovely place for an evening...



...but it's definitely not a great place for dusk! MIDGES!!!!! Aaaaaaarghhh!!!! We had luckily finished and had luckily already cooled down the barbecue, so it was all bundled up in a bag as we made a hasty retreat with it back to the car! We made it back up the hill only half chomped alive, so all in all not too bad... but what a smashing evening it had been.

If you're heading north to Aberdeen or beyond, why not divert off the A90, or even from the A9, and take the scenic route though Glenshee.



It's awesome!! Rebecca, x
www.rtphotographics.co.uk
rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

From Dawn to Ducks!

Last weekend was, of course, the weekend of love... and I loved my weekend!!



Saturday was superb. Started out nice and early as I had to take John to work; perfect timing to get up onto Moulin Moor for sunrise again. I had tried the weekend before, but the weather was miserable... dull, grey, snowy, just plain 'dreich' as they call it round here! Saturday promised to be a wee bitty better so I tried again and was rewarded with a mild, pastel-hued and dappled dawn sky above the moor. Maybe not spectacular, but prettily pink nonetheless (sorry Walter, I know you hate pink but pink it was and I had no control over that!).

I pottered about the old cottage again and started wondering about poor old Mr Soutar. I say 'old Mr Soutar' but I have no idea how old he actually was when he died. I think I mentioned last week that he lived in the cottage and died back in 1800 and something, well I found the memorial stone and wrote the inscription down for you this week because I think it's important. It's tragic and sad but also quite heartwarming at the same time. I also think it's important when I spend so much time pottering about his place that I try and find out a bit more about the man.

I want to know who Mr Soutar was and wonder if he minds me being there now. I hope he doesn't. I love the old place and feel really at home there, even though it is falling apart and ruined. Hmm, analyse that!! Anyway, what I find heartwarming about Mr Soutar's story is the last line of the inscription...

"In memory of John Soutar

who perished here in a snowstorm 3rd March 1897

Erected by a few friends"

I like that simple but telling 'Erected by a few friends'. The temperature was -4 but I never felt cold. I felt cosy and at home... ok, a few layers of tech mountain gear certainly helps, but I felt peaceful and warm on the inside. I sat by the ruins of Mr Soutar's cottage and wondered who he loved and how he lived.

I sat for quite a while watching the clouds, wondering about a stranger's life, took photos from where I sat but never, at any point, noticed the heart-shaped stone on the wall beside me!!



As soon as I started editing the files there it was, as clear as anything! How on earth did I miss it in real life? On Love Weekend of all weekends!!!

Anyway, totally unaware of the nearby heart of stone, my heart was light as I set off up the hill behind the cottage. It doesn't look much from there, but by 'eck, my heart was ready to explode by the time I got to the top, I'm so unfit! It's one of those hills that has false peaks... just when you think you're getting to the top, yikes, there's even more to climb!

It is worth the climb though, the view is beautiful. Not the craggy in-your-face high peaks you get in the West, but just as beautiful in their own understated way.



I had the famous grouse for company... The 'Famous Grouse' is only a few miles and wing flaps away (by Crieff), so I do like to believe that he was strutting his stuff in the snow just ahead of me :-)



A couple flew off as I neared the top so maybe he was entertaining a lady grouse friend on this lover's weekend. Oops, never was very subtle... how rude of me, barging in on his cosy tryst!! Sorry fella!

Having got to the top it only then dawned on me that a bowl of 'Red Berries Special K' just isn't man enough for this job. A bacon roll was calling, but that was back in Blair and I was 1089 foot up the top of a hill. Time for my lardy waterproofed arse to come into action.

Wooooo, that's the way to get down!!!

Oh my word, how much fun was that? Sliding down near-vertical slopes on my backside at speeds far too fast to be sensible! Sensible? Who needs sensible? I may be rapidly approaching 43, I may be Great Aunt Becca, but who said I have to be sensible? I laughed out loud all the way down, totally alone, not a soul for miles around... apart from Mr Grouse and his bird of course ;-) and it was so funny. I tried taking a photo but it didn't really work. Added some effects in PS to try and give an impression but hey ho, you'll just have to use your imagination there.



When I got to the bottom it occurred to me that I could have video'd the slide on my phone and it would have been pretty funny, but the bacon roll was more appealing than the thought of climbing back up the hill just so I could film the trip down!! Maybe another time if the snow is still there ;-)

So, bacon roll mission accomplished, it was on to the next stop, Restenneth Priory at Forfar.



An ancient site dating back to the Picts, Restenneth Priory as it stands (in ruins) today really formed from around 1100AD. Obviously there have been extensive builds and re-builds along the way, but there is still very much an ancient feel to the place.

I went with Niaesha, my friend and assistant,



and we were amazed at the transformation to the stones when the sun broke through the clouds. The late afternoon sun painted the stone in a gorgeous warm golden light, and cast a beautiful shadow from the large tree at the perimeter wall onto the face of the tower. A door in the perimeter wall laid a path of light up to the main chapel, totally transforming the scene and rather taking our breath away!

As the sun sank lower towards the horizon, we decided that Restenneth was done and Forfar Loch would be a lovely end to a fantastic day. The sunset was fairly muted, and the loch isn't the most picturesque in Scotland, but it was a most pleasant end to what had been an extremely pleasant day.



From dawn to ducks, a day well spent indeed :-D

Rebecca,x

http://www.rtphotographics.co.uk/
e-mail rebecca@rtphotographics.co.uk

Bubbles and the Beach... I love photography!

How much better does it get than last Sunday? I don't know that it can!

I was at Kenmore on the shore of Loch Tay in the Scottish Highlands. The sun was shining but softly diffused through the cloud, perfect for portraits and a stunning location for an outdoor family shoot.

The girls are absolutely stunning... fun, relaxed in front of the camera and so beautiful, they are amazing and it was such a joy to photograph them. Add their gorgeous wee baby brother, a couple of bottles of bubbles and a fluffy blanket, and the afternoon was officially perfect!

Perhaps a little alarmed when we met in the car park at Kenmore beach, the girls soon accepted the fact that I was clearly bonkers but obviously ok, and happily helped carry my stepladder, hula hoop and dog's bed down to the shore!

First stop was going to be at the famous dead tree on the end of the rocky jetty, but nooooooo, it was gone!! Never mind, the rocks are big enough and flat enough to sit on and the backdrop of the mountains, the loch and the crannog more than makes up for any missing tree stump!

The trees along the head of the beach have wonderful twisted trunks that lend a kind of stately and organic contrast to the hard rocks and driftwood along the shore. Ashley and Emily settled easily into a nook at the base of an old tree and the soft green leaves of the trees behind completed the frame. Gorgeous!!

Surrounded by soft grasses and wild flowers, Brodie was thrilled to be allowed to stand up against an huge old tree root. I seriously think that given food, drink and his family, the wee man would have happily stayed there all day! His facial expressions were fantastic and I still chuckle now to think of him...

Further along the beach we played around with a tyre swing and got some shots with the island crannog and the Scottish Crannog Centre in the background, before heading round the mouth of the loch to Dalerb.

More trees, this time dripping with lichens, and the soft dappled shade provided excellent photo opportunities and an excuse for climbing trees... I don't need any encouragement and the girls bravely followed!!!

Finally, the blanket and the bubbles! Brodie was settled on the blanket as Ashley and Emily fired bubbles from a battery-powered bubble gun (who knew there were such things?), and all I had to do was watch and wait as the delight and wonderment took turns across the baby's face... I truly do love photography!!

A stunning location, beautiful family, fun, sunshine and bubbles... does it really get better than that? Thank you so much; you made a middle-aged lady smile and she's still smiling now!

Rebecca,x.
http://www.rtphtographics.co.uk/

p.s. we never did use the hula hoop!!!