Scotland Holiday Oct 2020 pt7 Drumlanrig castle

 

Today is our last day in Scotland before travelling  back home ,  We are going to Drumlanrig Castle which is about half hour drive from our campsite.  The house itself is closed due to coronavirus but the grounds and trails are open.  Having parked up after a lovely drive through the huge estate we found there are numerous colour coded walking trails .  We have walked one of the shorter distance trails through the woods and out onto the fellside  with the Terrible Twosome. Awesome views across the estate into the distance.

Long lens picks up the interesting parts. 

                                                I have no idea what the dome is up on the top! 

I have now come out on my own to walk the longest trail, which goes up to the highest point of the estate high above the House in the forest,  if I can find a clearing to fly should get some good images. 

Up near the high point now and the trees are thinning out.

I am at the top now, at a nice clearing with a stone seat looking out over to the House , but there is very little sun at the moment.

9 frame panorama p4p drone 

After about 10 minutes a brief break in the cloud is approaching , so I put the drone up again to catch the sun as it break through and lights up the house.  9 frames p4p drone.

Phone shot as I wait for the sun.

I cannot see any more breaks coming so continue on the trail down through the forest , a diversion on the path takes me down towards the Arboretum and a nice clearing .  Time to get the drone up again to see if I  can get any images of the trees.

                                                  Topdown over the trees in the gardens.

Shooting a series of manually exposed frames to stitch into 6 and 7  frame Vertoramas

I do wonder what was on the lawn originally , as the patterns radiating outwards show clearly something used to be there.  May have been box hedging or planted borders at some point in the past.

Back on with my walk now , down to the fields and the car park. 

                                  There is a playground inside the gardens , which are closed.

                                          Past the house and back to the van for a rest.

Time for one last walk with Jan and the Terrible Twosome, down the long tree lined road and around to the river.

A long exposure taken from the stone road bridge , pity there is no sun!

The end of our Scotland Holiday ,  cant wait for the next one. But no idea when that will be !

Update on Ozzy , went to vets and antibiotics cleared his fast breathing in a couple of days, must have been an infection from Clatteringshaws Loch he swam in, even though Chester went in also. 
 

Scotland Holiday Oct 2020 pt 6 Galloway forest

 It is nearing the end of our holiday , so we are heading back down southwards now , stopping off at Castle Stalker but it was heavy rain so didn't stop, then the same at Kilchurn castle . When we eventually came to Inveraray castle the light was great, but was drizzling with rain so couldn't get a flight in off the beautiful stone bridge , But I did get a couple of dslr images.

We had decided to stop off for the night at a forestry carpark but when we got there it was not actually one of the designated stay the night parks ,  so we have continued to drive down past Loch Lomond and then back down to the Clatteringshaws Loch park up in the Galloway forest that we started our holiday in.   The drive was horrendous, heavy rain , Jan is just no good at navigating and we ended up driving down half flooded single track roads in the dark!  

We just about squeezed into the carpark as it was virtually full , arriving in the dark about 8 pm in heavy rain!

The next morning it was bright but windy , and after breakfast we have driven a couple miles down the Loch to the Dam and parked up to go for a walk into the forest.

Yes   very dirty pups now!

                                                          Lovely light through the trees

Back at the van the sky is looking quite nice and I will get the drone up , its quite windy so will have to be careful

                                        Love the light and dark clouds contrasting each other.

                                       They must be thinking  Where are we going next ?

We have booked into a small campsite near Lochmaben for the last couple nights  , a short walk around the Lake in the late afternoon.

                             Tomorrow , our last day we are going to visit Drumlanrig castle 

Scotland Holiday Oct 2020 pt 5 Dornie

 This morning is actually dry , with some lovely soft light coming through the thin clouds.  We have walked along to Eilean Donan Castle ,  the Tide is on its way out but still have enough water in this channel to reflect some of the background trees.

                                                             5dsr  100-400mm @100mm

                                                            8 vertical frame panorama

                                 The light is raking across the mountains , lovely conditions 

I really like using a long lens for picking out sections of the landscape

We are now around the other side of the castle next to the car park, but the light has gone for now!

                                                                  a couple of phone images

                   Getting some nice light on the fells behind the castle ,But  Ozzy isnt bothered 

The light behind the Dornie bridge is fabulous , I must get a long lens image quickly before it disappears!

                                                         Handheld , 5dsr 100-400 

                                                               Long shot over Loch Alsh

After lunch I have come out on my own to walk down through Dornie village and down the Loch Long.

Ozzy has been breathing fast again so will let him rest even though he seems normal when out walking.

                                                           Oopps   slanty phone pic   haha

Past the tiny village the road follows the Loch all the way down out of sight and the light is really nice , But I think the thick cloud is approaching fast, am too late ?  Again!.

                                                                     But Nice rainbow  lol 

Just after that short shower passes  through, I have managed to get the drone up for this one panorama image.  The rain is at the far end of the Loch already , and more coming in behind me unfortunately. 

                                                   Just a few phone images to finish

Lovely light rays over That Tree!

Scotland Holiday Oct 2020 pt 4 Dornie

Early morning I have gone out to get a couple of long exposure images along the river Garry behind the car park before we leave.  It is extremely slippery and difficult to get close to the water , but I am happy with this multi frame image .  one frame for the water , one for the foreground light on the grass and a further exposure for the background trees and sky.

We have now left Glengarry and are heading to one of our favorite locations , Dornie  which is near Eilean Donan Castle . We are going to stay at the Ardelve campsite for a couple of days as the forecast is mainly rain for the next few days almost everywhere.

Driving down the A87 from Loch Cluanie towards Dornie has to be one of the finest roads for views in the area.

We have stopped in a valley to get a few images from the drone of the waterfall up on the fellside , pity the light is rubbish!

I flew up to the waterfall to get this three frame merge 

Next stop is Dornie , as we pass Eilean Donan castle the car park is filled with campervans!   But when we get to Ardelve campsite a mile away it is almost empty!  

Wine time !

The weather is not great , but the sun keeps poking through the clouds giving some very atmospheric conditions ,  and the Terrible Twosome do need a walk.  So a short walk over to see the castle.

This is what I have to put up with !  Arghhhhh

It is really cold and miserable, Jan doesn't look happy !

We are on a piece of land opposite Eilean Donan castle just waiting for the light to break though and light up something.

There is goes ,  great to see the light painting across the mountains.

I have been trying unsuccessfully to shoot these pools and watching the light painting across the hills to the right, But hadn't noticed the torrential rain storm approaching us from over the Loch !

The sun is lighting up the rain , it looks very atmospheric as it approaches.  There is a lone tree on the island to the left in the below image , if the sun illuminates that it will look fabulous. So as the rain moves towards us and keeping an eye on that tree and eventually I get my chance , shooting handheld at 400mm on my long lens  f9  iso 320  1/620th 

I have shot about 14 frames , all bracketed at +- 1 stop , and a 6 vertical frame panorama.

This is my favorite

One Bird

And the rain was obviously moving much faster than anticipated  , it has come right over us and we are getting soaked!  but worth it for those images. 

   The Final full 6 frame panorama 

A couple hours later the sky cleared and I have managed to get the drone up quickly for a couple images of the castle , another  rain storm is still in the background which adds to the image.

That's it for today , hopefully will get some more atmospheric conditions tomorrow.