Glencoe at Speed

Last weekend, conditions in the Scottish mountains were pretty perfect so I headed up to the Nevis range with Kev for a day on the snowboard. From Glasgow, this means about a 3 hour drive up to Fort William via Glencoe and the stunningly beautiful Rannoch Moor. Due to a dead battery in the car, we ended up leaving home a bit later than intended which meant we ended up driving through Rannoch Moor just as the sun was setting behind the mountains with some absolutely stunning lighting.

We stopped in a couple of places to enjoy the snow and the view en route, but unfortunately couldn't stop the car in the moor itself. So, while Kev was driving, I attempted some out-the-window-at-60-mph shots. They're nothing like as nice as you would get from doing this properly, but sometimes the view is just too good to pass up and some of them didn't come out too badly!

Rannoch Moor in the snow at speed!
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It was probably one of the most stunning evenings to be in the mountains. Click for a larger version.

The boarding up Nevis was also beautiful, but since it was my first trip up a mountain in a year I elected to leave my DSLR in the car which only left me with my phone to try and do the view any justice at all. And it's got a really crap camera, but you get the idea!

Looking down on Fort William, Loch Eil and Loch Linnhe.
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Snow!!
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Coming back home we were a little early for the sunset, but thanks to the hordes of people who decided to park on the A82 to use the Glencoe ski resort (yes, it's a 60mph single carriageway; yes parking on it is stupidly dangerous and illegal. Sigh.) we got held up there by the police traffic control for just long enough for the light to get just a little bit better. This time around the view wasn't quite as nice up on the top of the moor, but we found a wee bit to stop at overlooking a frozen lochan which was just stunning and worth getting my shoes full of snow for!

Tracks leading up to a frozen lochan in Rannoch Moor
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It's nice to be outside again!