Liathach and Loch Clair

On this particular February morning I had headed out in hopeful anticipation of some interesting dawn light on the mountains of the far north west of Scotland, but north of Ullapool in the dim light of the pre-dawn I could see that the mist was down to sea level and accompanied by a strong easterly wind. Obviously it was day that was going to require patience, and after a tactical re-think I decided to head back along the coast through Poolewe and Gairloch towards the mountains of Torridon and Loch Maree.

There, Slioch stood proudly above me as I drove alongside Loch Maree, but in the very directional low light of early morning its magnificent north-western buttresses were totally in shadow. After some refreshment beside the loch I headed up from Kinlochewe towards the Torridon mountains. In total contrast to what I had experienced up north, Beinn Eighe and Liathach looked magnificent, rising tall out of a clear blue sky.

Loch Clair was my immediate destination.  It is a location that I remembered first coming to over forty years earlier, and Liathach from Loch Clair was the photograph that had inspired me to come to the Highlands. The viewpoint rarely fails to deliver and it did not fail on this occasion either. The loch was still and covered in a very thin and fragile layer of ice, and apart from the main summit of Spidean a'Choire Leith, the mountain carried a light dusting of snow.

The image I eventually captured was not what I originally set out for, but happily, a day of 300 miles driving wasn't entirely wasted !!