Slippery Saturday

Herman was sitting in the car already when I came out at 07.15 hours this morning. The car engine was running, and the windows were cleaned already. I got in the car and after a little while Ron arrived as well with his usual ‘Goodmeuning’.

Another photo session had started. Destination: Lagangarbh hut.
A location we’ve been before on an earlier autumn trip. The first parking space was completely occupied. We then saw more cars on the other side of the road, a bit downhill. I’ll get back to that ‘downhill’ part in a while…
We parked, drank our usual tea and had a biscuit as well. After we finished that we took off to the river that floats in front of the hut. It had frozen up this time. Small groups of hikers passed by continuously, a definite sign it was weekend here in Scotland. The three of us all chose our composition. Herman found his rock and Ron and I stood next to each other, waiting for the light to come. In other words: things were as they should be. Great to be out there again!
The light came, photos were made. Another photographer came towards us, ploughing through the snow, setting his gear up next to us and then wandered off in the opposite direction, leaving his bag, camera on tripod behind. Ron and I didn’t quite get that. We concluded we must have very reliable honest faces. Well, we have actually.
The man came back, took his cap off, putting it on the camera. The man was completely bold. I didn’t understand that move either, considering the very cold icy wind that was freezing our ears off. Eventually he put a kind of scarf over his head. The camera kept his cap on.

Around 9.00 o’clock thoughts about breakfast came up and we headed back to the car. We talked for a while to a hiker. He suggested we should go up the mountain as well, if only a bit. We told him we were from the Netherlands (het congratulated us with that) and that we aren’t used to climbing mountains, we only have stairs. Nevertheless he urged to give it a try, “it’s only a mountain” he said. We then also talked to the bold photographer for a while. He gave us several tips for locations we could visit. Most of them we’d been to already. If not this time, we did them on earlier trips. He turned out to be a very kind man.
So, back to the car. As we walked up, another car with a young couple in it came downhill. (I did mention I would get back on the ‘downhill’ part, didn’t I.) Their car got stuck in the snow and they couldn’t go back or forward. Together with a few others we all pushed the car back and forth, but it was of no use. They both got out (they were hikers too), took their pickaxes and cutted away snow and ice. We then pushed and pushed again and managed to get them parked in the right spot. Then it was our turn. Our first problem was a Saab that had parked right behind us, forcing us to go through the same part the other couple had struggled through. No choice, it had to be done. Result: We passed by the Saab and then got stuck as well. Oh no!!
Meanwhile we discovered that another car, the one parked in front of us, had its rear-side window smashed. The owner hadn’t even discovered that himself when we asked him what happened to his window. “ What the hell!” he reacted.
Back to our ice problem: The girl of the couple we helped, took her pickaxe again and started to cut away the ice around our tires. She really knew how to handle an axe. It didn’t take long for her to clear the road and after a bit of pushing Ron got us on back on track again. We thanked our helpers and got in the car as quickly as possible because we were blocking the A82.
Finally we had our breakfast around 10.15 hours. 
Later that morning we went to Loch Ba, a beautiful lake but difficult for photography caused by the time of day. The sun was high up with not a cloud in the sky.
We didn’t expose there, but I did get my drone up and flew quite a bit. In fact, until now this was my longest flight since I own the thing. I had it on a distance of 1 kilometer and 100 meters high. It gave some exciting and beautiful footage, but I was relieved when it came hovering above us when I sent it home. Another flight over the lake at a height of 5 meters gave even more footage. I’m so curious to see it all on a large screen. I will have to wait to get home to see it, because I forgot the cable to connect it to my laptop.

We then plodded to the other side of the lake (and A82) and found a nice spot with beautiful mountains in the backdrop. We spent around an hour and half there in the middle of a fantastic Lord of the Rings scenery. A few clouds would have been nice though. Ah, we photographers are never ever satisfied, are we.
Since we had a good internet connection there, we checked in for our flight to Amsterdam tomorrow and sent mails to the hotel with the request to print our boarding passes. All that was done in a white bright beautiful landscape.
Around 14.00 hours we started to think about the sunset. The spot for it would be ‘the cauldron’ near the new Kingshouse Hotel. We drove up there and walked up a hill and through deep snow with boggy underlayment and then reached our destination. We found a few small partly frozen over waterfalls with Buachaille Etive Mor in the background. It kept us busy until the sun had set. I flew the drone once more. What a great hobby this is!!

Around 17.30 we arrived at the Clachaig Inn, after we fueled the car in Glencoe village. The car is now ready to go back to Glasgow tomorrow, we three aren’t yet. But in the back of our heads we are getting used to the idea that the trip is coming to an end.
Tomorrow morning we will not go out on another photoshoot again, we all agreed on that. Weather is coming in tonight, bringing snow and rain. Let’s hope the roads will be OK at least. Fingers crossed.
Dinner was served and tasted very well. I ordered pork and chorizo chili with rice, Ron and Herman had their usual Angus beef burger. Herman’s burger was topped off with some extra cheddar.
When we finished our meals, we left the crowded restaurant (it’s weekend) and all went our separate ways to our rooms. 

See you tomorrow guys! It was once again another beautiful day with some exciting slippery moments.