Glencoe 2019 trip - day 4

Lagangarbh Hut, Lochan na Stainge and the Cauldron

Lagangarbh Hut is a place we visited two years ago, on a very cloudy morning. We had driven past it the last couple of days and it just looked great in the snow, so we just had to get back there for a sunrise shoot. On our way from the hotel, we already noticed the roadside car parks were all quite full. It’s weekend and I guess everyone wanted to visit the area while it is stil covered in snow. The roadside car park at Lagangarbh Hut was also full, so we had to use the somewhat rougher car park at the other side of the road.

At first, it wasn’t that cold, but before the sun came up, the wind picked up and it became very chilly. After sunrise, we still had to wait a bit longer for it to climb over a bank of clouds, but then we were rewarded with some beautiful light over our foreground and the hut itself. We returned to our car, finding that someone had parked right behind it, making it impossible to avoid a very icy bit of terrain. One other car was already stuck there and with a group of five people we managed to push that car to a spot where it didn’t block the exit. Then it was our turn. We immediately got stuck as well. Fortunately, everyone was still around to help out and in three attempts we passed the ice and the steep exit of the car park. I was driving and once I was on the A82 Ton and Herman came running in and we managed to drive away without causing any trouble whilst standing still on the road. It did mean that we didn’t get a chance to say thank you to the kind people helping us out, so in the off-chance you’re reading this: thank you very much, we couldn’t have gotten out there without your help. It is much appreciated!

After that adventure, we had breakfast at the hotel and plans were made for the rest of the day. Our midday shoot was going to be at River Etive, Triple Falls to be exact. This is along the single-track road to Loch Etive, but once we turned into that road we noticed that it had lots of snow and ice on it. After our adventure near Lagangarbh Hut, we were not going to take any chances with that, so once again an alternative plan was needed. We went to Loch Ba, where Ton flew his drone again. It can be a great location when it’s partly cloudy and there are reflections, but with snow on the ice and clear blue skies we thought it lacked interest. On our way back to the car, we noticed Lochan na Stainge, on the other side of the road, looked a lot more promising. We stayed there for an hour or so, enjoying the midday sun and shooting with all the lenses we had with us.

For the final sunset shoot of our trip, we relocated to the renovated King’s House Hotel, which will open again somewhere this month. For now, we just parked our car there and started our walk towards an area known as “The Cauldron”. We had to plough our way through the snow; it seemed like no one had been there before us since the snow had fallen, except for the deer. We followed the deer tracks, hoping they would like to avoid the boggiest parts as much as we would. We managed to reach the small river and find the small waterfalls. We made some images using the river as foreground interest and I also made a panorama from an elevated location near the river.

The weather forecast for tomorrow doesn’t look promising: thaw is expected and it will rain or snow. We decided to not go out for a shoot tomorrow morning, but instead take it easy, enjoy breakfast and then pack our stuff for the journey back home.

Our trip started Wednesday.