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On this day I had left at an unearthly hour to arrive in Plockton on the Scottish west coast at 5am in expectation, according to all the forecasts, of excellent early morning light for photography. This early start was to obtain specific landscape views which several months before I had determined would be good viewpoints in the right light.
Leaving home in the pitch dark, and in a thick mist which reduced visibility to at most 50 metres, and often less, was not an encouraging start. However I remained optimistic as all the weather forecasts I had checked the night before had not mentioned mist, and they couldn't all be wrong! It takes about two hours to drive to Plockton, and on arriving things were pretty grim. Visibility was still no better, and I deemed it dodgy to try and ascend a hill that had some steep drops and I had only ever been up once before. There was nothing to do but wait, a frequent part of the landscape photographer's life.
Outside of the car conditions were horrible. Apart from the thick mist, there was not a breath of wind, very gloomy light, and the air was filled with an infinitude of midgies. A few seconds in the open and the midgies were on me in their millions, it was unbearable. I retreated to the car and watched the midgies get trapped on a web which an enterprising spider had built on my wing mirror. It was having a good morning.
Hours later the mist started to lift, and by that time I was down in the village to deliver cards to one of my outlets, The Studio. As the mist thinned, I had a sense that the day might be fruitful after all. By the time the above image was taken from the shore at Plockton, the mist had retreated to the central parts of Loch Carron, leaving the village and hills clear.
North-west Highland Place Names
The landscape of the North-west Highlands and the Gaelic language are intimately connected. Other languages have contributed to the richness of our place names, notably Norse, but the North-west Highlands have for centuries been a Gaelic landscape. In listing the meanings of place names I have relied on authoritative sources wherever possible. For further information about sources please refer to North-west Highland Place Names in the main menu.
Loch Carron; Named after the River Carron which enters this sea loch after a course through Glen-carron and Strath-carron. In Gaelic it is Loch Carran, Carrann meaning ‘rough’. The root is kars-, rough, as seen in
Plockton; The Gaelic name is Ploc Loch Aillse meaning ‘the lump of Lochalsh’ this due to the humpy promontory which ends in Rudha-mór.
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