The Scottish Highlands in the gloaming

I was bewitched when I first went to Scotland. There is no other word for it. The sheer beauty of the landscape completely took me by surprise.

 

I'd travelled up overnight from London on the train, and as dawn was breaking, the spell started being cast over me. As the train rattled between Glasgow and Fort William, mist was rising over the water of a loch and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I think I'd been woken up by all the oohs and aahs and scuffling of feet around me. Everyone in the carriage apart from me had their faces pressed against the windows and I wondered what they were looking at and what the big deal was.... I soon saw. My sleepy eyes soon sprung awake for the rest of that journey. They don't call it one of the greatest train journeys in the world lightly... (I had no idea - there was no internet for research back then).

 

That evening, I was rowing across Loch Eil. As dusk was setting over this beautiful part of the world, the faint sound of bagpipes could just about be heard drifting over the loch. I have no idea where they came from, and the only other sound was the gentle slap of oars on water. It was then I was truly snared.

 

This shot reminds me of that moment and I have edited it accordingly. I hear the phantom bagpipes when I look at it!

Done