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Top 5 Places To Visit In Scotland

Posted on 28th Feb 2019     13 Comments

Here are 5 reasons to visit Scotland in 2019!

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Peaks and Valleys **Please please please check out facebook.com/mysaturdaydrive for a better crop of this image. I just don't think Instagram's format is good enough to convey the scenery over the screen.** If you haven't figured it out already, I absolutely adore this area of Scotland, even more so when it's covered in snow! For today's image, I picked this angle, looking up River Coupall making its way into the Glencoe Valley under the watchful eyes of the Buachaille Etive Mor to the Left and the Buachaille Etive Beag to the right. My eyes were naturally drawn to it so let me know what you think down below! I wrote a little blog post about how I took this series of images in Glencoe. Check it out via the link in bio or mysaturdaydrive.com/articles. Hopefully, you get some inspiration from it! If you are new here and enjoy my posts, please smash that follow button!
Glencoe Hi all! Hope you all had a great weekend! As you probably saw from the videos in the stories, we were out in search of snow! Needless to say, there was a bit, but not enough to satisfy us haha! So here's another image from above the Glencoe Valley, looking north, with the A82 winding it's way into the distance when snow was in more abundance, and probably the most I will have seen this year. Please check out My Saturday Drive on Facebook for the full widescreen image! I really like the way the morning light was radiating through the snowy mist and hope you like it too! Drop a comment down below! I am not a huge fan of the way the road winds out of the image, leading your eyes away from the main point of interest. But hay ho, we can't bend nature, we can only change our perspective (not as easy to do when you are on top of a mountain with the light changing by the minute). I wrote a quick blog about how I got up there! If you would like to read it head over to mysaturdaydrive.com/articles or just click the link in bio. If you are new here and like what you see, please hit the "Follow" button to never miss a post! I would like to share the beauty of Scotland with as many people as possible and the greater a community we are, the more amazing content I can bring to you!
Buachaille Etive Mor Thank you all for the amazing support of my previous post and for reading my wee blog post! I had to share it with the world that one. Such an incredible day of shooting! I probably captured some of my favourite mountain shots ever up there! This one was right as the snowstorm was coming in through the Glencoe Valley, eating up the Buachaille! Luckily, I was sheltered behind a smaller peak so wasn't getting blasted. As you will find out in later posts, patience is a must in environments like this as soon after these crazy conditions, the exact opposite was happening! Anyways, if you haven't already, please have a wee read of my blog post (link in bio) or mysaturdaydrive.com/articles. If you love this image, let me know that in the comments! Have a nice weekend and please smash that follow button! It helps me tremendously to produce more amazing content for you!
Buachaille Etive Mor I wrote a blog about what I think is Scotland's best photography spot. Check out the link in bio and read and let me know what you think! This is an image of Buachaille Etive Mor, shot on the way up Beinn A'Chrulaiste on one of my favourite days ever when I got to do a sunrise shoot in the snow in Glencoe (basically a bucket list item). My torch fell and stopped working but luckily the moon provided ample light. Also bumped into @jmcsporran for the second time on the same mountain! What were the odds?!! Please check out the blog post and do let me know what you think!
Isle of Arran Here's one more shot of one of my first sunset shoots of 2020, somewhere in Argyll and Bute, right above Isle of Arran. We were cold, wet and covered in mud at the end of that day but we were damn happy we got to experience another amazing sunset in this beautiful country we call home! Nothing good comes from sitting on the couch and being comfortable, so get out there, take risks and enjoy the rewards! As always, your thoughts are highly appreciated in the comments down below. Anything from compliments, criticism, random thoughts and even an update on your weekend adventures are all welcome! For my best work and for Scotland travel blogs, please check out mysaturdaydrive.com or just click the link in bio. If you are new here and enjoy my photos please smash that follow button! The reason why I am asking is because it helps me produce more amazing content for you!
Winter Sunset Here's my #wcw @nanny_maryanne enjoying a lovely sunset somewhere in Argyll and Bute with Isle of Arran in the background. ***Smash that follow button if you are new here and help me get more amazing photos of Scotland to you! *** The colours were so good and the textures so creamy I barely had to do anything to the images, once more proving me that light is key. I don't want to become pretentious and only shoot at sunset and sunrise, but gosh, the images turn out so well! Based on the clues that I left at the start of the post, have a wee guess as to where these were shot! Let me know what you come up with and which one you prefer down below! If you made it all the way down here then you're a true fan! Head over to mysaturdaydrive.com (or link in bio) for Scotland travel blogs as well as a portfolio of some of my best work. If you want to collaborate hit me a DM or contact me from my website.
The week of love I took this on our mandatory new year's day drive. We went to a little gem on the Cowal peninsula. No filter or editing needed with this one as the conditions were just that good. The low winter sun photons made their way nicely through the damp air after a quick shower producing some really good colour and light. If you look closely, the wee isle almost looks like a heart, don't you agree? Leave a comment down below! Otherwise, have a fantastic week ahead! For my best work as well as travel blogs around Scotland, check out mysturdaydrive.com or the link in bio. If you are new here and like what you see, please hit the follow button! It helps me tremendously to make more content for you!
Sea Stacks It's Friday again! Gosh time flies. It feels like only yesterday we were here, at Duncansby Head. This had been a bucket list item for me for ages and was really happy I got to see it and experience it with @nanny_maryanne ! Just like at Dunnet Head, we felt like we were on top of the world. We just laid on the grass on our bellies and just admired them as the waves were crashing into them. Not a lot of birdies flew around so unfortunately, I cannot convey the true scale of these mammoths but, to give you an idea, they are probably the size of a 10 story building (give or take 8 stories😅). How long do you think it took mother nature to create these? Drop a comment down below! For my best work and Scotland travel blogs please vitis mysaturdaydrive.com or the link in bio. If you made it down this far it means you're a true fan. I want to help you know more about Scotland, so please, drop me a comment/message with anything you want to know more about with regards to Scotland. Have a good weekend!
Edge of the World Here's my world at the edge of the world. On Instagram, a popular thing to do Wednesday is to post a photo of your woman crush. Well here's mine, @nanny_maryanne , enjoying the gentle 50mph breeze at the edge of the world, Dunnet Bay. We were fortunate enough to have enough time to tick this item off. Dunnet head is mainland Scotland's most northerly point. Having visited Scotland's most southerly point (Mull of Galloways), we are left with 2 more. Frustratingly, when we visited Rattray Head Lighthouse, we were only a few miles away from the most easterly point. Given that we were so close, should we consider that as ticked off as well? What do you think? Drop a comment down below! I always enjoy reading all of them and seeing what you guys think! For my best photos and Scotland travel blogs, please visit mysaturdaydrive.com or click the link in bio! If you are new here, I urge you to smash that follow button to never miss a post!
Smoo Cave Let's start the week off with a more popular spot on the North Coast of Scotland. Situated just outside Durness, Smoo cave is one of the largest sea caves in Britain, boasting a 50ft high ceiling. It was formed by erosion from a burn, forming the inside chamber as well as sea erosion. There is also a labyrinth of paths outside on the adjacent cliffs so you can end up spending an entire day here. If you are feeling peckish, I cannot recommend the Smoo Cave Hotel enough! They have some amazing food! What are your plans this week? I am dying to go out shooting again so I won't use the rain as an excuse this time haha! For more of my work, please visit mysaturdaydrive.com or the link in bio where you can find my portfolio as well as some useful travel blogs around Scotland. Please feel free to hit the follow button if you like my photos! It helps me tremendously to show you more amazing bits of Scotland!
Freedom Here's a shot from our second day of our wondering along the North Coast of Scotland. When I first started photography I would swear by the tripod for any landscape shots. The more I spend time in remote areas like this, where the weather is wild the more I realize I need to simplify things. For this shot, the light was changing very quickly, it was cold af and the wind was blowing a gentle 50mph. Needless to say, I would much rather get the shot at not ideal settings than not get it at all! Now let's see the keen eyed among you who can recognise this place. Hint, it's very close to a very famous cave who's name rhymes with poo brave haha! For more of my work, please check out mysaturdaydrive.com or the link in bio. If you are new here, please hit the follow button! You have no idea how much it helps me produce more amazing content for you!
Expectations vs Reality I love traveling and sharing amazing new places with you! I also follow a bunch of travel vloggers and photographers and like their content. We watched @karaandnate 's video last night, a very well executed hour long video log of their entire adventure, starting out as newlyweds in 2014 and ending up doing the journey of their life time, visiting 100 countries and sharing it with the world. Whilst it has been very entertaining to watch their videos, a lot of them just showcasing beautiful places, amazing activities and incredible scenarios it was also refreshing to hear them talk about the not so glamorous bits. They showed the world that behind a 10 minute glamorous travel video, there are unslept nights, millions of takes, hours spent editing that we, as consumers of media do not see. Inadvertently, we find ourselves lusting for a life like we see in their videos, constantly traveling, always being somewhere beautiful, with amazing people doing incredible things. We don't realize that what we see is just the tip of the iceberg and what it actually is like may not be what we actually think it would. With that being said, in our case, behind these beautiful images, we had about 5 hours of walking in the cold rain with strong winds right in our faces. For the majority of it, it did not matter to us. We got to see one of the most beautiful (to us anyways) places in the country. Short story long, my point is, enjoy traveling and exploring your own way, whether it’s taking a sabbatical and backpacking across Asia or a luxurious break in the Maldives or just a weekend getaway to somewhere new. Don’t try to copy what you see here, just do! As always, I welcome your thoughts! Check out mysaturdaydrive.com or the link in bio for my best work and travel blogs. If you are new here, smash that follow button!
The North Between Christmas and New Year's @nanny_maryanne and I were lucky enough to go on a little trip to the North Coast of Scotland. It was an amazing experience, our second time being up there. On our first day, given my ambitious planning, I wanted us to hit a place I had always wanted us to see - Sandwood Bay Beach. The conditions were absolutely miserable, horizontal rain, blowing a gale and about 2h walk each way from the car to the beach. 50% of us thought it was an absolutely beautiful place. It was amazing and refreshing to hear nothing but wind and the sound of waves and have not a single soul around for at least a few miles. No wonder it was voted one of the most beautiful beaches on mainland UK. I think having to fight for it made it so much more special, wouldn't you agree? For more Scotland photography and travel blogs about Scotland, check out mysaturdaydrive.com or the link in bio! If you are new here and enjoy my photos, please smash that Follow button!
Loch Ard PLEASE READ This is a very popular place for photography especially during autumn when the colours are absolutely gorgeous. Not when I visited, unfortunately, just a very grey dull late afternoon. I was hoping for some nice sunset colours but the weather did not play ball. I was also surprised at how defensive the locals were here when they saw me with a tripod and a camera. Let me put things into context. Right next to the road, there's a little barbed wire enclosed area which has a little old jetty that nicely leads your eyes to the boat garage thing you can see on the left. I looked for a way to get in without jumping over the barbed wire as I did not want to tear my trousers. The only gate there was locked and out of respect, I thought to not jump it. I found a nice composition right beside that little enclosed area, just at the edge of the loch. Took my shots and just before I was ready to leave, a lady came out from the house across the road from where I was and said she had been watching me expecting me to trespass and she was ready to report me. She thanked me though for not doing it and said a lot of people just jump over and do not respect the local's private land and boundaries. I presume a lot of them do it for Instagram. Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback by the whole thing. It also made me think a little about the effect of sharing and promoting a beautiful place on social media has on a place/community. I absolutely adore Scotland, I love photographing it and sharing it with you but I do not want it to become like Santorini or Bali where the amount of disrespect from tourists is beyond conceivable. I have a few ideas about how I, as a creator can prevent this from happening but please let me know what you think down below! Blog and portfolio at mysaturdaydrive.com
Loch Lomond I suppose I was on a little spree to shoot some of the more popular places around Scotland. You've probably seen this time and time again, with various light, vrious weather and various angles. Here's a couple of my takes on it. The weather could not be greyer, the original images are pretty much black and white. I therefore decided to put my own twist on them. The first one is the right crop I intended, but the second one was meant to be square but can't upload it like that unfortunately! Let me know what you think down below. Which one do you prefer? I kinda like them both but I guess I'm a little biased 😅. For more Scotland photography and travel blogs, please check out my website at mysaturdaydrive.com or click the link in bio. If you like my images, please smash that follow button! You have no idea how much it helps me create more images and share this beautiful country with you!
Black Rock Cottage We've seen this time and time again getting photographed by many a photographer. As much as I don't like shooting things that have been regurgitated a million times on the internet, I felt I needed to bag my own shot of this iconic little cottage at the base of the Glencoe Ski resort. Conditions were as grey right after sunset so I also included a black and white edit. Let me know which you like most in the comments below! Also, whoever figures out why the left hand side of the house is yellow gets a shout out in the stories 😅! Hope you all have a wonderful week. As always, my best work and Scotland travel blogs can be found at mysaturdaydrive.com and if you enjoy my photos, please hit the follow button!
Kilchurn Castle It seems that you lot really like Scottish Castles so I had to oblige haha! So here's one of the top most photographed castles in this wonderful country, Kilchurn Castle! Real og's will remember I've been there before, at the start of my blogging journey with My Saturday Drive. Back then, it was just a spontaneous trip, just me, @nanny_maryanne and my crappy old phone. Now, I planned it in advance, looked up some of the more popular compositions and went at the right time of day to shoot! Let me know what you think and whether you want to see more popular shots of Scotland in the future or more unique places that I managed to discover in my travels! Have a great weekend and please don't forget to check out my website at mysaturdaydrive.com for what I consider my best work so far and for Scotland travel blogs. If you like my photos, please smash that follow button! I always enjoy discovering/meeting new people on this platform!
The Dream This is probably my favourite shot of that evening. I like it for a few reasons. First off, the sky was absolutely amazing! Lovely blues and purples and scattered clouds. The backdrop of the distant mountains sets the scene nicely too. I mistakenly shot it wide open at 3.5 for my lens, but it worked out brilliantly with the rock fence being slightly out of focus which I actually like. Secondly, I really like this image for the memories it brings back. When I was young, I grew up on a farm (albeit not as pretty as this). The cold sunset, the beautiful sky, the warm glow coming from inside the house, the smoky smell from the chimney and the distant ba of sheep reminded me of my childhood. I don't like living in the past but I do want to cherish these kind of memories. Reflecting on this image makes me think that I should appreciate every living moment of life. What do you think? Do you happen to stumble upon images that remind you of a nice memory? Drop a comment! Head over to my Facebook page for the full version of this photo (wide screen preferrable). Check out my website if you have a minute, for some of my best work and some Scotland travel blogs. If you are new here and like what you see, smash that follow button!
Frozen Waterfall More wintery conditions around higher ground in Scotland so be sure I'll venture out more to get some sweet winter shots. Meanwhile, since I've not had one in a while, here's a waterfall, this time frozen, under a beautiful sunset below freezing. I just can't get enough of these wonderful colours during winter sunrises and sunsets. What's the coldest you've ever experienced? Drop a comment down below! For more like this, check out mysaturdaydrive.com, where occasionally I also post blogs about Scotland. If you are new here and you like what you see, please stick around by liking/following my page!
Winter Sunset I tried long and hard to find how this little peak is called but I couldn't. We experienced this wonderful sunset somewhere right before Tyndrum. We were trying to find our way to a point of interest called The lochan ( Legend of the lost Sword ). Why? Because it sounds cool haha! Anyways, we didn't find it as the light was fading quickly but we did get to witness a spectacular winter sunset. Head over to my Facebook page for the full panoramic image. Unfortunately, I can't post it here since Mr Algorythm only likes 4x5's haha! Anyways, what do you think? Don't you just love how the sky turns purple and pink at sunset during winter? I am definitely a sucker for it, but I do want to shoot more sunrises this year! As always, please check out my website via link in bio or mysaturdaydrive.com for more Scotland related content. If you are new here, smash that follow button to not miss a post!