Scotland, part three...
I have been very lucky this year as I have managed to fit a fair bit of travelling in to Barcelona, Sorrento, The Malvern Hills and last week I was in Scotland. This was my third trip to this land of magical landscapes and it didn’t disappoint.
This place has been somewhere I had never visited until October 2017 when I did the epic drive from London to Ullapool for a few days! My first visit was tinged with sadness as days before leaving my Grandad had been diagnosed with terminal Leukaemia and upon return life descended into chaos until we sadly lost him on New Years Day 2018. My second trip was the wonderful Perthshire wedding of Sarah & Tim at Murthly Castle and I loved photographing a wedding in this wild country.
I make no secret of the fact I enjoy a drive and I always get this feeling of adventure when making the huge trip north. I seem to use that time to strip away the stresses and anxiety that have sadly been a part of my life for the past couple of years to arrive to nothing but the sound of nature and the beauty of the ever changing light up there.
2018 & 2019 have been years of loss, change and more personal drama than I would wish on my worst enemy so time away has been an important part of keeping my mind well and my creativity refreshed. There is no better refresh for me than being awe-inspired by nature so Scotland makes total sense. I love that sense of feeling small in big places it makes me feel like everything else doesn’t really matter, it’s full escape and an opportunity to be totally present and I have come back feeling like I am ready to look to the future and make 2020 my year. I have even booked flights to Vietnam for January next year as more adventure is on the cards.
This wasn’t a solo trip (although I drove up by myself) as this trip was to also celebrate a very special anniversary. Over Christmas last year I sent a couple of nights at my Grandma’s in Devon and while watching detective dramas and eating fish and chips we talked about how September 12th 2019 would have been her and Grandads 60th wedding anniversary and they had planned on spending it by a Loch in Scotland so I suggested that we do it anyway as it’s still an anniversary that should be celebrated and so that’s what we did.
Me, my Mum, Grandma and my Aunties Laura & Sarah booked an AirBnB right next to the water of Loch Goil in Argyll & Bute and with way too much food, a bit of drink and a couple of adventures to Inveraray & Glencoe we celebrated my Grandparents Diamond wedding anniversary just the way they would have if Grandad was still with us, we even got graced with a couple of rainbows to show his approval.
So enjoy the images, this won’t be my last trip that is for certain as I have much more that I want to explore up there over the coming years…
