Mountain landscape - Scotland

Glen Coe ridges and Schiehallion 4.32am

Glen Coe (in Gaelic, Gleann Comhan) is a much visited part of Scotland, by hauliers passing through as they deliver supplies between the Central Belt and Fort William; by tour buses and minivans who deposit their clients underneath the mighty Three Sisters; by hillwalkers, climbers and mountaineers who come here to ascend the steep paths, scale the rocky cliff faces and reach the scenic summits; and by photographers, such as me, who are seeking to capture the grandeur of the landscape.

On this occasion, buoyed by a good weather forecast, I was both hillwalker and photographer, my intention being I’d camp on the summit of Bidean nam Bian, 1150m high above Glen Coe, and see what photographs I could create.

In the foreground of this photograph is Bheinn Fhada, one of the three major ridges from Bidean nam Bian that form the Three Sisters of Glen Coe and with a tricky Bad Step on which you can come unstuck. (Gearr Aonach and Aonach Dubh are the other two ridges of the Three Sisters but they’re behind me in this photo). The next layer in the scene is the Munro Stob Coire Raineach on Buachaille Etive Beag, with the one after that being the shoulder above Coire nan Tulaich, which leads up to the summit of Stob Dearg on Buachaille Etive Mòr. Finally, you can see Schiehallion in the distance, which isn’t in Glen Coe and is almost 60km away as the crow flies*. Its reputation is of its ability of being seen from multiple locations across Scotland as well as being the hill on which contour lines were first created on a map.

(*) Speaking of crows, I’d left the glen the previous afternoon, in muggy afternoon weather, headed first for Stob Coire nan Beith before pitching my tent for a wild camp just off the summit of Bidean nam Bian. As I was taking photographs, two crows landed beside my open backpack and worked together to steal a bag of grapes from inside. There was almost a murder.