This past week has seen some superb weather, with good temperatures during the day and plenty of clear skies and sun! It was however due to end at the weekend, with threatened snow the following week …. yes, in April! Welcome to Scotland!
Due to the predicted weather change, I decided to book the Friday as holiday so I could make a visit to Stac Polaidh for sunrise. The plan was to set the alarm for a gruelling 2.15am, having worked out the timing needed to get to the lower summit of the Stac in time for capturing the moment!
I got to bed early and after about 4.5 hours sleep the alarm went off. The day .. or night … had began! The journey was fairly uneventful except being startled a couple of times with red deer very close to the road. As I arrived at the car park in the dark - there was some signs of light on the horizon.
I took Willow with me this time, which turned out an interesting challenge as I kept her on a training lead due to the steep drop-offs on the Stac and knowing her over-enthusiam! The journey up I found totally exhausting on this occasion, but was motivated to keep going when I came around the side of Stac and saw the colours below; realising time was fast approaching the sunrise moment.
I eventually made it and was presented with the beautiful pre-sunrise colours and views of low cloud that made all the effort worthwhile.
I set up a mobile phone running a time-lapse and it was only afterwards when watching it that I realised how much cloud movement there was with that low cloud. Quite amazing, and not noticeable until sped up!
I had worked out from my photo app (PlanIt Pro) that the sun was due to rise from behind Cul Mor, which meant it would take a while to appear - in between time you could see the top of the cloud inversion lit up by the golden hour sunlight, as well as the tops of the surrounding Ben Mor Coigach peaks:
And then the moment arrived as I managed to capture the first sighting of the sun as it peaked above Cul Mor - bringing with it some hope of a bit of warmth, that I needed!!
Meanwhile the surrounding landscape started to light up.
I found it surprising how quickly the golden light dissipated - partly due to the time the sun took to rise above Cul Mor. Even so, the low cloud continued to entertain - it was only later on the journey home that I realised the sun had burnt it off entirely within a few hours!
It was soon time to make a decision to head back down to the car as the light was past its best - the steep descent off the Stac had a moment of excitement when I noticed a ptarmigan about 15metres in front of me that Willow could smell but not see! I didn’t get a chance to get the rucksac off and change the lens, so only managed a heavy cropped image using my standard lens. It soon flew off with a familiar sounding call. A nice sighting!
After making it back to the car I decided to take a longer route home taking a detour via Lochinver - in the process getting some great views of the landscape, although no longer golden hour! Here’s a selection of the photos taken.
It was definitely a great way to spend the Friday morning before the cloudy wet weather arrives! Finally here’s a selection of panoramic photos using the mobile phone while on the Stac - always impressed by even mid-range photo camera technology.
