The PK Perspective

Location: Loch Turret    Sun 4th July 1400 ish

As my photo bud is working lots and looking after 2 kids when he’s not working I dragged my mother out for photo trip instead. The advantage of going out with mother is that she supplies lunch too, we originally said we would have a picnic but when Sunday morning came it was dull and wet and windy so we agreed to to Gloagburn farm instead, YUM! Gloagburn is between Perth and Crieff at Timbermore and does wonderful home cooking using organic ingredients off of their farm. As we munched on our lovely food and discussed the weeks ongoings the heavens opened and to say it poured down is an understatement. It was rain of a more biblical nature and just as we considered making us an arc it calmed down and left behind it a lovely sunny and warm day. So after lunch we decided to venture out into the world and headed away from the dark bruised clouds that were fleeing to Perth. The sun was shining over Crieff so we went that way instead and on the spur of a moment went to Loch Turret just beyond. I have been there I few times but always in the autumn and winter and have been met with snow, mist and a very full loch. But this time, in summer, it was very different. The glen was lush with greenery and the loch itself was somewhat shrunken revealing little stony beaches underneath its edges. It was beautiful with the sun shining over the hills and sparkling blue water.

Legoesk hydro building

The whole place was maybe a bit too perfect and had an unreal feel about it like someone had painted it on . The colours were bright and harsh in the Scottish light, but the most unreal thing is the Hydro building. The loch is a dammed river and is looked after by Scottish water. At the base of the Dam which looks like a steep green hill is a building which home the pumps and on this day had an alarm going off. It is a stone building of grey and red and with the steep hill behind it and the blue sky above it looks like it is made of lego or some child had painted it on. Very odd! After deciding that the alarm was not a signal that the dam was going to burst open we headed up to the loch and a view point which was sign posted but we never actually found.

The loch looking lovely before the storm

As the day was now so wonderful, though still a bit breezy we walked along the path at the side of the loch, a path which turned in to a small river at times due to the mornings rain. We got about a mile down it when it gave up being a path and turned into a grassy track and eventually into nothing but heather on a hillside. We did find a stream tumbling down to the loch and a little waterfall which I at a couple of shots of with a low ISO and  Shutter speed  although they were a bit blurry as in order to get them with the wide angle (I didn’t have another lens with me) I had to lean over a very slippy stone which was too slippy to stand on and balance the camera on the edge of it at arms length, surprising I managed to get any good ones really! After this stream we thought we should head back as the path was no longer obvious and the sky was darkening. Back up through the heather we went to the path/ river which we had followed up and after passing a few tourists in t shirts and no jackets (fools they are, do they not know about Scottish weather) the sky turned a deep dark navy and the sun disappeared behind some very heavy clouds which closed in around the hills and cried their woes to us. Like someone had ripped them open the clouds threw their contents at us and I was very glad I had brought my waterproof jacket which is big enough to zip up over me and my camera. It seems we did not beat the storm after all.

With thunder rumbling in the distance we speed back around the loch and over the dam to the car and reached it well and truly drenched. And although the scene was pretty spectacular with a moody sky over loch and glen I was not getting my camera out of my jacket and subjecting it to the buckets of water that were being hurled at us. The drive back down the one track road was interesting with the rain bouncing off of its uneven surface and obscuring our view. At the bottom of the glen is the glen Turret distillery and we sought sanctuary there with it’s giant Grouse until the rain eased and revealed yet again a beautiful sunny day with a blue sky and cheerful white, fluffy clouds. If it wasn’t for the soaked ground and drenched people you would think it had always been a lovely day. Good old Scottish weather, just like its people and a bit on the unpredictable side and often full of surprises!