Urquhart Castle

I went out today with the Nairn Literary Society for our annual outing. This year we went to the end of the Caledonian Canal at Clachnaharry and were going to take a boat out onto The Beauly Firth to see the canal entrance from the seaward side. The Firth was in tirmoil due to the gusting high winds and rapid squalls that approached from the west so we contented ourselves with a trip around the Muirtown basin.

It was then a coach trip down to Drumnadrochit on the north bank of Loch Ness for a visit to Urquhart Castle, all hoping to beat the tourists expected off of one of the cruise ships that had docked in the Cromarty Firth. The weather was very changeable, from fluffy white clouds and blue sky to black with wind driven squalls. All of Scotlands seasons in 30 minutes. It was my intention to get a picture of the castle which was slightly out of the ordinary and one you would not see in a tourist brochure. When we pulled in the rain had just stopped and the skies cleared to give that beatiful light you get after the air has been washed. I stepped out onto the viewing balcony at the visitor centre and this shot presented itself without too many people in the picture. I did get a few really unusual shots with dramatic skies but I kept coming back to this one.