Badenoch from Kinrara, Scottish Highlands

Badenoch Sunset

Badenoch from Torr Alvie Badenoch means ‘the drowned land’ and is the name of the district around Kingussie in upper Strathspey.  The Insh marshes form a large part of the district, and are said to be one of the most important marshes in Europe.  The marshes flood regularly in winter, absorbing and holding a massive […]

sunset looking south over badenoch from Torr Alvie, Aviemore, Scotland

Badenoch from Torr Alvie

Looking south over Badenoch, from Torr Alvie, near Aviemore Torr Alvie is a wonderfully mysterious hill, rising up in the middle of the valley, covered in ancient natural forest (an open mix of birch, oak, beech, pine and juniper).  The ‘easy side’ is a long southwards slope which catches the sun, with a great view […]

Mist Inversion

Snowy Cairngorms across misty Strathspey Looking across the mist-filled valley to the snowy Cairngorms, from Craig Na Gower, near Aviemore, on a perfect late autumn day.  I don’t know how many more of these we will have before winter sets in for real… “We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without […]

Silence and Space

Loch Vaa and Ben Guilbin, Strathspey, September Here is Loch Vaa again from that perfect day a couple of weeks ago… rippling beautifully in the sunshine.  I always find that Ben Guilbin (the hill behind the loch) has a mysterious quality.  It certainly has a bit of an ‘atmosphere’ when walking there, a certain energetic […]

Sun and morning mist

Sun breaking through morning mist, Pine, Rothiemurchus We haven’t had a morning like this yet, this year – well, unless I blinked and missed it!  Its been rather wet and wild instead, with fresh snow on the tops on friday, and many birch trees are starting to turn colour. I don’t think we ever feel […]

Cotoneaster Frost

Frosted cotoneaster. After several sub-zero days the frost is building up.  The blackbirds have taken up residence in this cotoneaster, chuckling over the plentiful berry supply. “Suffering, even great physical pain and emotional loss, dissolves when you stop looking at it and for it.  It disappears when you stop agreeing with it or fighting it.  […]