Campervan Photography roadtrip to Scotland | Day 1 Glencoe, Loch Etive and Wastwater on the lake district

Where do I start! A trip to the Scottish Highlands in my book is always going to be an epic experience and this one was no different.

I left my house on a Monday morning after having a frantic few weeks revising for my last ever Open University engineering exam and headed straight upto Exeter with Sylvie our VW T5 Campervan fully loaded for the week ahead. It would be my first longish trip in her since being converted and I was pretty excited.

The exam seemed to go well and after sitting inside for 3 hours I was raring to go, so off we went.. with the obligatory stop off at the lake district to split up the journey I headed straight for Wastwater which is home to Scafell Pike the highest mountain in England at 978m.

The place is a stunning location as is the journey there and I just had enough light to get a decent time lapse after the 6 hour journey. 

Being my first time at that part of the lakes, I could have stayed for a few days exploring, it really is an awesome place but the thousands of signs saying no parking or camping no this or that etc etc just reminded my why I love Scotland and it's freedom to roam so much, so after waking to a cloudy sunrise I headed up to the stunning place that is Glencoe. 

The trip from the lakes to Glencoe via the A82 takes you via the edge of Glasgow and up past Loch Lomond, which is a stunning place but I could take it or leave it as its looks to be one of those places that seems to be beautiful but not necessarily photogenic.. Something more or a relaxing place obviously IMHO  

After around 4 hours you make it to Glencoe and its stunning views being greated by the Heardsman (buachaille etive mor) like a slap in the face, with It's shear size and might.

It's kind of become customary for me to head down into Loch Etive when in Glencoe as your nearly always are guaranteed pretty tame deers and stags, this time being no different. 

: Hence of to the first Landscape Photography location Loch Etive.

After a quick spot of lunch, one of many tuna pasta dishes to come, I decided to try and get some pictures down at the Loch only to leave RAW off on the camera by accident and to not be so happy with the results however, I had just started vlogging and think it's good to show it all not just your good days, hence after an explore at the Loch and a few shots, I enjoyed a little slow time watching the deers and stags, before heading upto my next shoot location. 

: Shooting down the valley of Glencoe, now I can't take credit for discovering this shot I had seen it a few times online and knew it would be a priority when visiting Glencoe again, hence I set of and started climbing the mountain opposite from The Buachaille, just in time before sunset, after a bit of sweating and fending of a few midges I was set up.

The light was fantastic to start with shinning down the valley lighting up the river and road giving an amazing image, followed by a lovely sunset which caught the tops of the mountains colouring them a Golden red colour. It truly was a spectacle and I'm still in a situation now 2 months on that I still need to reprocess the images to try and get something close to how I saw it with my eyes, which is often the way when an image contains such strong contrasting colours and gradients.

However I got some great images and a lovely time lapse.

You can see the Vlog of this location in the video below and you can also follow my complete VW T5 Campervan road trip to Scotland on YouTube at the link below.

In which I visit Glencoe, Loch Etive, Fort William, The Caigngorms national park, The Isle of Skye's Cullin range, Elgol, Sligachan, Neist and Brothers point and The Isle of Harris and Lewis's Calanais stones, Luskentyre beach, stac a phris, Rodel marsh's and Horgabost beach.