Hill Walking in Scotland

It’s rare for me to have the opportunity to walk up a Munro these days. I live hundreds of miles away from the nearest one, and when I am in Scotland it’s usually for a family holiday and so disappearing for a day in the mountains can be a little tricky.

I almost managed an ascent of a 3000+ ft Scottish mountain last year but some unexpected snowfall put all of the Munros out of reach due to my lack in snowy mountain skills. So when I planned a return visit to Scotland over Easter, I was eager try and squeeze in an ascent.

As is the way with family holidays though, my time was squeezed, so I had to select a mountain that I could do in a few hours!

Photography from the Summit of Ben Cruachan

When selecting which mountain I was going to walk up I need only have looked out the window from where I was holidaying. Ben Cruachan, standing at 1126 m high, it definitely qualifies as a Munro, and I could make a quick ascent and still be back down before it got too dark.

In order to get up to the summit in time for sunset I need to strip my backpack down to essential camera gear. So I just took my Nikon D850, my Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8, my tripod, and a few filters. I had considered taking the drone but the wind was too strong. (Though it was very still at the summit….how annoying!)

I also decided to take my vlogging camera because I thought my little mountain adventure would make for a great 5 Minute Photo Adventure. So if you want to see how I got on, then check out my video below:

It was unfortunate that the conditions weren’t a little better. The sun really fizzled out in the haze along the horizon so I didn’t get much in the way of light on the mountains. However, just watching that dramatic sky from such an amazing location was reward enough for me.

Do you ever get the chance to combine landscape photography with hill walking? What’s your favourite hill or mountain? Let me know in the comments below.

Landscape Photographs from Ben Cruachan

Before I go here are the photographs you saw me capture in the video.