Pictures of Rannoch Moor - Taking pictures of Scotland
you often find yourself in some uncomfortable situations.Picture
yourself standing in the middle of a peaty moor on a day
when the wind blows so strong and the rain or snow tries
to make your skin resemble the outside of an orange. This
is Rannoch Moor in winter. You are surrounded by nothing
but Lochs and Lochans, peat hags and bogs and every step
you take, can see you sink up to your knees in mud which
has a thick porridge like consistency. This is Rannoch
Moor, desolate, wild and a dangerous place to be on your
own. Conversely, imagine sitting on the sandy shore of
a lonely Lochan, listening to the call of the curlew and
watching the sun dance across the water and the mountains
surrounding you take on a purple hue from the heather.
This is Rannoch Moor in Summer ( sometimes ). The two
faces of Rannoch Moor and each face has its own appeal.I
think I mentioned in the text accompanying a previous
photograph, how I had seen Rannoch in a new light. It
was the first time I had spent an overnight on a Glencoe
hill and saw the dawn break over the moor the lochs and
lochans sparkled in the dawn light, a sight to remember.
The moor of Rannoch is a wilderness of around twenty
square miles and you can see the beginings of it from
the A82 road to Glencoe cuts through its western edge.
The West Highland Railway further to the east of the moor,
passes over it on its way to Fort William. The building
of the railway posed quite a few problems for the planners,
eventually they laid a causeway of trees, brushwood and
tree roots from the peat hags to build a foundation for
the track.
The moor is designated a site of Special
Scientific Interest because of its flora. The quote from
Kidnapped would suggest that Robert Louis Stevenson seen
it on a bad day.
The picture above, taken in the early morning was done
quite a few years ago but nothing changes ( at least to
the naked eye ) on Rannoch Moor. The hills of the Blackmount
on the left of the map provide the backgound of the picture.
On the bottom right you can see the railway line making
its way to Rannoch Station which is on the right at the
end of Loch Laidon. A great walk to Rannoch station passing
Loch Laidon starts at the Kinghouse Hotel ( top left )
follow the track to Black Corries Lodge and then on eastward
to the shores of Loch Laidon. A great walk of around eleven
miles. You can see from the map how the Moor is surrounded
by mountains. The next photograph in the gallery is a
winter scene near Rannoch Station and shows an easterly
extension of this map which brings in Rannoch Station
and the whole of Loch Laidon.
Image produced from the Ordnance Survey
Get-a-map
service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance
Survey and Ordnance
Survey of Northern Ireland.
