North Scotland on Kodak Ultramax 400 - Part One
Ever since one of my best friends (Alex J) moved to the very north of Scotland, I’d been travelling up every single year. North Scotland is perhaps the most beautiful part of the UK, and one only needs the flimsiest of excuses to go there and explore. In previous years we’d done the NC 500, seen the Orkneys, and camped out on a beach over the Autumn equinox. Unfortunately, the pandemic brought all this to a grinding halt.
Now in 2023 it’s been four years since I last went, and I hadn’t seen much of my friend in the intervening years due to distance and lockdowns. Another trip was long overdue and with a few months planning I and another friend (Another Alex! - Alex T) travelled up in March. Given the distance we flew up from Luton to Inverness, but this time took the decision to hire a car for the drive to Thurso and back. Something I’d never done before but the Hyundai i20 proved to be a competent drive for the weekend. The only slight set back was the long wait at the airport for the hire company to pick us up, having sent their driver to Inverness Library and not Inverness Airport.
The drive from Inverness to Thurso is about two and a half hours and is very easy as it is just one road, following the A9 all the way north. To break up the journey (and allow a driver swap) we stopped off at Golspie Waterfall, a little less than halfway up. We certainly don’t have waterfalls like this down in Hertfordshire! It wasn’t just the impressive waterfall that caught my imagination, but also the moss and lichen-covered trees. The impressive green tones gave me pangs of regret over bringing Kodak Ultramax instead of Fuji Superia 400 (Fuji has better green tones). However, this was the only time over the weekend I felt that way. The rest of the trip suited Ultramax very well.
Speaking of Ultramax, I had only shot this film stock once before but had really liked it. Yet with so many other things to shoot I hadn’t circled back round to it until a sale at Analogue Wonderland prompted me to do buy a triple pack. What better way to shoot it than in North Scotland, where I had roughly one roll of 36 per day. This would also be the first time I’d flown with a film stock of ISO 400. Here’s hoping there wouldn’t be issues with airport scanners.
The first full day was actually a day on the job! The main reason I came at this specific time was I had a photoshoot with a modified Jaguar X-Type for Jaguar World magazine, the car based close by in a village between Thurso and Wick. Thankfully we had good weather and after a jaunt along the north coast road we found a good spot to park the car up for a shoot. We were interrupted only by a runaway herd of cattle who promptly spooked the local deer population. To check out the full shoot please do pick up a copy of the latest issue of Jaguar World by clicking here.
Heading into the afternoon and reunited with my friends, we whisked off to have a look at Dounreay nuclear power station from Sandside Bay before being taken on an afternoon of deer stalking by Stuart, Clara’s (Alex J’s girlfriend) father. Readers can rest easy knowing that today the only shooting was done with cameras, although deer culling is an important part of habitat management. Driving into the area down a rough track in a 4x4, we got out and carefully made our way through the area, keeping our eyes peeled for movement. All in all, we came across three stags, who at this time of year are grazing separately to the does. For the final deer Stuart and I went off without the others in an attempt to get a bit closer for me to get a better photo. Operating two cameras (film and digital) whilst walking in bog was a bit ambitious, but it was just a shame I didn’t have my 300mm F2.8 lens with me to really get the money shot.
The next day I and the two Alexs headed out West along the north coast road to Strathy Beach and then Strathy Point. Here we experienced the most confusing weather of the whole trip. As we were coming up the beach the dark clouds had rolled in and Strathy Point itself was completely invisible and enveloped in thick cloud. Not long after we were barraged by strong winds and hail that even created little hail drifts in our footprints. Not exactly ideal beach weather. But the strong winds proved to be a boon and they made quick work of the thick coastal fog. Half an hour later Strathy Point had returned.
Furthermore, when we reached it, the sun was shining and the skies were blue! Quite the turnaround. Good job we hadn’t gone here first. In fact, the visibility was now so good we could see miles out to sea, not just along the mainland coast but also out to Hoy on the Orkney Islands. We then continued along the coast to Castle Varrich at Tongue. Having found the one pub selling food, we ate a hearty pizza before walking up to the ruins themself. On this clear day we also had the most amazing views of Ben Loyal, both as we were driving to Tongue and also when we were walking around from the pub. The top of the ruins was windy, but it provided yet another great viewpoint for the surrounding area.
For our return journey we decided to take the scenic route back to the main road via in a loop around Loch Loyal and Loch Naver. Apart from allowing the group of cars headed by the Ferrari 458 past, we had the narrow single-track road largely to ourselves and it made for a great bit of driving. The surroundings so open and empty of people, with the exception of a few scattered farmhouses and a very remote B&B at Altnaharra. The mountain views of Ben Loyal and Ben Hope were spectacular, and the drives along the lochs no less impressive. This is the Scotland we’d come to see.
The day had been a long one though and we capped it off with a relaxing evening of board games, something that we are all very fond of. Thankfully there were no seven-hour games of Risk. It had certainly been a jam-packed couple of days but there was still a little bit more to go. To see how we got on, on our final full day, you’ll have to tune into next week’s blog. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the images and please leave any comments you have down below.
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