Silent Maelstrom

Duke's Pass, The Trossachs.
I'm still experimenting with these. I'm really pleased with my new 6D's sensor and how it handles high ISO's. However after making all that effort to get all the children settled & sleeping and then get out of the house by a reasonable time and drive the 40mins to my destination and then hike 10mins up a trail in the dark under a fabulous canopy of stars I discovered getting close to these tall pines was difficult because they were surrounded by a chaos of blown down trees and then squeezing the tripod onto a stable base wasn't easy and then... my intervalometer didn't fit the camera! So I had to manually depress the shutter button for the 40odd 30sec exposures and hope that I wasn't being heavy-handed and shifting the camera's position too. It was surprisingly quiet with hardly any bird sounds and only one car passed on the road below in over an hour. A few shooting stars blazed and several satellites tracked stealthily across the heavens. The orange glow is still some light pollution from Glasgow which is about 22miles away as the crow flies.

Crow Road Cosmos

Cabin fever got the better of me last night and I popped out late on to check out conditions around The Crow Road over The Campsie Fells. The origin of the name of this road always intrigues me as does the Glasgow expression "Awa' The Crow Road" to mean someone's died.
The big car-park on the bend in the road was busy with several cars parked up in the dark with lights on but not much activity evident- courting couples & doggers I've always suspected! And yet somehow it was me that felt guilty and furtive as I got out of the car with my camera gear & tripod, setting off in the dark with muffled head-torch in search of waterfalls and stars.
I didn't manage much but it was a good scouting trip: Yes you do get decent starry skies this close to Glasgow with The Milky Way (just). The waterfalls are rather secluded and shielded by trees. I came back with some good ideas for the next clear night.