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| A dusting of snow on Cairn Lochan |
Sometimes the weather just works out for the best. A few
weeks ago I'd arranged to do some filming with Triple Echo Productions for The
Adventure Show. The date was last Thursday and the forecast earlier in the week
was not promising. But it changed and Thursday became 'the best-looking day of
the week' in the mountain forecasts. And so it proved, a day of dryness in a
week of wet weather. The night before was chilly with the rain falling as snow
on the highest summits. It was still windy and we had to find sheltered spots
to record voices. Clouds tore across the
sky, layered and fractured, with rare flashes of sunlight slanting occasionally
slanting through them. The air was cold, hat and gloves cold, which was good as
we were filming for a piece about the Cairngorms in winter. Appropriately, the
clouds lifted at times to reveal a fresh dusting of snow high up.
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| Keith and Meg, cameraman and producer, heading for the Chalamain Gap |
Filming takes time, as I know from making the Cairngorms in
Winter film with Terry Abraham last winter. On this occasion we wandered across
to the rocky ravine of the Chalamain Gap
and back again, a distance of around 8 kilometres. We were out for five hours.
I walked much more than that distance though as I repeated several sections so
they could be filmed from different angles and vantage points. I also carried a
full pack so I could be filmed pitching camp and then sitting in the tent
talking about winter camping.
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| Reindeer ignoring us |
Our route took us past a big enclosure where the Cairngorm
reindeer are often found when they're not scattered over the hills. They were
there that day, studiously ignoring us, though one did stare intently when I
was pitching the tent.
The piece will be broadcast in the Adventure Show on BBC2
Scotland in early December and will include clips from The Cairngorms In Winter
film.
