Puck's Glen is a deep, steep sided, but easily traversed gorge, that runs down the side of the low lying Creag Mhor mountain and was created during the last ice age, by the constant flow, of the Eas Mòr Burn (Gaelic for "Big Waterfall"). The Puck's Glen gorge, sits at the edge of Argyle's Cowal Peninsula, on the North West coast of Scotland.

Puck's Glen is beautiful, atmospheric and a truly amazing location. With enchanting views around each and every corner you look and very, very photogenic. So grab your camera and come with me, as I take you on a journey, through the many views you will find in this stunning location. The like of which, you probably haven't seen before.

And as most of you who are regular visitors to this site, looking for photographic location guides, to spectacular views throughout Scotland. Will already know, that beautiful, mystical locations in Scotland, means there are also going to be plenty of mythical beings and legends associated with them and Puck's Glen is definitely no exception.

In fact Puck's Glen in this regard, is actually a bit of an exception, because there is not only one mythical being who resides in this glen, but two. The first of which is called "Poca Ban", who is said to be a very mischievous, but relatively harmless spirit. Who on seeing anyone enter into the glen, will wait for them hiding in the undergrowth next to the path and then as they pass by, roll out a thread of strong woolen twine, that wraps around their feet and trips them up.

The second mythical being, is called the "Ghillie Dhu". Who is said to be clad from head to toe, in bright green mosses and leaves and who will steal toddlers away from their parents, as soon as they look away. But not to bring harm to the child, but instead to clad them in the same mosses and leaves, that he himself wears. Before returning the child to its frantic parents, who will then find them all clad in green, laid next to the path further up into the gorge. And as the poem above suggests, the Ghillie Dhu doesn't like hunters and will fiercely protect all of the animals in the glen and the surrounding area, by immediately attacking anyone who tries to do them harm. Including red squirrels, which still thrive in this glen and who can be regularly seen in the tree tops, as they leap from branch to branch, searching for food.

How to get there - regular readers will know, that I normally try to show you as many street views as I can, of the route to each photographic destination I am taking you to, from the nearest large town or city. But as the Puck's Glen location, is quite far away from any major cities or towns, I have instead highlighted the route, from the City of Glasgow for you on Google maps and which you can find HERE.

You will see on the map that loads into your browser, that there are in fact two routes to this location from Glasgow. One that is shorter but includes a ferry (37.1 miles) and a longer route that avoids the ferry (74.5 miles). But that both take you, around the same amount of time to complete, which is an hour and three quarters.

So choose the route that you prefer, depending on the time you have available. But we decided to go for the longer route to avoid the ferry. So we didn't have to rely on being able to get onto the ferry without booking ahead and also because we wanted to see and photograph more of the Scottish scenery.

So after following the Google Map route and travelling for an hour and three quarters. You should now find yourself driving down the A815, heading towards the village of Ardbeg and the Holy Loch. Where you will first pass by the Benmore Botanic gardens (which we will return to at the end of this chapter) and then only a couple of hundred yards further on, you will come to the entrance of the Puck's Glen car park on your left, Street View, Map View. Turn in here and park wherever you can.

You will then see an information board to your left, at the side of the old road and another path, that leads up into the woods in front of you. The path in front of you, takes you up into the forest and all the way up to the top of the mountain. Which is a very pleasant (steep) hike up to the top, with great elevated views of the surrounding area and coastline. But isn't really what we are here for and is something you can enjoy later, if you have the time. So instead grab your kit from the car and head off walking down the old road to your left out of the car park. Where about a quarter of a mile further on, you will come to an old stone bridge over the Eas Mòr Burn and a path that leads up into the gorge to the right of the burn. Take this path.

Tip 1 - you really only need to carry two lenses in with you on this shoot and in fact, could even get away with only one. As when we first arrived here during a heavy downpour, I automatically took all of my lenses with me into the glen, even though I ended up using only my 24-105. And that's only because I had it already mounted on the camera and didn't want to swap it out for the 16-35 in the rain.

Although it didn't take me long to realise, that 24mm just wasn't going to be wide enough, for most, if not all of the compositions I was seeing. Yet as I said, I decided to stick with the 24-105 for the first afternoon, just so I didn't risk getting any moisture into the body of my camera and ruining the rest of this shoot. But next morning (it was still drizzling), as we arrived in the car park, I could see the remnants of some quickly evaporating mist, still clinging to the tree tops. Which meant if I wanted to capture the soft light it was creating, I would have to get a wiggle on and quickly work my way up through the gorge, without faffing around swapping out lens etc.

So that is what I decided to do and take only my 16-35mm with me, to capture a series of wider angle views, of this narrow, damp, steep sided gorge.

Then after throwing on my 16-35 lens in the dryness of the car, we both jumped out and started to make our way back up the old road and then into gorge. But this time, also taking both my umbrella and my umbrella holding assistant (a. k. a. wife) with me.

You will then start to walk deeper into the gorge and then over a couple of small wooden bridges, with lots of promising views all around you. So keep walking up into the gorge, until you pass by the first of the waterfalls to the left of the path. But for which I couldn't find a useable composition at this point, as this lower waterfall had too many fallen branches and bits of tree debris in it. But hopefully you have better luck when you are here and all that debris has since been washed away. However, if this part of the falls is still choked up? Don't lose heart, as there are many more sets of falls and cascades, further into the glen for you to photograph.

Continue on, until you reach a flight of stairs, that zig zags into the upper part of the glen and then over another wooden bridge, that crosses over the Eas Mòr Burn.

Until a little further into the glen, you will reach the first location where I did find a composition, as shown in SHOT 1 above.

And as you can see in SHOT 1 above, there is still the faintest glimpse of morning mist, clinging to the canopy. But it soon disappeared, washed away by a constant fine drizzle. Along with the occasional large splodge of water, dripping down from the tree tops and running down the back of my neck, as I bent over the camera. Brrrr!

But what really attracted me to the scene shown in SHOT 1 above, was that gnarly looking tree in the upper centre of the shot and how the soft light shining through the mist, was gently lighting it from above. And how the steps to the right of it, seemed to draw my eye into the scene and made me want to see more.

If you like old stone stairways and how they can be used as a compositional aid, to draw your viewer's eye further into the scene. Then you are really going to enjoy shooting your way through Puck's Glen.

Then having taken your shots of this first view, continue walking into the glen, to where you will soon reach the stone stairs shown in SHOT 1. Where you will then see, there is a small ledge that you can walk out onto, to take a close up, intimate shot of the falls and the abundant green foliage that surrounds it, as shown in SHOT 2 above right.

Having now taken your shots of this lower falls area, keep walking deeper into the glen. Until the path suddenly turns a sharp right, around an old, low, cobble edged wall and then out into a larger open area and what is probably the main photo location in the glen, as shown in SHOT 3 above left.

For this third view, you are definitely going to want to be shooting at 16mm, or even wider if you have a lens that can do that. Or you could of course pan around the scene and shoot it as a multi shot panorama. But for me, 16mm just seemed to hit the 'sweet spot' for this glen. By allowing me to shoot it wide for the edge detail, yet without having to include any of the bright, blown out sky above each of these views.

Tip 2 - as already mentioned above, in Puck's Glen you will be shooting in a narrow, high sided gorge. But where the light levels are always going to be low, no matter what time of day, or season you are here. Which means that unless you are prepared to bump up your ISO, you will be shooting long exposures throughout this glen. Even more so, if you want to use a deep depth of field. So my second tip is this: get here early to avoid the crowd and intentionally frame out the sky, for all of your shots throughout Puck's Glen.

The reason I am suggesting you do this, is because the range of light between the brightness of the sky and the depth of the shadows, is always going to be far too big to capture in a single frame (perhaps 13 stops?). So will not look believable if you bracket your shots, or use a heavy grad to bring down the sky. Which will then introduce, a very noticeable darkening effect across the tree tops.

So why not frame out the sky completely and instead concentrate all your efforts, onto capturing the shadow detail. Although if you are lucky enough to be here in thick mist, then this should no longer be a problem and you will probably end up getting loads of amazing shots, that will make me green with envy..!

I then worked my way around the pool in front of the waterfall and up towards the stone stairs, for this second shot of this particular waterfall, as shown in Shot 4 above right.

I am sure you will find many more shots in this part of the glen when you are here. But as I knew from the previous afternoon, there were lots more falls to go and as we were there early, we had the place to ourselves. So I chose to keep moving as quickly as I could, before the crowds began arrive and start taking turns, at standing there texting directly in front of my camera, as they always seem to want to do for some reason?

So with my camera still mounted onto the tripod. I kept on walking into the glen, until I came to the next pretty little waterfall and where I shot it in a way, that highlighted the denseness of the forest in the background, as shown in SHOT 5 above left.

Then as you continue on and round the next bend in the glen, you will see yet another pretty wooden bridge. Which to my eye, not only fits the scene perfectly, but also sits on a nice compositional point within the frame and where I quickly setup to take SHOT 6, as shown above. "Wow" I thought, the photo opportunities here are endless.

Then after shooting the bridge area, if you carry on further up into the glen, you will soon reach yet another set of falls and where I then took SHOT 7, as shown above.

Tip 3 - don't use your poloriser. Now I know this is going to be a controversial statement, to a lot landscape photographers out there. As most of the better known online youtube photographers, seem to bang on relentlessly, about how you should ALWAYS use your poloriser in woodland, as well as for moving water etc. Because a poloriser is good, at removing the sheen from leaves and also lets you see detail under the water. But I think they are all completely wrong and as such, I very rarely use a poloriser - but let me explain why I came to this 'revolutionary' conclusion and who knows, you might even agree with me, after reading what I am about to say..?

The reason I very rarely use a poloriser in woodland (or anywhere else for that matter). Is because I like to see the sheen on things and how it gives both light and dimensional detail to the subject, but that a poloriser is specifically designed to remove.

Which I am sure you already know, how using a poloriser in woodland, will flatten out all the reflective shades of light and colour in the foliage, until that foliage starts to look flat. OK, I know it will also significantly enrich the overall colours at the same time, but you can so easily do that later in Photoshop if you like. Yet what you cannot do later in Photoshop, Is add back in all that lovely, three dimensional light, as well as all those different, intricate shades of green.

In other words, sheen makes a wet leaf look wet.

For instance, if you look at SHOT 7 above right and then down into the foreground foliage next to the path, as shown in more detail in the crop of SHOT 7 above left. You will see how that sheen, is actually giving a three dimensional quality to those leaves, as well as to the old stone steps to their right. Yet if I had chosen to use a poloriser, this 'dimensionality' of light and colour, would have been totally lost.

Of course this is just my way of working and you might prefer the foliage in your shots, to look flat and lifeless (only joking). But for me, I prefer the sheen and the beautiful three dimensional quality of light, it can give to the detail.

But I do agree, that shooting water on a clear blue sky day and then trying to overcome the effect of specular highlights. That yes, using a poloriser can sometimes be useful.

Anyhoo, back to the guide.

The path through Puck's Glen, is actually quite good (as of November 2024). But there have been several instances in the past, where due to erosion and the forces of nature, the glen has had to be closed off for repairs. Which when you consider these paths, were first laid down in 1870 by James Duncan, who was the owner of the Benmore Estate and who wanted to create a pathway through the gorge, to entertain the guests visiting his estate. Then these paths are actually doing quite well.

Although I do have to say, as we walked further up into the glen, that I could see where some of the paths are yet again in need of repair, as shown in the foreground of SHOT 8 above. So you do have to take care when walking through Puck's Glen, as all the paths are narrow, wet and occasionally slippery. Which is especially true, for the dozen or so old stone stairways you will be climbing up, but which have all now been fitted with hand rails to help you.

But in general, the pathways are in good condition and easy to traverse, even when you meet someone coming in the opposite direction and you have to take turns to pass.

The route through Puck's Glen to the top, will take you about an hour to walk one way and and rises up around 450 feet in elevation from the car park. But it doesn't feel like you are climbing up a steep hill at all. As you will be stopping at every bend, to setup your kit to take your next shot.

Tip 4 - I would suggest that you also bring an umbrella along with you to Puck's Glen. As it always seems to be damp and drippy here, even on a dry day and for which this beautiful glen, has now been classified as a genuine Scottish rain forest.

I would also suggest, that you bring lots of image storage capacity with you on this shoot. As I hope you will agree, that just from the dozen or so shots I am showing you here in this guide, you are probably going to need all of it.

But wait, there's more...

If you now shoot your way back down through the glen and return to your vehicle. Then drive out of the car park and turn immediately right on the A815 heading North. You will soon arrive at the Benmore Estate gardens on your left, Street View, Map View. Where you will find they also have a very nice cafe and gift shop. And where we both soon discovered, that their cheese burgers with fries, were really rather tasty...

Then having parked in the Benmore Gardens car park and paid your entrance fee into the gardens. If you walk into the gardens and head straight for the small lake in the middle of it. You will then have the opportunity to capture, some of the most vivid autumn colours you will ever see (assuming you are here at the right time of year of course). As shown in SHOTS 10 and 11 below.

But unfortunately for me, it was still drizzling and had also turned quite windy, by the time we made our way into the gardens proper.

So I knew the only way I could get these shots shown below, was if I shot them handheld, with a shallow depth of field and a much higher ISO setting, than I would have preferred. But none the less and even though the conditions were far from ideal (in my opinion), they do seem to have turned out quite nicely. Although in saying that, I was told by a photographer who goes to Japan, to shoot the cherry blossoms in spring. That soft, overcast light and drizzle, are in fact the best conditions to shoot this type of subject.

Well be that as it may. I am sure when you are here and especially if the weather is what you want it to be and it is also the right time of year for the colours. There will be a lot more photographic opportunities, for you to discover in the Benmore Estate Gardens, with its amazing display of vivid autumn colours and bright green mossy trees.

Then on our final morning in the Puck's Glen area, we decided to go for a quick cup of tea and a chocolate digestive (or two), before driving back up to Skye. As we sat in the car park overlooking the Holy Loch, near to the Holy Loch marina, Street View, Map View. Where I managed to grab this handheld pano, of the view looking out across the loch to the marina, as shown in SHOT 12 below.

If we'd had more time here, then I know I could have got a lot more shots of the area and would have definitely tried to get, a shot of an old shipwreck that we spotted, sat in the edge of the bay, just to the right of what you can see in the pano shot below. But alas storm Ashley, was forecast to hit us the following morning with over 90mph winds. So we reluctantly decided to pack up our bags a day early and hightail it out of there, before she arrived.

And that leads me to the final shot of this chapter, of what remains of the once famous Holy Loch Ardnadam Pier, as shown in SHOT 13 below.

The Ardnadam Pier is around 200 feet long and was built in 1858, to serve as the landing point for passenger steam ships, arriving from Glasgow. On what was then affectionately referred to by everyone, as "'The trip doon the water". But with the decline of steam powered ships and the ongoing austerity caused by WWI. Usage of the pier dropped off completely, which then fell into rapid decline, until it was finally closed for good in 1940. Although it was temporarily reopened for limited use, by the American Navy in 1961. But then officially closed again for the last time in 1992.

I really liked the look of this old run down pier and the many memories it must hold. So I decided to make the shot look like an old black and white photograph, from way back in the day. To emphasise its age and current state of decay, as well as a feeling of abandonment and the passage of time.

Exif information for each of the numbered shots shown throughout this chapter

--1 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 8 Sec, f/14, ISO 100, Focal Length 30mm, taken on 18th Oct at 10:05

--2 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 8 Sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 16mm, taken on 18th Oct at 10:17

--3 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 6 Sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 16mm, taken on 18th Oct at 10:45

--4 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 2.5 Sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 18mm, taken on 18th Oct at 10:50

--5 - Canon EF16-35/2.8L USM, 3.2 Sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 17mm, taken on 18th Oct at 10:57

--6 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 5 Sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 24mm, taken on 17th Oct at 15:23

--7 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 4 Sec, f/13, ISO 200, Focal Length 24mm, taken on 17th Oct at 15:12

--8 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 5 Sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 28mm, taken on 17th Oct at 15:38

--9 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 5 Sec, f/16, ISO 100, Focal Length 24mm, taken on 17th Oct at 15:52

--10 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/100 Sec, f/8, ISO 800, Focal Length 74mm, taken on 18th Oct at 11:59

--11 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/100 Sec, f/8, ISO 800, Focal Length 82mm, taken on 18th Oct at 12:04

--12 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/100 Sec, f/11, ISO 100, Focal Length 57mm (cropped pano), taken on 19th Oct at 10:42

--13 - Sigma 24-105mm F4 DG OS HSM | Art, 1/100 Sec, f/14, ISO 100, Focal Length 28mm, taken on 19th Oct at 10:56