I Promised myself I'd get up early one day this year to photograph a summit sunrise.
Today was that day.
As always time flys when you're having fun and this year has certainly flown by.
It's been a great year for running adventures and personal challenges but with December fast approaching i had still not fulfilled one of my goals of a "Summit Sunrise".
My actual goal for this year was to bivy out on all of Arran's main mountain summits and get some sunrise shots but due to me setting myself too many goals, this had fallen by the wayside.
Determined to get at least one decent summit sunrise and with an ideal weather window, it was time to make it happen and spontaneously invited my friend Clare along for the adventure (the night before).
We set off from High Corrie( A steeper but slighly shorter route) to the summit of Goatfell at around 0545 in the darkness of night but to be honest the pre-dawn light and clear skies were enough to allow us to pack away our head torches fairly quickly and use our own eyes to find the way.
What a wonderful sight, absolute stillness and cool, blue light seeping up in to a new day.
Candy floss clouds stuck to the air until there was enough light to wake them up and force them into motion. It felt as though we were the only humans(and dog) on earth awake.
We reached the South ridge below the summit as the sun was about to burst over the horizon and I figured this ridge would make a more interesting photograph that the trig point on the top as this beautiful wee ridge was positioned just right for catching the first rays of light.
The first light of the day projected over the horizon and hit the granite boulders and tufts of grass lighting them up with beautiful golden hues.
If you look closely you can see the first ferry arriving into Brodick bay from the mainland, as people get ready to start their day on Arran.
What a wonderful moment and most certainly worth the early start.