> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # ✨ Treasure Hoard: The Castle in the Lake at Loch an Eilein - URL: https://www.digest.andymarshall.co/treasure-hoard-the-castle-in-the-lake-at-loch-an-eilein/ - Published: 2026-09-03T14:10:59.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-03T14:10:59.000Z - Description: It was at that instant that the sharp easterly dropped and beyond the forest of Rothiemurchus, the snow bones of Creag Dhubh tousled the clouds into thin wisps of galloping guilloche. - Author: Andy Marshall - Tags: Treasure, loch an eilein, rothiemurchus, scotland, #treasure-98 ## Loch an Eilein **There was a moment at Loch an Eilein - only the briefest of moments - but it was a moment where time stood still, where the earth and sky and light and shade were as one. Just before it happened, I’d taken up my sketchbook and used water from the loch to fix my paint.** It was at that instant that the sharp easterly dropped and beyond the forest of Rothiemurchus, the snow bones of Creag Dhubh tousled the clouds into thin wisps of galloping guilloche. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/02/IMG_4289-1.jpg) Had I stumbled upon an ancient spell? *Mix a phial of loch water with a squirrel brush and Roman Szmal half pans, say ‘Rothiemurchus’ three times, paint the scene before you - and, hey presto - time stands still - the castle on the island in the middle of the loch - becomes a thin place.* It’s happened before at other locations within these isles, but this time I was ready for it. Far too often moments like this have come along and the veil of modernity has turned my eye - but not this time. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/02/IMG_4293.jpg) I stood on the jagged shoreline, put my sketchbook and paintbrush down and watched the loch clear of all its angst and its worry and offer up a mirror into another world. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/02/IMG_4315-1-1.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/02/IMG_4314-1.JPG) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/02/IMG_4278-1-1.jpg) And then, as quickly as it came, it was gone - the branches above me began to creak again, the jackdaws rose from the tumbling parapet, and the loch folded the other world back into itself. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/02/IMG_4302-1.jpg) The paint still wet upon the paper held what the water had briefly revealed - a stillness carried forward upon the page. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/2e/b6/2eb6d776-18dd-41f1-a2d1-b76fa2d605be/content/images/2026/02/IMG_4319-1.jpg) --- Andy Marshall’s Treasure Hoard Gazetteer ## Small wonders. *Hidden in plain sight.* My personal collection of material treasures: a growing map of wonders gathered over more than forty years of photographing and documenting Britain — ancient yews, ghost angels, carved ships, Roman stonework and details that reward a closer look. 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