Glen Affric

Glen Affric holds around two thousand hectares of Caledonian pinewood, one of the three largest surviving fragments of the forest that covered much of the Highlands after the last glaciation and was largely gone by the eighteenth century. The pines here are native Scots pine, many of them several hundred years old with the flat-topped shape old trees take, growing among birch and juniper on the slopes above two long lochs. The glen has been managed for regeneration for decades, with deer fencing and culling to let seedlings survive. Ospreys, golden eagles, pine martens and Scottish crossbills are present. A road runs partway in and then stops; beyond that the glen continues on foot for twenty kilometres to Kintail, a well-known through route with a remote hostel halfway.

What you actually see

• The old pines - flat-topped native Scots pine several centuries old.
• The loch islands - wooded islets in Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin.
• The regeneration - fenced areas where young pine is coming back.
• The through route - a twenty-kilometre walk west to Kintail and the sea.

When to go

May to October; autumn colour in the birch against the pine is the strongest season and midges have gone by then. Summer brings severe midges in still conditions. Winter closes the upper road.

Honest expectations

The road in is single track with passing places and ends well short of the head of the glen. Facilities are minimal, with no shop or fuel past Cannich. The through route to Kintail is a serious full day with a river crossing. Phone signal is absent.

Nearby

Cannich and Strathglass lie east; Loch Ness is a short drive beyond.