Glen Strathfarrar, about 10 miles from the Highland village of Cannich is one of three stunning native Scottish woodland glens, all in pretty much the same vicinity. Whilst two of them have year round public access namely Glen Affric and Glen Cannich, the third, Strathfarrar, is privately owned and limits vehicular access between April and the end of October, and is, in addition, closed all day Tuesday and on Wednesday mornings. It is in my opinion the most stunning of the three glens, being wooded at one end, with wide open vistas the other.
At the end of Autumn I usually take a trip to Strathfarrar as the colours of the sunlit golden birch trees and bracken, intermingled with some outrageously big, twisted and charismatic native Scots Pine, with their sunlit green canopies, look stunning, backlit against the shadowy backdrop of the Scottish mountains, which themselves at this time of year are often dusted with snow.
Conditions had been pretty tough all day with sporadic autumnal down pours, but a little bit of unexpected magic occurred when one particularly heavy shower became brilliantly backlit, the shutter speed choice turning the falling rain into needles of light that veiled the sunlit pines.
