Following a fiery sunset the previous evening, I decided on fairly short notice to visit Glen Affric on the first day of a long UK bank holiday weekend. The weather was looking good with very low wind speed again and I was hoping to get some fresh photos of loch reflections in the area - along with the possibility of hiking around Loch Affric.
The car park at the glen is about 25 miles from home. There was an abundance of bluebells on the journey down, particularly the last few miles before Cannich. As I made my way up the glen I had my first indication of the reflections in store as I looked down over to the loch with bluebells and reflections greeting me!
My first stop on route was a new one for me, pulling into suitable parking spot and making my way down to the loch-side to soak in the views - with a conveniently moored rowing boat providing some interest! It was a little disappointing not being there for golden hour, but with a 4.29am sunrise, I wasn’t in the mindset for the 3.30am alarm this particularly morning. I still arrived early enough while the sun was at a reasonably low angle, and relatively soft light.
On arriving at the car park I decided after some hesitation to go for the complete circuit around the loch, rather than just the first section for photos.
I had definitely chosen a good day both in terms of the amount of sun and the calm atmosphere. All along the first half of the route I was treated with fantastic reflections of the stunning scenery, as well as many calling cuckoos along the route: a real sign of Spring. At one point I diverted off the rough track down a steep descent through bog, grasses and heather to get down to the loch side having seen stunning views of the mountains on the other side of the glen reflecting in the loch.
Eventually I passed Loch Affric and headed around the west end of the glen to trace the return path. The views were equally great - the only downside being that the soles of my feet had started to burn a lot from the walking and resulted in a very tender/sore remaining 5 miles return route! So much for the expensive socks doing their job!
The views obviously lent themselves to some panoramic photos. Spot the Willow!
By the time I reached the return path, the photos reverted to using the phone camera! Interestingly (note to self) the views from the path on the southern side of the loch are much more restrictive, with no real views of the loch - just the long walk back to the car. A sample of the photo photos below.
After what seemed a very long time, with feet screaming for a rest, we arrived at the car around 12:20pm. A total of 11.62 miles, 4hrs 52mins (included photo-stops) and 1403 calories burned! Super weather, superb scenery and fantastic to be out amongst the mountains again.