Anyone driving regularly along the A82 north in Scotland will recognise many familiar sights along the way, plus a few less familiar ones.

One sight that always catches the eye is on the straight stretch in Glen Falloch before Crianlarich, although it can be easily missed as you’re finally overtaking that slow vehicle you’ve been stuck behind at 18mph along the twisty side of Loch Lomond, then narrowly missing the car coming the opposite direction who speeded up when he saw you just so that he can flash his lights, sound his horn and shake his fist in a “You’re a danger to careful drivers like me!” sort of way, forgetting that he didn’t help with his momentary burst of acceleration in the first place. Not that this has ever happened to me *ahem*.

Anyway, back to the point. At this stretch of road, looking to the right, is a vista of plain rugged mountainside, dotted with the occasional tree. Each tree looks like it has been carefully sculpted and placed in precise position rather like an art gallery. These trees, however, are Scots Pines. The original ones, not hybrid copies, they are the sad remnants of the mighty Caledonian Forest which once covered Scotland since the last ice age as majestically as the Black Forest in Bavaria. Only 1% of that forest remains after deforestation and overgrazing, leaving the great sparse landscape that we have today.

I’ve always wanted to stop one day and walk up to these trees and finally took the notion yesterday. Even though there are barely a dozen of them, they still have an air of elegance and strength.