Glenbranter Forest and Benmore Botanic Gardens - 01/08/2022
There is a visitor centre at Glenbranter Forest, but it was closed while we were here. There are walking trails and cycle trails. Alison enjoyed walking the waterfall trail while Daniel and I did the Glenshellish cycle route. It is fair to say that Daniel found this more challenging than enjoyable, but he did complete the circuit and was in the saddle most of the time. Essentially the circuit is uphill going south and downhill returning north.
Glenbranter is at the north end of Loch Eck and Benmore botanic gardens is at its south end. Benmore is one of 4 Royal Botanic Gardens in Scotland. It has a substantial collection of conifers many of which were planted in the 19th Century, a Victorian fernery collections from the Himalayas, Japan, Chile and Tasmania; and a nice variety of walking trails.
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We learnt that fur trees (Abies species) have cones that ascend, while other conifers have cones that descend.