Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION
BALLOCH
By train
Balloch has a direct train connection with
Glasgow Queen Street (every 30min; 50min).
By bus
Regular buses connect Balloch with Balmaha
(every 2hr; 25min) and Luss (hourly; 15min).
Tourist o
ce
The Old Station Building contains a tourist
o
ce (
T
01389 753533; daily: June-Aug 9.30am-6pm;
Sept-May 10am-5pm).
ACTIVITIES
Can You Experience
T
01389 602576,
W
canyou
experience.com.
Based right beside Drumkinnon Tower, Can
You Experience rents out canoes, bikes and even pedalos.
They also organize “aquasphering” in summer, allowing kids
to literally walk on water, in large plastic balls.
Sweeney's Cruises
T
01389 752376,
W
www.sweeneys
cruises.com.
In the centre of town near the bridge, Sweeney's
Cruises make loch trips, including a 2hr sailing to Luss.
ACCOMMODATION
Cameron House
Loch Lomond, Alexandria
T
0871 222
4681,
W
devere-hotels.co.uk.
The exclusive DeVere
Cameron House
resort just north of Balloch, has its own spa
and championship golf course as well as the area'
s bes
t
restaurant, an offshoot of Edinburgh's
Martin Wishart
.
£180
Dumbain Farm
Balloch
T
01389 752263,
W
dumbainfarm.co.uk.
Rambling whitewashed farm
with bright and elegant rooms which have TVs and tea-
and coffee-making facilities. Trad Scottish break
fast,
cooked on an Aga, with home-made jams and baking.
£70
7
SHOPPING
Lomond Shores
Ben Lomond Way, Balloch
T
01389
751031,
W
lochlomondshores.com.
A “retail crescent” of
shops including branches of Edinburgh's venerable
department store, Jenners, and of the city's best deli,
Valvona & Crolla. The centre can be accessed from town on
a miniature train, or by the lakeside path.
The eastern shore
he tranquil
eastern shore
is far better for walking and appreciating the loch's
natural beauty than the overcrowded western side. It's the access point for climbing
Ben Lomond
and visiting
Inchcailloch
island, and where the minor road peters out at
Rowardennan
you can continue on foot to the village of
Inversnaid
.
Balmaha
he tiny lochside settlement of
BALMAHA
stands on the Highland Boundary Fault: if
you stand on the viewpoint above the pier, you can see the fault line clearly marked by
the series of woody islands that form giant stepping stones across the loch. Many of the
loch's 37
islands
are privately owned, and, rather quaintly, an old wooden mail boat
still delivers post to four of them. Balmaha gets very busy in summer, not least with
day-trippers on the West Highland Way.
Inchcailloch
Boat rental
MacFarlane & Son • From £10/hr or £40/day, ferry service £5 return •
T
01360 870214,
W
balmahaboatyard.co.uk
Owned by Scottish Natural Heritage,
Inchcailloch
is the closest island to Balmaha. A
signposted two-mile nature trail leads around the island, which was extensively planted
with oaks to provide bark for the local tanning industry. Along the way you'll
encounter the ruins of a fourteenth-century nunnery and associated burial ground, and
there's a picnic and camping site at Port Bawn on the southwestern side of the island,
near a sandy beach. Until the mid-seventeenth century parishioners on the far
(western) shore of Loch Lomond used to row across to Inchcailloch for Sunday services
at the church linked to the nunnery. It's possible to row here yourself using a boat
rented from MacFarlane & Son, or use their on-demand ferry service.
Rowardennan
Public transport ends at Balmaha, but another seven miles north through the woods brings
you to the end of the road at
ROWARDENNAN
, a scattered settlement below Ben Lomond.
