The Central Highlands - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 129

ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION BALLOCH

By train Balloch has a direct train connection with
Glasgow Queen St (every 30min; 50min).
By bus Regular buses connect Balloch with nearby towns.
Destinations Balmaha (every 2hr; 25min); Luss

(hourly; 15min).
Tourist o ce The Old Station Building opposite the train
station is a small tourist o ce (daily: June-Aug 9.30am-
6pm; Sept-May 10am-5pm; T 08707 200607).

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 two-hour sailing to Luss.

2

ACCOMMODATION
Cameron House Alexendria, just north of Balloch
T 0871 222 4681, W devere-hotels.co.uk. This exclusive
resort has its own spa and championship golf course as well
as the area's b est re staurant, an offshoot of Edinburgh's
Martin Wishart . £180

Dumbain Farm Balloch T 01389 752263, W dumbain
farm.co.uk. Rambling whitewashed farm with bright and
elegant roo ms. Traditional Scottish breakfast, cooked on
an Aga. £70

SHOPPING
Loch 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
The 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 and around
The 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, T Tbalmahaboatyard.co.uk
Owned by Scottish Natural Heritage, Inchcailloch is the closest island to Balmaha.
There's a two-mile-long nature trail signposted 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 pleasant 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.