Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Reverend Robert Kirk, who studied local fairy lore and published his enquiries in
The Secret Commonwealth (1691). Legend has it that, as punishment for disclosing
supernatural secrets, he was forcibly removed to fairyland where he has languished ever
since, although his mortal remains can be found in the nearby graveyard. his short
walk should preferably be made at dusk, when it is at its most atmospheric.
Scottish Wool Centre
Off Main St, Aberfoyle • Daily: May-Sept 9.30am-5.30pm; Oct-April 10am-5pm • Free
he Scottish Wool Centre - a popular stop-off point with tour buses - is a glorified
country knitwear shop selling all the usual jumpers and woolly toys as well as featuring
daily seasonal displays of sheep-gathering and -shearing.
2
ARRIVAL AND INFORMATION
ABERFOYLE
By bus Regular buses from Stirling pull into the car park on
Aberfoyle's Main Street.
Destinations Late June to mid-Oct Thurs-Tues 4 daily to:
Callander (25min); Port of Menteith (10min).
Tourist o ce Trossachs Discovery Centre, Main St (April-
Oct daily 10am-5pm; Nov-March Sat & Sun only; T 08707
200604). It has full details of local accommodation, sights
and outdoor activities.
ACCOMMODATION
Creag-Ard House Loch Ard T 01877 382297, W creag
-ard.co.uk. Accommodation options in Aberfoyle itself
aren't all that inspiring. Head a mile west out of the town to
this beautifully sited B&B which serves lovely breakf asts in
a Victorian house overlooking Loch Ard. Easter-Oct. £70
Trossachs Holiday Park T 01877 382614, W trossachs
holidays.co.uk. This excellent family-run 40-acre park is
fringed by oak an d blu ebell woods. Bikes for rent. March-
Oct. Pitches from £17
The Lake of Menteith
About four miles east of Aberfoyle towards Doune, the Lake of Menteith is a superb
fly-fishing centre and Scotland's only lake (as opposed to loch), so named due to a
historic mix-up with the word laigh , Scots for “low-lying ground”, which applied to the
whole area. There are also some nice secluded spots along the shore for picnics and
swims. To rent a fishing boat or a rod contact the Lake of Menteith Fisheries (April-
Oct; T 01877 385664).
Island of Inchmahome
Lake of Mentieth • Daily: April-Sept 9.30am-4.30pm; Oct 9.30am-3.30pm • £5.50 including ferry • HS
From the northern shore of the lake, you can take a little ferry out to the Island of
Inchmahome to explore the lovely, ruined Augustinian abbey. Founded in 1238,
Inchmahome Priory is the most beautiful island monastery in Scotland, its remains
rising tall and graceful above the trees. The masons employed to build the priory are
thought to be those who built Dunblane Cathedral; certainly the western entrance
there resembles that at Inchmahome. The nave of the church is roofless, but in the
choir are preserved the graves of important families from the surrounding area. Most
touching is a late thirteenth-century double effigy depicting Walter, the first Stewart
earl of Menteith, and his countess, Mary, who, feet resting on lion-like animals, turn
towards each other and embrace.
Also buried here is the adventurer and scholar Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham,
once a pal of Buffalo Bill and Joseph Conrad, and first president of the National Party of
Scotland. Five-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots, was hidden at Inchmahome in 1547
before being taken to France, and there's a formal garden in the west of the island,
known as Queen Mary's Bower, where legend has it she played. Traces remain of an
orchard planted by the monks, but the island is thick now with oak, ash and Spanish
chestnut. Visible on a nearby but inaccessible islet is the ruined castle of Inchtalla , the
home of the earls of Menteith in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
 
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