Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine is one of Scotland's most beautiful and romantically celebrated freshwater lochs, lying at the heart of the Trossachs region in what is now Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. The loch stretches for around twelve kilometres through a landscape of wooded hillsides, heather moorland and dramatic mountain views that made it famous long before the national park designation formalised its protection. The loch's romantic reputation was established above all by Sir Walter Scott, who set his narrative poem The Lady of the Lake here in 1810, a work that proved so popular it effectively launched Scottish Highlands tourism as a recognisable industry. Visitors began arriving in substantial numbers to see the scenery that had inspired the poem, and the loch's reputation as a place of exceptional natural beauty has been sustained ever since. The Royal Family visited in 1869 in a trip that further cemented Loch Katrine's status as a destination of distinction. The Trossachs landscape that surrounds Loch Katrine has been called Scotland in miniature, combining forested glens, mountain ridges, lochside paths and ancient oakwood in a landscape that packs the essential character of the Highlands into an area accessible from the central belt. The SS Sir Walter Scott, a Victorian steam-powered passenger vessel still operating on the loch, provides one of Scotland's most charming and historic boat excursions, departing from Trossachs Pier at the eastern end of the loch for regular cruises throughout the visitor season. Cyclists and walkers have exclusive access to the lochside road, which runs along the northern shore of the loch for eleven kilometres through some of the most peaceful and beautiful countryside in the Trossachs. The Katrine Wheel cycle route allows a full circuit of the loch, combining the road with forest tracks, and the walking possibilities in the surrounding hills range from gentle lochside strolls to more demanding ridge walks. Loch Katrine also plays a practical role in the life of the region: since 1859 it has served as the primary water supply for the city of Glasgow, an engineering achievement that dramatically improved public health in what was then one of the world's most densely populated and disease-ridden cities. The Victorian aqueduct system that carried the water southward was a feat of civil engineering that transformed Glasgow's mortality statistics.