Loch Lomond (), (Scottish Gaelic Loch Laomainn) is a Scottish loch, located in both the western lowlands of Central Scotland and the southern Highlands.

Features and geography

From the summit of the island of Inchcailloch to Torrinch, Creinch, Inchmurrin and Ben Bowie.

Traditionally a boundary of Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire, it is located in the current council areas of Stirling, Argyll and Bute, and West Dunbartonshire, and its southern shores lie approximately 14 miles (23 km) north of Glasgow, the country's largest city.

This freshwater loch is 24 miles long (39 kilometres), and ¾ mile to 5 miles wide. It has an average depth of about 120 ft (37 m), and a maximum depth of about 630 ft (190 m). Its surface area measures 27¼ miles² (71 km²), and it has a volume of 0.6 cubic miles (2.6 km³). It has the largest surface area of all the lochs, and is second biggest after Loch Ness in terms of water volume in Great Britain, although it is not the largest in the United Kingdom - this distinction belongs to Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland.

The loch (as of July 2002) is now part of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. The West Highland Way runs along the eastern bank of the loch.

Ben Lomond is on the eastern shore. It is 3,195 ft (974 m) in height and is the most southerly of the Scottish Munro peaks.

Today, the loch is also well known for the Loch Lomond Golf Club which is situated on its south western shore. It has hosted many international events including the Scottish Open. More recently another golf club, "The Carrick" has opened on the banks of the Loch adjacent to the Loch Lomond Club.

View across Loch Lomond at the waterline looking North at Ben Lomond

The main arterial route along the loch is the A82 road which runs the length of its western shore. For a long time this was a notorious bottleneck, with the route clogged with tourists during the summer months. It was upgraded in the 1980s and 1990s, although the stretch north of Tarbet remains unimproved.

Boating and watersports

Loch Lomond is one of the UK's premier boating and watersports venues and the fantastic scenery draws people from all over the UK and beyond. Unilke the authorities in the Lake District the National Park Authority here have tried to achieve a balance between land based tourists and loch users with environmentally sensitive areas subject to a strictly enforced 10 km per hour speed limit, but the rest of the loch open to speeds of up to 90km per hour.

The loch is open to every kind of watercraft including kayaks, canoes, wind-surfers, jetskis, speedboats and cruisers and they are all very well represented. Loch Lomond Rescue Boat provides 24 hour safety cover on the loch.

Islands

The loch contains a large number of islands, several of them quite large by the standards of British lochs/lakes, including Inchmurrin, the largest island in a loch/lake in the British Isles. As with Loch Tay, several of the islands appear to be Crannogs, artificial islands built in prehistoric periods. As the famous English travel writer, H.V. Morton wrote:

What a large part of Loch Lomond's beauty is due to its islands, those beautiful green tangled islands, that lie like jewels upon its surface.^[2]

The song

Loch Lomond from just below Beinn Dubh and Creag an t-Seilich

The loch is featured in the well-known song "Loch Lomond", which was first published around 1841.^[3] The chorus is:

Oh, ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,

And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;

But me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

The song has been recorded by many performers over the years. While the original author is unknown, it is widely believed that the author was a Scottish soldier who awaited death in enemy captivity. In his final letter home he wrote this song, portraying his home and how much he would miss it. Another tale is that during the 1745 Rebellion a soldier on his way back to Scotland during the 1745-6 retreat from England wrote this song. The "low road" is a reference to the Celtic belief that if someone died away from his homeland then the fairies would dig a tunnel for his soul to return home.

Another tale waiting to be told is that two brothers were held in enemy captivity. Both awaiting execution if one did not give up the other. Both willing to take their own lives in save of the other. On the eve of their execution, the eldest brother went to the guard at midnight while the younger brother slept. Telling the guard to take him and kill him now, letting his brother go free in the morning. The older brother left the younger brother a letter. In the morning the youngest brother woke up to find his older brother gone, and a letter given to him by the guard from his brother which read: Ye'll take the high road, and I'll take the low road And I'll be in Scotland before ye. But me and my true love will never meet again On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' loch lomond

Other popular culture

A TV advert for Captain Haddock's favourite brand of whisky (Tintin and the Picaros)

• In The Adventures of Tintin cartoon book series, Captain Haddock's and Snowy's favourite drink is Scotch whisky of the brand Loch Lomond. This was a fictional creation; there is, however, a real Loch Lomond Distillery. http://www.lochlomonddistillery.com/ Sydney Krukowsi, a character in the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, also drinks Loch Lomond.

• The village of Luss ("Glendarroch") on the shores of the loch was the location for the TV soap Take the High Road, and the loch itself was given the fictional name Loch Darroch for the purpose of the series.

• The village of Luss, named therein as "Lios", and the islands nearby were used as the setting for E. J. Oxenham's first book, Goblin Island, published in 1907.^[4]

• One of the loch's islands (Inchconnachan) is home to a colony of wallaby.

• In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, Loch Lomond was named as the 6th greatest natural wonder in Britain.

• Loch Lomond is featured in the song "Almost Like Being In Love" from the Lerner and Lowe musical Brigadoon. The opening lyrics are: "Maybe the sun gave me the power/For I could swim Loch Lomond and be home in half an hour/Maybe the air gave me the drive/For I'm all aglow and alive!"

• The song "Loch Lomond" by the The Borderers is a popular tune with many Australian Gaelic and Folk music fans. During one of their performances, when they requested people to dance on stage, they actually broke the stage. At their next concert, a barrier was erected.

• Snotty, a Scottish character Mel Brooks' 1987 film Spaceballs makes an apparent comedic reference to Loch Lomond. As he operates the transporter beam in Planet Spaceball's capital city, he mentions issues with the "interlocking system". As he fixes the problem, he goes on to say; "Lock one, Lock two, Lock three, Loch Lomond". Although to many hearers it sounds like he's saying "Loch Lone", the words are indeed Loch Lomond (there is no "Loch Lone"), in humorous reference to Snotty's Scottish heritage, the character intended to be a parody of Star Trek's Scotty.

• Groundskeeper Wille, the Scottish janitor on The Simpsons, enters the kitchen whistling "Loch Lomond" in Episode 5F20, "Lard of the Dance".

• The lyrics from the song are used as key clues in the Smallville episode Quest. In the episode, the song is referred to as the "Birks of St. Kilda."

References

See also

• Ardlui
• Balloch
• Balmaha
• Ben Lomond
• Inchcailloch
• Inchconnachan
• Inchmurrin
• Luss
• Rowardennan
• Tarbet
• West Loch Lomond Cycle Path

External links

• Loch Lomond data
• Loch Lomond and tourist attractions
• Loch-lomond.net (with physical data)
• About the national park
• Notable people of this region
• Robert Burns (poet) Links to Loch Lomond
• Loch Lomond Sailing Club
• The Loch Lomond Association
• Loch Lomond webcam

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