Welcome to HOLIDAY West Highland - Discover the West Highlands

Callander, Killin & Kenmore

Author Holiday West Highland

THE area between Tyndrum and Callander is known to be magnificent walking country, with two major long-distance walks passing through as well as a third which can be tackled in one day. And set amidst some of Scotland’s most glorious mountain scenery you would be ideally placed to take advantage of all the activities on offer.For this area is part of Lomond and Trossachs National Park.
Many holidaymakers tend to pass through en route to all points north and west, to the islands and towns such as Oban and Fort William, but they miss a lot by not stopping off here and enjoying the sights.

The famous West Highland Way passes through here as does the Coast to Coast Walk from Oban to St Andrews in Fife. Continuing along the A85 from Crianlarich takes you into scenic, fertile Glen Dochart, through forestry to Lix Toll from where you can turn off into the village of Killin at the foot of Loch Tay.

Killin is a charming place, very popular with visitors with its pubs, restaurants, guest houses and shops. Here are also the famous Falls of Dochart, a spectacular show of rushing, gushing white water which tumbles over a series of slabs which, when the water is low, you can sit on and enjoy a picnic lunch. Killin is at the centre of an area known as Breadalbane and the Breadalbane Folklore Museum at St Fillan’s Mill offers a detailed history of the area and its people.

Visitors arriving during the Easter weekend at Breadalbane Folklore Centre, in the Highland village of Killin, can admire the skill of the storyteller and the craft of the wool-spinner, with special presentations marking the re-opening of the attraction for the 2008 holiday season. On Easter Saturday and Sunday Enid Sutherland will be demonstrating the art of wool-spinning, while on Easter Monday a different type of yarn-spinning will be taking place as local historian Scotty Wilson will be entertaining visitors with his tales of Celtic culture and Highland clans, as well as revealing some of the hidden secrets of Breadalbane - Scotland’s ‘High Country’.

From mid-June onwards Scotty will be at the Centre on Fridays and Mondays to present ‘Living Legends’ - his talks on Highland life which have been appreciated and enjoyed by thousands of visitors. “It is these aspects of local culture and history which visitors to Killin find so interesting”, Joyce Webb, the Centre’s manager, remarked. “These presentations provide a memorable insight into these traditions – live and interactive! ” The Exhibition Galleries at Breadalbane Folklore Centre (with displays on local history, clan culture, and the life of St. Fillan), are open every day throughout the Summer. Over 107 years since first setting sail in The Trossachs, the world-famous steamship Sir Walter Scott is once again welcoming holidaymakers and visitors who come to enjoy a very special experience - cruising on the beautiful waters of Loch Katrine, taking travellers to Stronachlachar, dropping off cyclists who want to return by the idyllic lochside road, before sailing back around Factor’s Island to Trossachs Pier.

Leaving Killin and continuing on the A85 you come into Glen Ogle, again, fine walking country. Here is the Rob Roy Way which stretches from Callander to the head of Glen Ogle and takes in part of the former Oban to Callander Railway. The walk winds through glens and mountain passes as well as forestry tracks via the pretty village of Strathyre, taking in the Falls of Leny, Loch Lubnaig, Balquidder, where Rob Roy is buried, and Lochearnhead.

The walk can be done in a day and offers spectacular views on lochs and mountains including Loch Earn and Ben Ledi. But who was Rob Roy MacGregor? Well, he was a member of Clan MacGregor, a ferocious clan claiming to trace its ancestry back to Gregor, son of the Scottish king Alpin who flourished around AD787. Their lands were taken over by the Earls of Argyle and Breadalbane who did everything they could to wipe out the clan, turning them into fierce enemies. Callander has a tourist centre devoted to this folk hero, his Jacobite leanings and the MacGregor clan. A visit to his grave at Balquidder is well worth the trip. From Glen Ogle the A85 takes you through Lochearnhead on to the A84 and into Strathyre on the shore of Loch Lubnaig.

Despite being small, the village has developed a good reputation for outdoor pursuits including water sports. There’s an annual hill race and the famous Munros of Ben Vorlich and Stuc a Chroin make for exhilarating and challenging walking. The hub of the Trossachs mountain area is Callander, flanked by the River Teith and dominated by the highest mountain, Ben Ledi. The town grew to prominence with the Oban and Callander Railway and is now a hugely popular tourist centre for holidaymakers and day-trippers. Here you’’ll find plenty to see and do. You can stroll in The Meadows by the river and look for all kinds of birds including king- fishers and animals including wild mink. There canoeing and sailing nearby as well.

There are loads of summer activities including children’s events – try the town square where outdoor activities take place. When the weather’s not so good these are transferred to the McLaren Leisure Centre. Callander itself is a charming town with many interesting, quirky shops. They include picture galleries, a chocolate shop, clothes shops, plenty of outdoor stores, woollen mill outlets as well as bakeries, butchers and other retailers you’d expect to find in a regional centre. Callander was also the location for the original TV series Dr Finlay’s Casebook starring Andrew Cruikshank, Bill Simpson and Barbara Mullen, and which ran for nine years from 1962 to 1971 If you’re hungry there’s plenty of choice of eating places in Callander, from top hotels to cafes and chippies. Accommodation is varied and includes hotels, guest houses and camping and caravan sites. There are plenty of outdoor activities in and round Callander including sailing, fishing, cycling, walking and horse-riding. After a day in the great outdoors you can enjoy a relaxing drink in the town’s pubs and hotels, many of which off er live Celtic and Scottish music in the evenings. Also about eight miles from the town, on the Lake of Menteith, are the ruins of the thirteenth century Inchmahome Priory on an island in the lake.