Oban & Lorn
Taynuilt, Loch Awe and Dalmally
Loch Etive and Ben Cruachan. B
en Cruachan dominates the skyline over Taynuilt, Loch Awe and Dalmal- ly, and wields its infl uence over those
who venture beneath, generating trade, tourism, inspiration - and power. Taynuilt, the largest of the trio of villages, has a butcher, and a tea room, and is home to the well-preserved ruin of Bon Awe Iron Furnace (01866 822432) which used char- coal from local forests to process pig iron (named because it was shaped in blocks that looked like piglets) in the 1700s, ex- cept during the Napoleonic wars, when it produced cannon balls. Just outside the village is Inverawe Country Park, home to Inverawe Smokery and visitor centre. Head east through the narrow pass of Brander, the scene of a bloody battle in which King Robert the Bruce defeated the MacDougall clan, and the landscape opens onto Loch Awe, Scotland’s longest fresh- water loch. Here, Cruachan Power Station generates energy via a man-made loch high on the
mountain. A visitor centre (01866 822618) explains the technicalities and offers tours into the turbine caverns at the mountain’s heart. Its status as one of Scotland’s 283 mun- ros ensures that Ben Cruachan is a popular challenge for hikers who want to ‘bag’ the peak, but its gentler slopes are also acces- sible to less driven walkers, who can follow the dam road from St Conan’s Road in the village of Lochawe. The loch is said to have provided inspira- tion for last year’s Disney hit Brave. Several historic buildings stand on its banks of the loch, including Loch Awe Hotel, the much- photographed 15th century Kilchurn castle and St Conan’s Kirk, in Lochawe, with its eclectic design and gargoyles that include dogs, hares, and even the face of its archi- tect, Walter Campbell. In the warmer months, the loch shores are peppered with less permanent structures - the tents of the many fi shermen who arrive in search of monster pike and brown trout.
Getting there: From Glasgow, take the A82 to- wards Crianlarich, then the A85 towards Oban. Trains from Glasgow Queen Street to Oban call at Falls of Cruachan and all three villages.
Links:
www.taynuilt.net www.loch-awe.com www.visitcruachan.co.uk
Did you know? Karen Matheson and Donald Shaw of the folk group Capercaillie are from Taynuilt.
Loch Awe is the longest freshwater loch in Scotland, measuring 41 kilometres (25 mi) from end to end with an average width of 1 kilometre (0.62 mi).
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