Scotland/Scots > Black's picturesque tourist of Scotland

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PERTHSHIRE—LOCH TOIL.
in the whole strath — Craigrie by the side of Loch Veil, and
Inverlochlairg, several miles up, at the foot of the higher
braes.
Loch Veil alone is three and a half miles long; but
if we add to it the small Loch Dhuine, separated from its
upper part by a broad patch of haugh, which narrows the lake
to a stream, the whole makes a walk of about five miles. It is
a beautiful lake, fringed in many places with trees, like Loch
Lubnaig : but few places even in Scotland have such an air of
solitude and remoteness from the haunts of men. The feeling
of loneliness is possibly suggested by the knowledge that the
now deserted valley swarmed at one time with the predatory
race of whom we possess such strange legends ; and the relics of
whose existence may be seen in the grassy mounds which cover
the ruins of old cottages, and in the decaying walls which show
later abandonment. The prophetic words of Sir Walter Scott may
well be applied to this place:—“ The pibroch may now sound
through the deserted region, but the summons will remain
unanswered. The children who have left her will re-echo
from a distant shore the sounds with which they took leave
of their own—‘ Ha til, ha til, ha till, mi tulidh !—We return,
we return, we return no more !’ ”
The rocks grow higher and more rugged as the adventurous
pedestrian ascends the glen. Great gullies open here and there
on the right, affording glimpses of the mountain masses of Ben
More, Stobinain (3813), and Meal Naughtan.
If he has proceeded so far that he does not desire to return to King’s
House, the pedestrian may pass by one of the water-sheds into another
strath; but it will be well that he consider which he adopts, as there are
two things materially different—finding one’s self at eve in a valley with a
comfortable inn, and finding one’s self at the same time in a valley without
a human habitation. By striking to the northward near Ben Charra,
Glengyle and the head of Loch Katrine may be reached. By penetrat¬
ing any of the formidable gullies between the vast crags on the other
side, one may penetrate to Glen Dochart, on the great north road to Fort-
William. The nearest way, perhaps, of completing the expedition, will
be to go due west, strike up Glen Falloch, and repair to the comfortable
inn at Inveraman. To accomplish this, the pedestrian, keeping a small
lake on his left, crosses part of the shoulder of Ben Charra, to avoid the
morasses of the water-shed; and, when he finds the streams descend
almost due west down very steep and rocky hills, he descends with it.