Loch Lomond
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The largest stretch of fresh water in Britain (23 miles long and up to five miles wide), and now at the centre of Scotland's first National Park, Loch Lomond is the epitome of Scottish scenic splendour, thanks in large part to the ballad which fondly recalls its "bonnie, bonnie banks". The song was said to be have been written by a Jacobite prisoner captured by the English, who, sure of his fate, wrote that his spirit would return to Scotland on the low road much faster than his living compatriots on the high road. However, all is not so bonnie at the loch nowadays, especially on its overdeveloped western and southern banks, which are mobbed by tour coaches and day-trippers from Glasgow, just twenty or so miles away. The upgraded A82 no longer meanders along the lochside, but speeds traffic past giving only the occasional glimpse across the water. On the loch itself, speedboats tear up and down on summer weekends, destroying the tranquillity which so impressed Queen Victoria, the Wordsworths and Sir Walter Scott. The only place to find any peace and quiet now is on the eastern banks, large sections of which are only accessible on foot.
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