Loch Katrine

In the heart of the Trossachs lies Loch Katrine, a loch where winter leaves almost no sound at all. This was once Rob Roy’s country, and the place that gave Walter Scott the material for The Lady of the Lake.

I walked along the shore slowly, without much of a plan, just to watch how the light kept shifting on the water. That day the loch lay almost motionless between the wooded hills, only occasionally rippled by a gust of wind. This so-called Rob Roy Country has something withdrawn about it, almost defiant, as if the landscape had decided to keep its stories to itself.

It doesn’t surprise me that Walter Scott found inspiration for one of his most famous works right here. Some places feel literary before you’ve read a single word about them, and Loch Katrine is one of them for me. The hills frame the loch like a stage with no one on it, the water simply waiting.

In winter light everything turns quieter, the colours more restrained, and that is exactly what I like about this place. No postcard scenery, just a still, slightly melancholic view across the Trossachs that you almost want to keep to yourself.