Regional library

Loch Lomond & The Trossachs Library

Explore the published walking routes around Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, with guides to Loch Katrine, the West Highland Way, old drove roads, hill lists and Scottish outdoor access.

22guides currently selected8library sections

Hiking Route Guides

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Route Guide1 GPX download

Ben A'an from Loch Achray: Trossachs Route Guide

Follow the steep classic path from Loch Achray to Ben A’an’s rocky summit for one of the Trossachs’ best views in a compact out-and-back walk.

26 Aug 2026Read Guide

Route Guide1 GPX download

Ben Lomond via the Rowardennan Mountain Path: Route Guide

Climb Ben Lomond on the classic Rowardennan Mountain Path, following the broad Sron Aonaich ridge from Loch Lomond to the exposed summit.

26 Aug 2026Read Guide

Route Guide1 GPX download

Ben More from Benmore Farm: Crianlarich Route Guide

Climb Ben More directly from Benmore Farm on a compact but punishing out-and-back that gains almost a thousand metres up the northwest face.

23 Aug 2026Read Guide

Route Guide1 GPX download

West Highland Way: Milngavie to Fort William

A complete 153.6 km GPX route from Milngavie to Fort William, following Loch Lomond, Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe with 2,766 m of ascent and no promise that the weather has read the itinerary.

18 Aug 2026Read Guide

Route Guide1 GPX download

Beinn Narnain from Succoth: Arrochar Alps Route Guide

Take the direct Succoth route up Beinn Narnain, climbing through forestry and over the rocky south ridge to one of the Arrochar Alps’ finest viewpoints.

17 Aug 2026Read Guide

Route Guide1 GPX download

The Cobbler via Succoth and Narnain Boulders

The standard out-and-back from Succoth past Narnain Boulders to The Cobbler's rocky summit area.

12 Aug 2026Read Guide

Hill Lists and People

The Dodds: When Three Regional Lists Became One Metric Classification

Between 500 and 600 metres sits a collection of hills that used to be split across Deweys, Donald Deweys and Highland Fives—until the idea emerged in 2014 to unify them under a single name that works across Britain.

02 Nov 2026Read

Simms: the hill category that tidied up the lists

If you've ever wondered why British hill lists seem unnecessarily complicated, Simms offer a rare moment of clarity. Introduced by Alan Dawson in 2010, a Simm is any summit over 600 metres with at least 30 metres of drop all round – a definition that consolidated several older, overlapping lists like Murdos, Corbett Tops, Graham Tops and Hewitts into something more coherent.

28 Sept 2026Read

Marilyns: Why a 150-Metre Drop is the Real Test of a Hill

Think altitude is everything? See why a 150-metre drop identifies Britain’s 1,550 Marilyns, and how the list changed in 2025.

24 Aug 2026Read

The HuMPs: The Geography of Independence

Forget the highest peaks and look at the hills that stand on their own—this is the fascinating, mathematical world of the HuMPs.

24 Aug 2026Read

The Corbetts: Scotland’s 500-Foot Hill Climbing Obsession

While the Munros get the headlines, the 222 Corbetts offer a quieter route into the Scottish hills, each meeting a clear height and 500ft drop rule.

24 Aug 2026Read

The Munros: Scotland’s 3,000ft Standard

Everything you need to know about the 282 Munros—Scotland’s iconic list of 3,000ft peaks defined by strict height requirements and a century of hill-walking tradition.

20 Jul 2026Read

Simms: the hill category that tidied up the lists

If you've ever wondered why British hill lists seem unnecessarily complicated, Simms offer a rare moment of clarity. Introduced by Alan Dawson in 2010, a Simm is any summit over 600 metres with at least 30 metres of drop all round – a definition that consolidated several older, overlapping lists like Murdos, Corbett Tops, Graham Tops and Hewitts into something more coherent.

28 Sept 2026Read

Lochs and Water

2 guides

Loch Katrine: When Glasgow's Drinking Water Came From Thirty-Four Miles Away

Loch Katrine has been supplying Glasgow with water since 1859, when they built aqueducts across the Southern Highlands because the city's wells were killing people. The loch still provides most of Glasgow's drinking water, and the Victorian infrastructure is still doing the job over 160 years later.

25 Sept 2026Read

Loch Lomond's Island Count: When Nobody Agrees How Many There Are

Depending on water level, time of year, and what you're willing to call an island, Loch Lomond has between 30 and 60 islands. Some are inhabited, some have wallabies, and some only exist when the loch is low enough to make them count.

05 Sept 2026Read

Long-Distance Walking

1 guide

West Highland Way

Scotland's most-walked long-distance route covers 96 miles from Milngavie to Fort William, finishing below Ben Nevis. We look at why it's become so popular despite some tedious forest track sections, what the midges are actually like, and whether wild camping is genuinely viable along the route.

18 Aug 2026Read

Access and Mountain Safety

1 guide

The Wild Camping Grey Area: Where You Can, Where You Can't, and Why Scotland's Different

Britain's wild camping laws are a proper muddle: you generally need permission in England and Wales, Dartmoor's commons offer a genuine legal right to pitch, and Scotland grants access across most land under its own statute. The confusion comes from assuming that permission to walk somewhere includes permission to sleep there, which it usually doesn't, and the legal ground shifts beneath your boots without so much as a signpost to warn you.

16 Aug 2026Read

History and Heritage

1 guide

Drove Roads and Livestock: Why Some Old Tracks Are Wider Than They Need to Be

Historic drove roads carried cattle, sheep, and geese to market over long distances, and some are broad enough to let stock graze as they moved. But there was no universal fifty-foot width, no standard thousand-head herd, and plenty of variation in how drovers used the landscape.

14 Sept 2026Read

Landscape and Place Names

4 guides

Why Scotland's Mountains Are Full of Mòrs and Beags

Once you know that "mòr" means big and "beag" means small in Scottish Gaelic, you'll spot this wonderfully pragmatic naming system all over Highland maps—because when you've got two similar lumps of rock next to each other, calling one the big version and one the wee version does the job without requiring ancient warrior legends or any particular imagination.

24 Oct 2026Read

Why Scottish mountains are called sgòr, sgùrr and stob

Ever wondered why Scottish mountains are called sgòr, sgùrr and stob? They're not random—they're Gaelic descriptions of what the peak actually looks like from below.

07 Oct 2026Read

The Language of Water

A guide to the Norse and regional water terms found across the British uplands—and what they can, and cannot, tell you about the terrain.

16 Jul 2026Read

Is it a hill, is it a fell, is it a mountain?

The UK’s names for high places—hills, fells, mountains and tors—reflect language and local custom, while the familiar 2,000-foot line is a hill-list convention rather than an official OS rule.

15 Jul 2026Read

Wildlife and Working Landscapes

1 guide

When midges attack: the case for repellent and a head net

If you've ever been swarmed by midges in the Scottish Highlands and wondered whether insect repellent or a head net might actually be worth the bother, here's a practical look at what works, what doesn't, and why sometimes looking slightly ridiculous is preferable to being eaten alive.

15 Oct 2026Read

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