Loch Awe,
in Argyll, is a large freshwater loch running for some twenty
two miles from near Dalmally in the north-east down to Ford,
which is close to the head of Loch Craignish in the south-west.
The loch is quite narrow,
except at the northern end where it opens up into an islet dotted
stretch of water. The river Awe, one of the finest salmon rivers
in the west of Scotland, runs off
towards Loch Etive, which it enters near Bonawe.
This lovely
part of the loch is dominated on its northern shore by the great
bulk of Ben Cruachan (3,689 feet),
below which the Pass of Brander follows the line of the river
to the north-west and the coast. This is one of the greatest
of all Scotland’s many majestic mountains and its twin
peaks make it distinctive but a cluster of lovely little islands
at this end of the loch draws the eye away from the splendid
mountain.
On Innischonnel
are the ruins of an ancient castle known as the Cradle of the
Campbells. The loch is in fact deep in the heart of Campbell
territory but in later years they shared the loch with other
clans, notably the
MacNaughtons who had a castle at Innisfroach. On Inishail island
are the ruins of a convent and chapel and the remains of a Celtic
graveyard.

Loch Awe and the ruins of Kilchurn Castle, Scotland. Kilchurn Castle and Loch Awe - 10x8 Print
(25x20cm) by Robert Harding .
Kilchurn
Castle, formerly a Campbell stronghold, is also a ruin, standing
on a low island in the loch. It was built by
Cohn Campbell, Lord of Lochow in about 1440. As a fortress at
the time of the ‘45 it was held by Lord Bread albane with
a strengthened garrison to prevent the Jacobites from passing
south by this route.
Also situated
near the north-eastern end of Loch Awe is Dalmally, in the wooded
and pleasant valley of the river
Orchy where it flows into the loch. Beinn Donachain divides
Glen Orchy and Glen Strae, above the town and both are now being
re-forested after the clearances of
the 1820’s which denuded their flanks of all trees. Just
two miles below the town stands a monument to the Gaelic poet
Duncan Maclntyre.
On the southern
shore of the loch is Portsonachan, a small township now mainly
a holiday centre joined by ferry to Taychreggan on the opposite
bank. Just to the east of Portsonachan, Glen Aray cuts south
through the mountains to Inveraray while a picturesque wood-shaded
road runs along the southern shore of Loch Awe to Ford at the
far end of the loch. Rob Roy lived for ten years in a house
built for him in Glen Shira which runs behind the bulk of Beinn
Ghlas (1,803 feet) to the east.
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