The Castles Of Loch Awe

Willie Shand takes a walk on the banks of Scotland's longest inland loch in Argyll.

Factfile

• Kilchurn (pronounced Kil-choorn) Castle would have survived more completely had its timbers not been taken for use in the construction of the Campbell castle of Taymouth and some of its masonry used to build Craig Lodge.
• Only four Scottish lochs hold more water than Loch Awe - Loch Ness, Loch Lomond, Loch Morar and Loch Tay.
• John Carswell, who built Carnasserie Castle, was so exceptionally tall that his height and stoop earned him the nick-name of "the Heron".
• The Campbells kept tight control of much of western Scotland, and in the 1500s Kilchurn Castle was a key link in the chain of strongholds that made this possible.

SELDOM over a mile wide, Loch Awe stretches between Dalmally in the north and the village of Ford in the south.

At some 25 miles long, it's a mile longer than Loch Ness, making it the longest inland loch in Scotland.

At its head, it turns northwestward to enter the deep and narrow Pass of Brander, where the River Awe carries its waters through to join the sea at Loch Etive.

This, at least, is the course it takes today.

Before the effects of the last ice age, Loch Awe was a sea loch, linked to the sea at its opposite end.

Thanks to glaciations, the head and the foot of the loch have now changed places.

There are some, of course, who would offer a different explanation for Loch Awe's creation, maintaining it was all down to a witch taking a nap on the slopes of Ben Cruachan.

On the hill it is said that there was a special well that she used to visit to water her cow.

It was no ordinary well, though.

If the lid wasn't replaced, it would continue to flow until the whole world drowned.

One day, sitting down for a rest, she fell asleep, forgetting to cover the well.

When she awoke she realised her mistake and quickly replaced the cover, but it was too late.