It is said that when the freebooter Rob Roy lay dying in his own house at Balquhidder, his wife mocked at his repentance. He rebuked her, saying: “You have put strife betwixt me and the best men of the country, and now you would place enmity between me and my God.”
Rob Roy’s Grave
The grave of Rob Roy is in the little old graveyard, and is only a few feet from the gate. There are rude sculptured figures on the flat stone, seemingly far older than the days of the freebooter, but possibly an old stone was used to mark the place where he at length rested after his roving life. This is not the only association that Balquhidder evokes, for it is mentioned in The Legend of Montrose, when the Clan Macgregor there agree to stand by the murderers of the King’s deer-keeper; and also in more modern fiction, when, in Stevenson’s Kidnapped, poor David breaks down utterly at Balquhidder, and has to be guarded and cared for by his quaint comrade, Alan Breck.
But, tempting as it is to wander farther up the glen, here we must stop, or we shall get too far from our legitimate route through the Trossachs.
[CHAPTER IV]
APPROACHES TO THE TROSSACHS
The route taken by the coaches leaves Callander in a northward direction, but soon turns off westward down a narrow muddy road forbidden to motor-cars; this runs beneath the shoulder of Ben Ledi.
Ben Ledi means the Mount of God, and is believed to have been held sacred from the days when the Beltane mysteries were celebrated on it. Beltane was a Celtic festival celebrated about May 1 with fires and dances, and probably with sacrifices too. The scenery, however, is not as awe-inspiring as these weird memories would lead one to expect—in fact, for all this first part of the Trossachs’ round the traveller’s imagination must supply all the fire he needs. For instance, the very prosaic sluices erected by the Glasgow Water Company at the end of Loch Vennachar, which soon comes into view, mark the site of Coilantogle Ford, across which Roderick promised the King a safe-conduct, and where the two fought with such fury when the outlaw revealed himself.
The chief in silence strode before,