We are told that on the appearance of The Lady of the Lake, “the whole country rang with the praises of the poet; crowds set off to view the scenery of Loch Katrine, till then comparatively unknown; and as the book came out just before the season for excursions, every house and inn in that neighbourhood was crammed with a constant succession of visitors. From the date of the publication of The Lady of the Lake, the post-horse duty in Scotland rose in an extraordinary degree, and it continued to do so for a number of years, the author’s succeeding works keeping up the enthusiasm for our scenery which he had originally created.”
There are fairer spots in Scotland than the Trossachs, beautiful as they are; yet, notwithstanding this, their popularity remains unabated. The trip certainly has the advantage of being accessible; it can be “done” in a day from either Edinburgh or Glasgow, and this is a great recommendation to those who are going on to “do” Europe in record time. Then, again, anyone who has seen Edinburgh and the Trossachs is fairly safe in saying he has seen Scotland, whereas one of wider range, who had, say, gone up the Highland Railway to Inverness and returned via the Caledonian Canal, if unmindful of the Trossachs, would be taunted with his omission every time the subject was mentioned.
However, the greatly increased facilities of steamer and rail do doubtless tend to send people farther afield, and the much longer round via the Caledonian Canal can count its hundreds where it previously counted units.
Until Scott’s time the Trossachs were little known, but then the cult of scenery-worship as we know it had not been evolved. That they were somewhat known is shown in Dorothy Wordsworth’s Journal.
When William Wordsworth, with his sister and the poet Coleridge, made a tour in 1803, they were met at Loch Katrine (coming from Loch Lomond) with stares of amusement from the peasants. “There were no boats,” says Dorothy in her Journal, “and no lodging nearer than Callander, ten miles beyond the foot of the lake. A laugh was on every face when William said we were come to see the Trossachs; no doubt they thought we had better have stayed at our own homes. William endeavoured to make it appear not so very foolish by informing them that it was a place much celebrated in England, though perhaps little thought of by them.” This was six years before the publication of the great poem.
The Trossachs proper are the irregularly-shaped hills and rocks, covered with a thick growth of bristling firs, that lie between Loch Katrine and Loch Vennachar, and along the shores of little Loch Achray. But the name is generally taken to mean the whole round, including the traversing of Loch Lomond, as well as Loch Katrine, and the road journey.
“BENEATH THE CRAGS OF BEN VENUE.”
The precipitous ascents from the south-east corner of Loch Katrine.