Day 3 - Loch Lomond

We still have jet lag and woke up in early morning. Our Luggage are still missing and B.A has not delivered to us or call us. 

Juice at Juice Bar

Buffet Breakfast with huge spread

After breakfast in our nice hotel, we depart to explore more on Loch Lomond - Luss Village, Loch Forest Visitor Centre and Three Loch Forest Drive.

Luss Village

Luss, G83

Luss Village (Postcode G83) is just a short 5-10 minutes drive from our hotel. We are surprised to see a lot of tour buses and tourists at this small little village. There is nothing much to see and you can probably finish it in an hour. The key attraction is the few rows of nice houses and the river walk. 

The 3 recommended walks/paths

We chose the Lochside Path and Riverside Path. We took a peek at Slate Quarry and find it not so interesting. 

Riverside Path

Riverside Path

Riverside Path

Lochside Path

We found a Pier and seaside at the village.

There are 2 shops and the most interesting shop and recommended by Tripadvisor is The Luss General Shop and they sold some interesting souvenirs and crafts. It is in the middle of the street of houses. The other 1-2 shops near the seaside are full of tourists recommended by their guide (you get the idea).

The Lodge Forest Visitor Centre

KF8, 3SX

We proceed to next destination to The Lodge Forest Visitor Centre (FK8, 3SX) for lunch and nature. It is about an hour drive back to near we went the day before.

Drive up to The Lodge Forest Visitor Centre

This is my favorite beverage in Scotland. It was recommended by the cafe staff and I love it, but I am not able to find in SG. Do try it if you go to Scotland.

Typical lunch in Scotland

At the Lodge Visitor Centre, we are recommended by the staff to do a simple walk at their lodge to see waterfall and squirrels hide. The kids were disappointed not to see any squirrels at the hide.

Waterfall

I wish that I have skip the walk and spend more time at the next destination (Three Loch Forest Drive). The markings are not clear and we even went up to the wrong path.

Three Loch Forest Drive

Duke's Pass

Grid reference NN517036

Finally we went out of the Lodge Forest Visitor centre after 2 hours of tiring walk with no sights of Squirrels or any interesting sights. We rushed to the Three Loch Forest Drive which entrance will closed at 4pm. We managed to reach the entrance of the drive 10 minutes before 4pm. It is an impressive drive with views of 3 lakes. The entrance to the Three Loch Forest Drive is on A821, The Duke's Pass, about 2 miles (3km) north of Aberfoyle, at grid reference NN517036. If you miss the entrance, you can drive back along the same main road.

After we enter the forest drive, we found some carparks with toilets and walks. The carpark is chargeable at $2 pounds. It is one of the off beaten track/destination. The track is narrow but sufficient for our 4WD. However no tourist vans or groups will be able to drive through the tracks due to the narrowness. So the advantage is that you can have the place to yourself and get your photos nicely done without groups of tourists in your background. The exit will closed much later so just need to reach the entrance by 4pm. There are also rangers who will drive around to ensure no over-staying without permit, or to render help. In fact, we spotted the rangers who had dropped a note on our car windscreen to remind us to close the exit (it is a wooden bar) when we leave.

As we reached near 4pm, the lighting was not great at that timing and my photos did not end up fantastic. However the real views are far better than the photos.

The drive on the track

One of the lake

Walks near one of the car parks

Sunset

Optional trips which we did not manage to go: Dochart falls at Killin (Postcode FK21 8SL). The 22 miles along the A85 between Callander and Killin has some of the spectacular scenery.