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Lochearnhead

Lochearnhead village is delightfuly located at the west end of Lochearn just below the wonderfuly scenic Glen Ogle - often referred to as Queen Victoria's Khyber Pass. Made famous by extensive news coverage of the landslide in 2004, the Glen Ogle landscape is now stable once more after lengthy engineering works and the scenery remains as spectacular as it always was.

Lochearnhead is easily accessed from the south and north by the A84 / A85 trunk road from Stirling to Oban and the North. The A85 also provides an easy route to the villages of St Fillans and Comrie, with Crieff and Perth beyond.

Lochearnhead is a good centre for walkers with Ben Vorlich, Stuc a Chroin, Ben More, Stobinian, Cruach Ardrain and the Lawers range within very easy reach. The old rail track up Glen Ogle has been surfaced to form a beautiful route for both cyclists and walkers. There is a watersports centre at Lochearnhead where water ski-ing is a popular sport. Every year the 3 villages Highland Gathering for the area is held in the games field beside the loch around July.

In the Central Highlands, Loch Earn is outstandingly beautiful. Deep and mysterious and fringed by trees, steep hillsides and mountains it is a vision of splendour, especially in the Autumn.

Loch Earn is unusual in that it experiences a 'tide'. This tide not caused by the moon, but by the prevailing wind along the loch which creates a 'slope' on the water along the length of the loch. This in turn results in a kind of oscillation, with the water slowly 'surging' back and forth along the loch - a periodicity of about 16 hours.

In the middle of the Loch at the St Fillans end is an island, once the home of the Neish clan. They were wiped out in a raid by the McNabs of Killin who carried a boat over the hill in order to attack them in the night. The small remains of the Neish castle may still be seen but are fast crumbling.

A charming little single track road passes along the south side of Loch Earn, passing Edinample Castle, Ardvorlich House - home of the Stewarts of Ardvorlich, and two little engraved 'gravestones' commemorating 2 rather grizzly events from byegone days.

The eastern village is St Fillans where the views to the west are without equal. (Toilets, snacks and meals, car parks, accommodation). At the west is Lochearnhead which is convenient for walkers on the abandoned rail trackbed which can be accessed at the old station.