Loch Tay

Loch Tay ( Scottish Gaelic: Loch Tatha ) is a freshwater lake in the Scottish highlands. It is located about 50 km west of Perth in the Unitary Authority of Perth and Kinross. Loch Tay is measured by the size of the water surface of about 26 km ², the sixth largest lake in Scotland.

Description

Loch Tay has the typical elongated shape of a lake during the Ice Age glacial origin. It is about 23 kilometers long, but only one to one and a half miles wide. The volume of water comprises about 1.6 km ³. The greatest depth of the lake is 150 meters. The average depth is 61 meters. Loch Tay is an S-shape between the villages of Killin at the southwest end and Kenmore at the northeast end. For Killin the rivers flow Lochay and Dochart in the lake, at Kenmore leaves him the Tay.

The main road A 827 leads on the northern shore of the lake, the southern shore is accessed only by a single track road for local traffic. She leaves the main road at the falls Dochart Falls in Killin and reaches it at the other end of the lake again in Kenmore. It is certainly the more scenic of the two routes.

Just south of Kenmore is the Crannog Centre, the reconstruction of a typical Crannogs, houses that were built on stilts to protect the lake. The reconstructed buildings you can visit. Approximately one kilometer northeast of the Taymouth Castle Kenmore lies with adjoining golf course. Taymouth Castle, however, is not accessible to the public due to safety regulations.

As the lake for travelers to Loch Tay is only conditionally suitable, because it is very difficult to reach the shore by car. Only in a few places there is a driveway, so in Kenmore, at Killin, and in some places along the south road running. Also within walking distance of the lake is accessible only in a few places, as the bank is almost everywhere used privately and is used as pasture.

History

In earlier times there were along the lake many small farms, but these were for the most part during the Highland Clearances of the 19th century destroyed. And today is no longer profitable agriculture here, tourism is a richer source of income.

There once was a railway connection from the track Callander to Oban, which led to Killin. There they took the steamer across the lake to Kenmore, and from there it was only a short distance by stagecoach to the railway terminal in Aberfeldy, from where the train journey to Perth or the North could go on. Both the railroad and the steamship no longer operate. Since 2005, the old jetty but again hit by a modern tourist steamer.