Overview of Katrine, Loch

The largest of the scenic lochs in the Trossachs district of Stirling Council Area, Loch Katrine lies within the valley of Strath Gartney to the east of Loch Lomond. The loch derives its name from the Gaelic 'cateran' meaning a Highland robber, the most notorious of which was Rob Roy MacGregor who was born at Glengyle House at the northern end of the Loch. Sir Walter Scott's best-selling poem 'The Lady of the Lake' published in 1809 popularised the loch and in particular the romantic wooded islet known as Ellen's Isle. Queen Victoria sailed up the loch in September 1869 and in 1803 it inspired the poets Samuel Coleridge and William Wordsworth, although Wordsworth's sister Dorothy took a less romantic view of the loch which she described as being 'like a barren Ulswater [sic] - Ulswater dismantled of its grandeur, and cropped of its lesser beauties.' A source of pure water for the city of Glasgow since 1859, Loch Katrine is still visited by large numbers of tourists who either walk or cycle the road on the north side of the loch or take the steamship SS Sir Walter Scott which was launched in 1899 and still plies the water from the Trossachs Pier. The loch is 8 miles (13 km) in length and has an area of 1238 ha (3059 acres).