Local Area

The village of Balquhidder lies near the head of Loch Voil, 1¾ miles west of the line of the A84 as it sweeps

north from Callander to Lochearnhead. and shares its name with the glen in which it stands, Balquhidder

Glen. The glen is a true cul-de-sac, with its western end concluding in the complex mountainous country

north of Loch Katrine and south of Ben More.

The heyday of the east end of the glen can be dated quite precisely: from 1870 to 1965. During this time

the Callander & Oban railway passed on a line parallel with the modern A84, and there was a station at

Balquhidder a half mile north of the village. In 1905 the station developed into a junction with the

Lochearnhead, St. Fillans and Comrie Railway, and had a locomotive shed and a turntable. The latter line

closed in the 1950s and Balquhidder Station closed completely in 1965.

Balquhidder is the home of Rob Roy and is celebrated by the 77 mile Rob Roy Way which passes nearby on

its route from Drymen to Pitlochry.  Rob Roy MacGregor was by turn a soldier, businessman, cattle-rustler

and outlaw. But above all he was a folk hero, a latter day Robin Hood who died in 1734 aged 63. At the end

of the public road a track leads the half mile to Inverlochlarig, which your Ordinance Survey map will tell

you is on the site of Rob Roy's House. And as you stand in this lonely spot you begin to appreciate the

reason for the name Balquhidder. It comes from the Gaelic "Baile-chuil-tir" which means the distant farm.

Balquhidder also lies on route of the Coast to Coast Walk from Oban to St Andrews which comes over the

hills to the north from Glen Dochart.