Alastair Dalton's Loch Katrine Tour

The Scotsman

Scotsman reporter, Alastair Dalton goes on a visit to Loch Katrine using bus, steamship and bike.   Alastair catches the Trossachs Explorer Bus Service to Trossachs Pier from Aberfoyle and hires an electric bike from Katrine Wheelz before being dropped off at Stronachlachar Pier by the Steamship Sir Walter Scott. Alastair then cycles the 13 mile bike route beside the loch.

Transcript

00:00I'm Alistair Dalton, the Scotsman's Transport's correspondent.

00:09Join me on a unique way to tour Loch Catran at the heart of the Trossachs, which is reputed

00:15to be the birthplace of Scottish tourism 200 years ago when Sir Walter Scott set his poem

00:21The Lady of the Lake there in 1810.

00:24The loch has also attracted many other writers over the years, including Jules Verne for

00:29his novel The Underground City, set beneath the loch.

00:34I sailed on the historic steamship Sir Walter Scott, which celebrates its 125th anniversary

00:41in 2025.

00:43We sailed from Trossachs Pier at the east end of Loch Catran to Stronachlacha near the

00:48west.

00:49I then cycled back along the north side of the loch, taking in fantastic views along

00:54the 14-mile route.

00:56The tarmac private road is about as smooth as you'll get in Scotland, and in my two-hour

01:01trip I didn't meet a single other vehicle.

01:07Hi I'm Jason Clarke, Director of Catran Hills Bike Hire at Loch Catran.

01:12You've run this business here for four years, what sort of changes have happened in terms

01:16of expansion?

01:17So we've invested heavily in the bike fleet with a range of quality bikes including electric

01:22bikes, standard bikes, kids bikes, trailers, and even some tandems.

01:27And it's all about the quality of the experience, it's really important that visitors have a

01:30great day on the bikes, but importantly that it's safe.

01:33And for people who haven't tried an electric bike, what's it like?

01:37So that's the thing, a lot of people are quite sniffy about electric bikes, never tried them,

01:41think it's cheating somehow, but once they try it, they're converted.

01:45It feels like on this route there's quite a few big hills, and it feels like someone's

01:49pushing you up the steep bits from behind.

01:51It's just like a different way of cycling, and they love it.

01:54And most people come back saying they want one.

01:56So we do find that we do convert a lot of people to the joys of e-bikes, and what we

02:01call the e-bike smile.

02:05My name is Stuart, I'm one of the boatmasters here at Steamships of Waterscot at Loch Catran.

02:11And what's it like being finally able to do a full season after a number of years where

02:16you haven't been able to operate?

02:18We're delighted to be back actually doing the full season.

02:20We started in June last year, and it's nice to be able to just have all the seasons on

02:27the loch.

02:28Especially when you've got May with the bluebells, you've got the heather now, on a nice day

02:32you would normally see the heather, and then especially when you get to the autumn time

02:36where you get the beautiful leaves and the colours and things on the trees.

02:39Yeah, we're really excited to be back, and welcoming everybody that's on board at the

02:44moment as you can see around you.

02:46Tell us about the experience of taking a trip on this historic vessel.

02:50In the morning you can take a bike on board, and you can go all the way to Stranach Lachir

02:54where you can get off and cycle the 14 miles back.

02:57Or you can come back with us on the boat.

02:59Or you have the option of doing a Freedom Ticket, which is getting off at Stranach Lachir,

03:03spending two to three hours exploring some of the walks around Stranach Lachir, and meeting

03:10us back for half past three to come back to Trussack Pier on the steamer.

03:13So you've got various options over the course of the day.

03:16Travelling on the Steamships, a bit of a unique experience?

03:19It's the last of its kind.

03:22It's very quiet, and there's so many historical features on today.

03:26You look at the engine, and it's the last screw-driven passenger steamer in regular

03:31service in the country.

03:33It's quite a special loch.

03:35It feels isolated.

03:37To me it's the bonniest loch in Scotland.

03:39And you can see why literary figures like Wordsworth and Sir Walter Scott himself based

03:44their works here, and inspired so many people to follow in the footsteps.

03:49It's a stunning area.

03:50And then you had the steamer service starting off with a rowing boat, the Waterwich, then

03:55you had the Gypsy, then you had Royal Borough 1, Royal Borough 2, and ultimately Sir Walter

03:59Scott, been in service since 1899.

04:02And what's kept the boat out of service over the last few years?

04:07We've had, sadly, we've found some hairline cracks in the boilers, and being a pressure

04:10vessel we had to fix that, of course, and we couldn't run that.

04:15So we've spent a lot of money.

04:17I think it topped out at around about £850,000 by the time we've added everything into that.

04:22Replacing boilers, doing a little bit of work in the hull, a little bit of work in the deck,

04:27but also trying to raise visitor experience as well.

04:30We've extended the canopy out the back, and yeah, it provides a fantastic visitor experience

04:36with so many different options here in the Trossach.

04:40And increasing interest in people taking bikes on board and cycling back along the loch?

04:45And the interest is growing, it's growing very, very quickly, to the point where we're

04:49getting adapted bikes, we're getting a lot of the e-bikes, we've got every little bit

04:55of a tool that you can attach to a bike, trailers, tag-alongs.

04:58If you have a bicycle on board folks, if you don't mind just stepping out onto the floating

05:03pier, and a member of crew will pass your bicycle out to you.

05:09I'm Jim Riech, I'm an active travel officer working for the Loch Lomond and Trossach's

05:14Countryside Trust.

05:15So my job involves working with a number of communities around the National Park, just

05:21helping them with their programmes and projects that encourage more people to cycle, walk

05:26and wheel around the National Park.

05:28So Loch Catrin is one of the classic cycling routes in the area, it's always been used

05:33for a good hundred years or more I think by local cyclists, particularly from the Central

05:38Belt, but it's a traffic-free route, and it's a route where you can integrate with the water

05:43bus service or the steamship that's on Loch Catrin, so it gives you a boat and bike experience.

05:50Within the National Park, National Cycle Network 7 goes all the way through the National Park,

05:56so all the way from Balloch, all the way through the National Park to Kilin, and actually all

06:00the way up to the Cairngorms National Park, so that's a real artery that connects the

06:05two National Parks.

06:07But within the various communities there's lots of gravel ridings really taken off, so

06:11again it's fairly traffic-free riding, so in the likes of Aberfoyle we have gravel foil,

06:17so lots of people are coming there and riding on the gravel trails because they are traffic-free,

06:22so that's a real attraction for cycling in the area.

06:26Communities are also connected to each other by that gravel trail network, so it makes

06:30some real good connections between the communities, and it connects people and communities with

06:36nature as well, so if you're out walking, wheeling and cycling you're much more connected

06:41with nature, and a lot of what happens in the National Park is round about nature connectedness

06:46and nature restoration.

06:49We've seen a good increase in the number of cyclists in the area, and it's become, yeah,

06:54increasingly a destination for people cycling.

06:57Hey, my name is Duane Telford and I'm an adaptive cyclist.

07:02Adaptive cycling just provides opportunities for people with disabilities to get out and

07:08about on bikes.

07:09I've got primary progressive multiple sclerosis, and I've been losing mobility over the last

07:1510 years, so I've gradually, it's been getting harder and harder and harder to ride a normal

07:21upright cycle, probably at the point where I've been able, just declining and not able

07:26to ride a bike anymore, I came across Adaptive Riders Collective who introduced me to handbikes,

07:31and it's just given me the opportunity to keep doing something that I love.

07:35So it really has just given me that, I guess, allowing me to continue following a passion

07:41that I have for riding bikes.

07:43It's great, it provides opportunities to get out in areas of the countryside that would

07:46normally be inaccessible, so yeah, it's a great, a great opportunity for people to get

07:51out and do stuff.

07:52You've got a set of cranks that you crank with your hands, and the front of the bike

07:57is basically the upside down back end of a normal bike, so it just gears as like a normal

08:03bike.

08:05Three wheels for stability.

08:06I think this is fantastic, I've never ridden this before, and it's great.

08:11So we took the steamer across Loch Catrine, which was all accessible, the handbike just

08:16rode straight onto the steamer, which I wasn't expecting.

08:20And this is a beautifully smooth tarmac road, and obviously fantastic scenery, so just a

08:26beautiful place to be.

08:27I'm Jane Wilkinson, I'm a support and development worker for ARC, the Adaptive Riders Collective.

08:33We run come and try sessions for people who've not had a go at adaptive cycling before.

08:39We run a regular weekly sessions that take people beyond their taste of events, so that

08:43they can come and build their skills in the use of adaptive cycles.

08:48And we're also, we link in with various gravel festivals and cycling festivals that run throughout

08:53Scotland.

08:54I'm a late adopter to cycling.

08:58In my mid-forties, when my daughter started cycling at school, and she joined both a mountain

09:03bike club and a road cycling club, and initially I just ferried her to these activities in

09:09the car, but decided I didn't want to be a taxi driver, and decided I actually wanted

09:13to join in.

09:14So I started to join in these activities with a beat-up old hybrid shopping bike, which

09:21especially doing things like going down the Red Run at Lagan, Wolf Tracks route with a

09:26mountain bike, it was pretty scary.

09:28And then one day my daughter handed me a mountain bike and said, try it on this, Mum.

09:32And at that point it was like suddenly the world opened up, I realised that it's great

09:36to have different bikes for different activities.

09:39And I just got the bug for cycling and got hooked, and so my mid-forties just involved

09:47in getting acquainted with road bikes, getting acquainted with road cycling, and I live in

09:52North East Persia, which is just fantastic for both off and on road cycling activities.

09:58I am fitter and healthier and happier now than I have been in years, and that's very

10:03much due to the cycling.

10:04It gets me out in nature, it gets me connected to wildlife and the great outdoors, it's great

10:11for socialising, and you build up your fitness and your stamina and your skill levels steadily.

10:18Just go for building things up steadily.

10:20Join a local group so that you've got companions to cycle with and who can help you develop

10:25your skills, and also it's about the confidence to be both on and off road, and that can take

10:31a little time.

10:32You know, once you've got your skill level increased then you can start to negotiate

10:36traffic and do off road activities, but cycling with experienced people is a good way of getting

10:42into it.

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