Most visitors came as tourists: they included Wordsworth, Mendelssohn, Hans Andersen, even Queen Victoria herself. Others came in the course of their work: sixth-century saints brought Christianity, redcoats and sailors pursued Rob Roy, politicians and engineers came to revive the fortunes of Scotland with hydro-electricity after the Second World War.
The region is notable for variety in means of travel. Tourists a century ago found an intricate network of connecting trains, steamers and horse-drawn coaches by which they could range about the region with greater facility than their descendants can today. This too is fully described.
The story of how Loch Lomond and the fast-flowing River Leven were used as a highway for trade and commerce by galleys, birlinns, sailing gabbarts and, on the loch, paddle-steamers is told more comprehensively here than anywhere else. The story of how the decayed military roads were transformed into turnpike roads (some of which remain in use today) is told for the first time. The railways of the region get their share of attention: the luxurious Pullman cars of the 1920s, the controversial closure of the line east from Crianlarich to Dunblane in the 1960s.
The period extends from early times, when Norsemen ravaged the islands of Loch Lomond, to the recent past when people reverted to travelling as their ancestors did on foot and Scotland’s first long-distance footpath was established, the West Highland Way.
John Ransom has written numerous books about the waterways and railways of Scotland and elsewhere. He has lived in the region covered by this book since the 1970s. He is currently working on a major history of Scotland’s railways for Birlinn. |
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