Introduction to Aberfoyle

90km (56 miles) NW of Edinburgh, 44km (27 miles) N of Glasgow

Looking like an alpine village in the heart of Rob Roy country, the small resort of Aberfoyle, near Loch Ard, is the gateway to the Trossachs, one of the most beautiful and bucolic regions of Scotland. As one poet wrote: "So wondrous and wild, the whole might seem the scenery of a fair dream."

This was the land of Rob Roy (1671-1734), the outlaw and leader of the MacGregors. Sir Walter Scott recounted the outlaw's exploits in Rob Roy, first published in 1818. Scott's romantic poem The Lady of the Lake greatly increased tourism to the area, eventually attracting Queen Victoria, who was enchanted by its beauty. Wordsworth and Coleridge were eventually lured here away from England's Lake District. Wordsworth was so inspired, he wrote "To a Highland Girl."