Tour Scotland travel video, with Scottish music, of a road trip drive on ancestry, genealogy, history visit to the village of Lochawe in the Highlands. The road marks a change in the landscape, from the coastal settlements of Loch Etive to the bare mountains of Loch Awe, as we enter the Pass of Brander, which isn't a real mountain pass, just a narrow gap between the steep slopes of the surrounding hills. As the road squeezes between the north shore of Loch Awe and Ben Cruachan, the Hollow Mountain, with a Hydro Electric Scheme deep inside, part of it is built on stilts over the water of Loch Awe. This pass was created many thousands of years ago when the waters of Loch Awe cut through soft rock to find a lower exit point, rendering the old valley at the loch's south end redundant. It was here that in 1309 Robert the Bruce soundly defeated Edward II's supporters in western Scotland en route to besiege and capture Dunstaffnage Castle. Though a through route, the area around the northern end of Loch Awe has always been a lonely spot. The railway line succeeded in opening up the north shore of Loch Awe in a way that the military road had not. The first major development was the Lochawe Hotel built in about 1880.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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