The Luss Heritage Path – Cottages, a Churchyard and a Quarry
About 2.2 miles on foot.
Luss is a village of flower-hung cottages on the west shore of Loch Lomond, and the National Park's Heritage Path is the way to see all of it in an hour.
It's about 2 miles on pavements and firm paths, by the pier, the beach, an old churchyard, the river and a quarry in the oak woods. Coffee and cake at the Coach House comes after.
- Time
- About an hour: 3.5 km (2.2 miles) round the village on pavements and firm paths. Shorter waymarked rounds take 15 to 30 minutes.
- The path
- Pavements and firm-surfaced paths; the Quarry Path climbs above the village.
- Where to start
- The village car park at the north end of Luss, pay and display.
- When to go
- All year in daylight. The village is quietest early in the day and out of season.
- Dogs
- On a lead through the village and near sheep.
- Children
- A beach for a picnic and a paddle; the water is cold all year.
- Toilets
- Public toilets in the village, with a small charge.
The walk
Park in the village car park at the north end of Luss, which is pay and display. There are public toilets in the village, with a small charge. The National Park waymarks several paths round Luss, and the Heritage Path is the whole round: 3.5 km, or about 2 miles, on pavements and firm paths, and about an hour. The cottages it passes were built about 1850, when the laird cleared away the old turf houses and put up a model village in their place.
Cruise boats have called at the pier since the same year, and the beach beside it is good for a picnic and a paddle, though the water is cold all year. The church dates from 1875 but its graveyard is far older, with stones from the 7th or 8th century and a Viking hogback stone of the 11th. St Kessog, an Irish missionary, came here about 1,500 years ago and lived on Inchtavannach, the island just offshore. Out by the river, the Tupp Bridge has a sheep's head carved on it and the date 1777, thirty years after blackface sheep first came to these hills.
Above the village the path reaches an old quarry that roofed the tenements of 19th-century Glasgow, among oak woods once cut every 24 years for their bark. There are shorter rounds too: the Lochside Path takes 15 minutes, and the River Path and the Quarry Path half an hour each.
If it rains
Most of the round is on pavements and firm paths, so it works in light rain. On a wet day keep to the Lochside Path and the village streets, about 15 minutes, and go straight to the café.
Along the way
6 min on foot
Coach House Coffee Shop
Coffee and cake
Coffee and cake is at the Coach House Coffee Shop on Church Road, about 6 minutes' walk from the car park, with tables outside on a dry day. It's open every day from 10am to 4pm. For a cooked lunch, the Village Rest on Pier Road serves its daytime menu every day from 11.45am to 4.45pm, and well-behaved dogs are allowed in.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
The nearest of ours is Red Squirrel Cottage, 11 miles away. Sleeps 6.
Then Seal Cabin, 11 miles away. Sleeps 2.
For further reading, before you go.