Rannoch
Loch Laidon
Introduction
Loch Laidon stretches for miles across the open expanse of Rannoch Moor, running south-west from near Rannoch Station towards the hills of Glencoe and the Black Mount. It's a peaty, dark loch in a wide and slightly desolate landscape, the kind of place where you can walk for an hour and see nobody. The short walk to reach it from the station is the one most people do, an easy mile or so out to a stretch of pale sandy shore, which feels a strange thing to find in the middle of a moor. The loch feeds the River Gaur, which in turn runs east into Loch Rannoch, so this is where a lot of the water round here begins. It's long been known to anglers for its wild brown trout, small, dark fish that come thick and fast on a good day, with the odd bigger one to keep you honest. Bank permits are sold at the station tearoom for a tenner. Beyond the fishing, it's simply a fine spot to sit with the silence and the enormous sky.
Location
Loch Laidon lies on Rannoch Moor in Highland Perthshire, its eastern end close to Rannoch Station and reached by a short walk from the platform. It runs south-west across the moor towards Glencoe. Kinloch Rannoch is around 18 miles east, and Pitlochry, the nearest town, roughly 40.
What's nearby
Rannoch Station is the obvious starting point, with its remote platform tearoom for a bowl of soup and a slice of cake before or after the walk. Right beside it is the Moor of Rannoch restaurant, a good place to eat or stay the night if you want to linger out here. The West Highland Line runs through the station, so you can arrive by train and step straight out onto the moor, and the Caledonian Sleeper passes through on its way between London and Fort William. One stop north on the line is Corrour, the highest and most remote station in Britain, with no public road to it at all. East, the road runs back along Loch Rannoch towards Kinloch Rannoch, roughly 18 miles off, with the Carie forest trails and the Black Wood of Rannoch on the south shore along the way. For the hardy, Loch Laidon marks the start of a long moor crossing on foot towards Glencoe, a full day's walk best left to those who know what they're doing.
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Where to stay nearby
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