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A walk to St Fillan's Priory and fish and chips in Tyndrum
A walk · Tyndrum

Strath Fillan – The Lochan of the Lost Sword and a Priory

About 3.7 miles on foot.

Directions
Lochan of the Lost Sword

Strath Fillan, the wide green glen below Tyndrum, is where Robert the Bruce lost a battle in 1306 and, the story goes, his sword in a lochan.

A priory was later founded here for the saint the glen is named after. A walk on the West Highland Way joins the two, and lunch is fish and chips at the Real Food Café.

Time
About 40 minutes: the lochan is about half a mile west of the Dalrigh car park along the West Highland Way, and back.
The path
An unsurfaced path along the West Highland Way.
Where to start
The Dalrigh car park, a mile south of Tyndrum.
Set off
About 10.30am, for the priory and lunch in Tyndrum after.
When to go
The walk takes about three hours, with lunch.
Dogs
Welcome on the Way: on a short lead or under close control near farm animals, and in moorland and grassland from April to July (breeding bird season).
Children
A short walk to a lochan with a story.
Toilets
The Real Food Café in Tyndrum, 3 minutes' drive away, has toilets.

The walk

Dalrigh is where the MacDougalls defeated Robert the Bruce in 1306, soon after his defeat at Methven. In the fight, one of his attackers tore the brooch from his cloak: the Brooch of Lorn is still the MacDougalls' today.

The story goes that his men threw their heavy weapons into a little lochan so they could escape, and that the King's own sword lies there still. Park at the Dalrigh car park, a mile south of Tyndrum.

The lochan is about half a mile west along the West Highland Way, among birches and moor grass, with a board telling the story.

If it rains

On a wet day, the Real Food Café is under cover.

Afterwards

  1. About 25 min on foot

    St Fillan's Priory

    St Fillan's Priory

    From the car park the Way follows the River Fillan to Kirkton Farm, where the low, mossy walls of St Fillan's Priory and an old graveyard have a board on their history. Fillan was an Irish monk who came to Scotland in 717 and settled in this glen. His relics are said to have inspired the Scots before Bannockburn, and to give thanks for the victory Bruce later founded a priory here. It's about half an hour's walk from the car park on paths and farm tracks, and back the same way. Keep dogs on a short lead or close at heel near farm animals.

  2. 3 min by car

    The Real Food Cafe

    The Real Food Cafe

    Lunch

    Back at the car, it's 3 minutes' drive up the A82 to the Real Food Café in Tyndrum, a family-run café open every day from 8am to 8pm. It has been serving food here since 2005: award-winning fish and chips fried in rapeseed oil, burgers, breakfasts and home baking, with a gluten-free menu certified by Coeliac UK. Tables aren't booked, except accessible ones held for disabled visitors. Dogs are welcome inside, and there's a washer outside for muddy boots and paws.

Before you go

  1. Book accommodation nearby

    If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.

    The nearest of ours is Suie Hunting Lodge in Luib.

    Then Monachyle Mhor, 5 miles away.

Where to eat

Artisan Cafe & Deli, a restaurant in Crianlarich.

Make it a weekend

More days out in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.

Loch LomondBalmaha, Conic Hill and Inchcailloch by train and bus.Loch LomondLoch Katrine and Inversnaid.
Find out more

For further reading, before you go.

Photographs by Bob Todd, Donna W and Carlos via Google