Rannoch and Tummel is a very distinct area of Highland Perthshire and indeed of Scotland. As you head off the A9 towards Rannoch you will come to Queen’s View, one of Scotland’s most photographed views. It was named after King Robert the Bruce’s queen, not queen Vicotoria as she mistakenly wrote in her diary of her travels.
Head further west you will see spectacular views over Loch Tummel and Schiehallion ‘The Fairy Mountain’ to the left. It was here that Maskalyne hung a plumb line and by the deflection of the plumb line by the mass out the mountain was able to work out the mass of the earth. There is a small monument commemorating this feat beside the road next to the Schiehallion car park.
At Tummel Bridge you will pass though a small village made up largely of a holiday Park with self-catering log cabins and a club for visitors. At the far end of the village you will find one of the first bridges built in the Highlands in 1736, it is too narrow for today’s vehicles but you can walk across it.
Further along the glen will eventually bring you to Kinloch Rannoch village, it is situated at the easterly end of Loch Rannoch, with a store, a hotel, a time share complex and its own communal run ‘Post Haste’ post office and café. There you will be able to receive detailed information on the area, and use the Internet café.
Loch Rannoch has a circular drive round, which the local people have very cleverly included a Clan Trail, which has a series of informative plaques describing the different stories of the clans who once resided around the loch. At the far (westerly) end of the Loch you will see a folly said to be built on the remains of an old Crannog (see Abeferldy, Kenmore area for details of he Scottish Crannog Centre). On the south shore of the Loch you will pass through the black Wood of Rannoch and ancient Caledonian Pine Forest where there are some waymarked walks and cycle trails for those who would like spend some time here.
Rannoch Station is in a remote and desolate area. The use of desolate is probably not the right term, the station is situated right out in the middle of Rannoch Moor, which has its own peculiar beauty and charm. At the station there is a small information centre opened by Professor David Bellamy in 2005, which will tell you about the unique diversity of this moor.