The Road To The Isles Show path on map
Start location: B846, 4km east of Rannoch Station ( NN 446 578 )
End location: Head of Loch Treig ( NN 320 687 )
Geographical area: Lochaber, Perth, Kinross and Stirling (part)
Path type: Drove Road
Path distance: 20km
Accessibility info: Suitable for pedestrians
Route Description
Please note that the path north of Corrour Old Lodge is reportedly soft and eroded. As of June 2012, we heard that the problem may be getting worse, with a number of wet gullies to be negotiated and resultant widening of the path.
From Rannoch Station go east along the B846 for 2.5km to Loch Eigheach and take the track which goes northwest. This track is part of The Road to the Isles and it leads in 3km to a crossing of the Allt Eigheach. Beyond there follow the path northwest across the lower slopes of Carn Dearg and past the stark ruins of Corrour Old Lodge.
Follow the path as it swings north towards Loch Ossian and before reaching the plantation above the loch turn west to descend to the head of Loch Ossian, where the youth hostel of the same name stands on a promontory by the lochside. From here Corrour Station is a further 1.5km along a road and from there one can return to the day’s starting point by train – check timetable. Alternatively, from the head of Loch Ossian, follow the path that runs northwest and down to the head of Loch Treig.
This old route continues north from Loch Treig to Corriechoille near Spean Bridge through the Lairig Leacach.
OS Landranger 41 (Ben Nevis, Fort William & surrounding area) & 42 (Glen Gary & Loch Rannoch area)
Heritage Information
Doire na h-Innes (NN439578), where a ruin stands today north of the B846, was a drove stance long before the railway came. Farther north, it has also been speculated that another stance and change-house was at Luibruairidh (NN342681) beside where this route now passes under the railway line, but again pre-dating the railway.
Old Corrour Lodge, which is now named Corrour Old Lodge on Ordnance Survey maps, was once Scotland's highest shooting lodge. The railway that opened in 1894 led to its replacement by a more easily accessible lodge at the east end of Loch Ossian in 1897. The former boathouse for the small ferry that took guests up to the new shooting lodge is now the Loch Ossian Youth Hostel.
It is reputed that the Old Lodge, once superseded, then became for a few years an isolation hospital. Although this may seem fitting for such an isolated place, a ScotWays member investigated this much repeated story, but did not manage to find a single piece of documentary evidence to back up the tale! The only tangible clue appears to be a memory of a wooden sign marked Hospital in the vicinity of the Scottish Rights of Way Society signpost at NN447578; a picture of this SRWS signpost appears in our photo gallery. Does anyone else also remember the wooden Hospital sign, perhaps even have a photograph of it? If you have any information which can shed light on the intriguing mystery of Corrour Old Lodge, the Heritage Paths project would love to hear from you: info@scotways.com - many thanks.
