West Highland Way: Inverarnan to Crianlarich

The River Falloch and Falls of Falloch

The River Falloch rises in the hills around Beinn a' Chroin to the south of Crianlarich. It heads north toward curving sharply to heads southwestwards, forming Glen Falloch. This low ground has proved a useful transport corridor; the A82(T), a railway line and power cables all share the glen.

The river runs through a series of rapids and cascades as it descends; the largest of these, at about 30 foot in height, is the Falls of Falloch. There is a car park beside the A82 on the northern side of the river and a path that leads to the falls; sadly the views from the West Highland Way on the southern side of the river are not as good.

General Wades military roads

You will not have to study a map of the Highlands of Scotland for long before you come across the words, ‘military road' scrawled alongside some tiny track away from the main roads. They can be followed for miles across the landscape, occasionally merging and being subsumed by modern roads.

Like trackways from time immemorial they do not necessarily follow the obviously flat ground along the valley floors. Valleys can be boggy places and prone to flooding; not ideal places for building roads without large amounts of civil engineering. Instead they often hug valley sides in an attempt to stay on firmer ground. The larger modern roads often picked lower routes, meaning that long stretches of the old roads are still available for walkers to use.

A large part of the Highlands' road network was a reaction to the events of 1715. In that year large areas of Scotland rose in rebellion against the British throne. 26 years before the Dutch King William and his English wife Mary deposed the Stuart King James II, who fled to France. The rebels' aim was to return James II to the throne, and hence return the Stuarts to power.

The rebellion was crushed and James II fled back to France once more. This left the current British King, George I, with a problem. The Scots had rebelled, but the remoteness of the terrain made communications very difficult; the rebels could simply disappear back into the hills. Time and time again Scottish history had proved that armies found it difficult to move through the mountainous terrain.

For this reason General Wade was sent to Scotland to build a network of roads that would help keep the Scots under control. Major forts were built at strategic positions such as Fort George at Inverness and Fort William at the southwestern end of the Great Glen. Between 1725 and 1737 Wade's men built over 250 miles of roads; others continued expanding the network after his death, and a further 800 miles were built by a Major Caulfield.

A further uprising in 1745 showed that the martial aims of the roads had failed. They did, however, open up the Highlands to commerce and make long journeys easier for the Highland clans. Sadly this increased communication improved land values for the lairds and could be argued to be one of the causes of the Highland Clearances.

Crianlarich

Crianlarich is a small village situated at the junction of the A85(T) and A82(T). It developed at a junction between two military roads and has served the wayfarer ever since. Several hotels and B&B's that grant the weary traveller a place to rest their heads.

The village is served by a railway station on the line from Glasgow to Fort William. A junction immediately north of the station takes a line to Oban on the west coast off the main route. Originally another line headed east towards Callander, but this was closed in 1965.

The West Highland Way crosses a hillside about three-quarters of a mile to the west of the village; it is still a popular place for walkers to stay, however.