Luss is the village that appears on postcards of Loch Lomond: a row of neat stone and slate cottages with flower gardens, a small church among old trees and a pier stretching out into the loch, with Ben Lomond rising on the far shore. The cottages were built in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the local landowners, the Colquhouns, for workers in the slate quarries and the cotton mill nearby, and the village is now a conservation area, carefully kept.
Loch Lomond is the largest freshwater lake in Britain by surface area, stretching about thirty-six kilometres from Balloch in the south to Ardlui in the north, and it marks the boundary between the Lowlands and the Highlands. The southern part is wide and dotted with islands, and the northern part is narrow and deep, closed in by mountains. The loch and the surrounding hills form the heart of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, the first national park in Scotland.
The A82 runs along the western shore of the loch, and it is one of the main routes from Glasgow to the Highlands. South of Luss the road is a wide modern highway, but further north, beyond Tarbet, it becomes a narrow, twisting road along the water's edge, with tight bends, rock walls and heavy traffic, including buses and lorries. It is a beautiful but demanding ride, especially in summer and at weekends, and it is best tackled early in the morning or in the evening. The weather can be wet and misty, and the roads can be slippery.
Luss is busy in summer, with tour buses stopping and people walking along the pier and the beach, but it has a quiet charm in the morning and the evening. There are cafes, a shop and a visitor centre, as well as boat trips on the loch. For fuel and larger shops, Balloch and Helensburgh, about thirteen kilometres away, are the nearest towns.
A word on the midges: in summer, especially on still, damp evenings, the tiny biting insects of the Highlands can make a stop by the loch unbearable. A breeze keeps them away, and so does a good repellent.