Day Walks in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs by Gerald McGarry

This handy book is small and neat, ideal for fitting into your luggage for a walking trip to the beautiful area around Scotland's famous Loch Lomond.

The book starts with brief tips on walking safely, tips on navigation and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, appropriate clothing and the animals that may be seen on the walks.

The twenty walks, ranging in length from 2 miles to 15 miles, can all be walked in the space of a day or less, and include low level walks and more strenuous walks for the more experienced hiker. All follow clear, well trodden paths. 

Each walk is described in a good amount of detail, with a description that includes landmarks, noteworthy historical notes and things to watch out for (such as how crowded a route gets with tourists during the summer season, sometimes with an annoyingly patronising tone towards said tourists). Detailed directions are offered along with excellent maps (Ordnance Survey 1:25,000) and beautiful photos (mostly taken by the author). 

The day before this book arrived in the post, Crafty Green Boyfriend and I visited Loch Lubnaig in the Trossachs and in fact walked part of the route round the Ben Ledi mountain that features in this book. You can read about the walk and see some of my photos of the area in this blogpost here. 

We have also climbed part of Ben Lomond, another walk that features in this book (you can read about our visit to that mountain here). Whereas on our visit to Loch Lubnaig, we didn't have time to do more than just part of the route, at Ben Lomond we were defeated by the steepness of part of the path (Or rather I was defeated by vertigo). 

Judging from our experiences on these two walks, I would say that the descriptions in the book are a good guide to the difficulty of the walks, Ben Lomond for example is described on a couple of occasions as being very steep and the need for careful footwork is emphasised. 

Day Walks in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs by Gerald McGarry published by Vertebrate Publishing. 

This is the second Day Walks book I've reviewed recently. You can read my review of Day Walks in Fort William and Glen Coe here. 

Disclaimer: I was sent a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.