The writing was on the wall from the start. When James Graham, Marquess of Montrose was promoted to Duke as reward for his support in bringing about the Act of Union in 1707, he was never going to be best buddies with Scotland’s Robin Hood, Rob Roy MacGregor. When the Duke, no doubt flushed with his new found importance, confiscated the MacGregor lands, that really put the tin lid on their relationship.
In an act of retaliation, Rob Roy imprisoned Montrose’s factor (rent collector) on an island on Loch Katrine and to this day it is still known as Factor’s island. Rob Roy was born at Glengyle, just a short distance away.
Punishment
As if to punish the Factor further, the island is less than a 100 meters from this great wee tearoom with a glass conservatory, so he would have had to sit alone and hungry on his island watching folk tucking into cakes, scones and all sorts of other goodies. Absolutely no mercy!
We have no idea
We were here to meet with our intrepid Trossachs correspondents who, readers will remember, were recently reporting from Gibraltar. What better place for a debriefing session than here at Stronachlachar, one of the most beau
tiful spots on the planet. The steamship Sir Walter Scott usually docks here but on this occasion the much smaller Lady of The Lake came into the pier and disgorged her cargo of happy walkers and cyclists. The tearoom has everything you would want; free wifi; fine coffee; fine wine; home made cakes … and scones, but not homemade?? 
Why, when they make their own cakes, they don’t make their own scones, we have no idea.
Anyway, in the middle of an intense discussion on modern trends in sconology, we received our scones. Nicely presented with lots of jam and cream. They were enjoyable enough though the overall feeling was that the bicarbonate had been overdone, leaving a slight aftertaste. No topscone unfortunately but this is still a great tearoom in a great setting and, if you go, you will enjoy it, thoug
h hopefully the use of this old phone box will not be necessary!
Loch Katrine, of course, has been the water supply for the city of Glasgow since the 1850s, a phenomenal feat of engineering and far-sightedness. The water flows 35 miles into the city only dropping 10 inches in every mile. Do we have similarly far-sighted politicians today? We fear not. Modern day neo-liberalism means that those in power cannot see much further than the end of their noses! Musn’t speak too ill of them however, as the debacle over the EU referendum has been interrupted by the tragic murder of Labour’s Jo Cox. It’s very much a time for sympathy and solidarity.
FK8 3TY tel: 01877 386 374 The Pier Tearoom
New gin venture
On our journey home we unexpectedly stumbled upon this .. the Trossachs distillery … fantastic. Only opened two weeks previously, we thought we should at least give it a mention. Brainchild of the affable Dale McQueen, it produces gin in a variety of flavours using a unique distillation method. He even puts it in nice, dark blue ceramic bottles. The gin market is ‘busy busy’ at the moment so we hope Dale gets a favourable wind for his venture. Online shop at the link below. We chose the ‘sweet citrus’ and the ‘mocha’ and the … noooo we didn’t buy them all. Might go back for the others!
FK17 8LR tel:07968 063125 Trossachs Distillery
We re-visited The Pier on 14th May and from the comfort of a seat window experienced 3 seasons in 45minutes. Spring downpour, Glorious Summer sunshine and Winter hailstones.
The Cafe is well worth a revisit. It is under new ownership having been taken over by the previous landlords of The Bistro at the Inversnaid Bothy, who departed following what they believed to be a totally unreasonable rent hike based on the fact that they had become very successful. Anyway it was most enjoyable. The Stornoway Black Pudding, Chorizo and Apple Salad was outstanding and the Scones served with Cream and Jam were excellent with not a hint of the dreaded soda-bic. Well worth a return visit next time you are in the area. Keep on sconing.
Sandy & Eliz
Hi guys, yes have cycled there from Loch Katrine car park and also arrived by bike from Aberfoyle, stunning part of the world and great wee point to take in fuel for the cycle back again.
Well done guys! Done that cycle ride a few years back and my bum is still in recovery mode .. the Duke’s Pass finished me off on the way back.
As I read this I am sampling the sweet citrus and it’s very pleasant indeed. We had a lovely time at the Pier cafe, the scones may not have been top scones, but the place and the staff were very nice indeed, well worth a visit.