Awe

Awe, LOCH, an Argyllshire lake, with Loch Awe station and hotel near its foot, 22 miles E. of Oban. Lying 118 feet above sea-level, it extends 22¾ miles north-eastward, varies in breadth between 3 furlongs and 3½ miles, covers 15½ sq. m., and has a maximum depth of 102 feet. The country around consists of mica-slate. The scenery is most striking at the north-east end—originally the head—of the lake, where the water is studded with numerous wooded islets, overshadowed by towering and rugged mountains, prominent among which rises the dark and rocky ridge of Ben Cruachan, 3689 feet high, and 14 miles in circuit. Of the islets, the most noted are Fraoch-Eilean, containing the remains of a castle granted to Gilbert Macnaughton in 1267 by Alexander III.; and Inishail, with its ancient burying-ground, where in 1857 Mr Hamerton fixed his 'painter's camp.' On a rocky peninsula, in the north end of the lake, stands Kilchurn Castle, once a fortress of great strength, built about 1440 by Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy. The waters of the lake are carried off at its north-west end by the brawling river Awe, which, after a course of 5 miles, enters Loch Etive at Bunave. The magnificent 'Pass of Brander,' through which the road and railway run beneath the shoulder of Ben Cruachan, was the scene of a conflict in 1308 between Robert the Bruce and the Macdougals of Lorn, in which that clan was all but exterminated. At the north-east end of the loch it receives the waters of the Orchy and Strae. Loch Awe contains fine fish, especially trout, Salmo ferox, and salmon; and the small villages of Cladich and Port Sonachan are the general resort of anglers. A steamer plies on the loch. From Loch Awe the Campbells took their 'slogan' or war-cry, 'It's a far cry to Lochow.'