Tour Glengoyne Distillery, distilling here since 1833

From the distillery side of the A81, look across to the warehouses and work out which side of the Highland Line each is on

Climb Dumgoyne, the volcanic plug above the distillery

Look back from the top over Glasgow and the Lowlands

Glengoyne has been distilling at Dumgoyne, north of Glasgow, since 1833, when it was called Burnfoot, and it sits exactly on the Highland Line: the stills are in the Highlands and the casks mature across the road in the Lowlands, so it makes a Highland malt matured in the Lowlands. Behind it rises Dumgoyne, a volcanic plug 427m high at the end of the Campsie Fells, reached by a path beside the distillery.

Glengoyne: The Distillery on the Highland Line

Glengoyne and the Highland line

Seven nights from the Fife coast to Easter Ross, following whisky from its first written record in 1494 to Speyside, by way of the Highland Line and one of Scotland's highest distilleries.

Scotch: From the 1494 Record to Speyside

Start at the West Highland Way's obelisk in Milngavie, where Scotland's first official long-distance route begins

Walk out through Mugdock Country Park on the first miles of the Way

Follow the old Blane Valley railway line north

Look up at the Campsie Fells from the Way

The West Highland Way starts at the obelisk in Milngavie, Scotland's first official long-distance footpath, and the first day runs out of the suburbs into Mugdock and along the old Blane Valley railway to Drymen — flat, easy walking that gets the Campsie Fells into view.

The West Highland Way: Milngavie to Drymen

Kayak from Balmaha out among the islands of Loch Lomond, Britain's largest lake by surface area at 71km² and holding more than 30 islands

Paddle to Inchmurrin, the largest fresh-water island in the British Isles

Land on Inchcailloch, the wooded island nature reserve just off Balmaha

Loch Lomond is the largest lake in Britain by surface area, 71 square kilometres, with more than 30 islands, and the best way into them is by kayak from Balmaha on the eastern shore. Inchcailloch, just offshore, is a wooded island nature reserve; further south, Inchmurrin is the largest freshwater island in the British Isles.

Loch Lomond by Kayak: Inchcailloch and Inchmurrin

Walk over the Kelvin Aqueduct of 1790, the largest in Britain when it opened

Go down to the Kelvin Walkway and look up at the aqueduct's four arches

Cycle the towpath east towards Kirkintilloch

The Forth and Clyde Canal opened across Scotland in 1790, 35 miles from the Carron at Grangemouth to the Clyde at Bowling, and at Maryhill in the north of Glasgow it crosses the River Kelvin on the Kelvin Aqueduct. Robert Whitworth designed it, and when it opened it was the largest aqueduct in Britain — 136m long, four arches, 19m above the river — and people came to watch sailing ships pass over their heads. The same contractors built the flight of Maryhill locks beside it, and the towpath runs east out of the city towards Kirkintilloch.

The Forth and Clyde Canal: Maryhill Locks and the Kelvin Aqueduct

Climb Conic Hill from Balmaha on the West Highland Way

Pick out the line of the fault in the islands from the summit

Take the boatyard ferry out to Inchcailloch, or the mail boat round the inhabited islands in summer

Walk the shore path along the loch from the boatyard

Conic Hill rises straight out of Balmaha on the Highland Boundary Fault, the line where the Highlands meet the Lowlands; from the top the islands of Loch Lomond run away south-west in a chain that marks the same fault under the water. The West Highland Way climbs over it, and the boatyard at Balmaha runs a ferry across to Inchcailloch and, in summer, the mail boat round the inhabited islands.

Balmaha and Conic Hill: The Highland Boundary Fault

See a gig at King Tut's Wah Wah Hut on St Vincent Street, open since February 1990 and where Oasis were signed by Creation Records after playing in 1993, in the same two weeks that The Verve and Radiohead played

Go to the Barrowland Ballroom on the Gallowgate, the dance hall that opened in 1934 and became one of Glasgow's great gig venues

See a concert at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, open since 1990

Stand in the UNESCO City of Music, a title Glasgow has held since 2008

Glasgow has been a UNESCO City of Music since 2008. King Tut's Wah Wah Hut on St Vincent Street opened in February 1990, and in 1993 Oasis were signed there by Creation Records after a gig. The Barrowland Ballroom on the Gallowgate opened as a dance hall in 1934 and became one of Glasgow's great gig venues, and the Royal Concert Hall has been open since 1990.

Glasgow: King Tut's, the Barrowland and the City of Music

Cruise Loch Katrine on the steamship Sir Walter Scott, in service since 1900, on the loch that Sir Walter Scott set his poem The Lady of the Lake beside in 1810

Climb Ben A'an (454m) from the car park on Loch Achray for the view over the Trossachs

Walk part of the Loch Katrine shore path from Trossachs Pier, inside Scotland's first national park, Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, created in 2002

Loch Katrine is where Sir Walter Scott set The Lady of the Lake in 1810, and the steamship named after him has sailed it since 1900. Above Loch Achray, Ben A'an is only 454m but looks over the whole of the Trossachs. It all lies in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs, Scotland's first national park, created in 2002.

The Trossachs: Loch Katrine and Ben A'an

Go out to Tantallon Castle on its clifftop headland 5km east of North Berwick, opposite the Bass Rock

Explore Tantallon Castle, built in the mid-14th century by William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, the last medieval curtain wall castle built in Scotland, which Cromwell's General Monck breached in 1651

Climb North Berwick Law, the conical hill above the town

William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, built Tantallon in the mid-14th century on the cliffs 5km east of North Berwick, opposite the Bass Rock — the last medieval curtain-wall castle built in Scotland — and it was left a ruin after Cromwell's general Monck breached it in 1651. Above North Berwick rises the Law, the conical hill that looks over the whole coast.

Tantallon Castle and North Berwick Law

Visit Rob Roy MacGregor's grave in Balquhidder Kirkyard, where the outlaw who died in 1734 is buried

Walk a section of the Rob Roy Way from Kingshouse, just east of Balquhidder, towards Glen Ogle

Walk the shore of Loch Voil below the Braes of Balquhidder

The Rob Roy Way runs 79 miles from Drymen to Pitlochry through the country the outlaw worked, and at Balquhidder his grave lies in the kirkyard under the Braes, with the words 'MacGregor despite them' cut on the stone. Loch Voil runs west from the church, and the Way passes a short way east at Kingshouse, heading north-east for Glen Ogle.