Climb Ben Lomond (974m), the southernmost Munro, by the tourist path from Rowardennan

Look south from the summit down Loch Lomond towards its islands

Ben Lomond, 974m, is the most southerly of the Munros and one of the most climbed, by about 30,000 people a year. It stands on the east shore of Loch Lomond within the Ben Lomond National Memorial Park, owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The usual way up is the wide tourist path from Rowardennan; the Ptarmigan ridge to the west makes the better descent.

Ben Lomond: The Southernmost Munro

Loch Lomond

From Loch Lomond to Inverness by Glen Coe and Skye: Ben Lomond and Ben Nevis, the Jacobite steam train over Glenfinnan, Eilean Donan, the Old Man of Storr and the Quiraing, and the boat from Elgol to Loch Coruisk.

Skye and the West Highlands

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

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

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

Stop at the Rest and Be Thankful and find the inscribed stone that gave the pass its name

Look down Glen Croe at the line of the old military road

Walk a stretch of the old military road below the pass

At the head of Glen Croe the A83 reaches the pass the soldiers who built the military road in the 1740s named the Rest and Be Thankful — a stone inscribed with the words was set up around 1749. The old road still runs below the new one; it was a motor-racing hillclimb until 1970 and is now the diversion route when landslides shut the A83, and the slope above is so prone to them that the road is regularly closed.

The Rest and Be Thankful: Glen Croe and the Old Military Road

Walk the Ardkinglas Woodland Garden near Cairndow, open year-round, beside Ardkinglas House, designed by Sir Robert Lorimer for Sir Andrew Noble and built in 1906–1908

Eat oysters at Loch Fyne Oysters at Cairndow, the business started in the loch in 1979

Find the Grand Fir, one of the tallest trees in Britain, in the garden

At the head of Loch Fyne, the Ardkinglas woodland garden, laid out from the 18th century with an arboretum planted in the 1860s and 1870s, holds some of the tallest conifers in Britain, and in 1979 the estate's owner, Johnny Noble, and the fish farmer Andy Lane started farming oysters in the loch — the business that became Loch Fyne Oysters. The loch itself is the longest sea loch in Scotland and the road runs down it to Inveraray.

Loch Fyne: Ardkinglas and the Oyster Bar

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.

The Rob Roy Way: Balquhidder and Rob Roy's Grave

Tour Inveraray Castle, the Gothic Revival seat of the Dukes of Argyll, chiefs of Clan Campbell, beside Loch Fyne

Visit Inveraray Jail, the 19th-century courtroom and prison museum

Climb Dun na Cuaiche above the town to the folly watchtower of 1747–48 and the view over Loch Fyne

Inveraray is the town of the Dukes of Argyll, chiefs of Clan Campbell, on Loch Fyne, and their Gothic Revival castle stands beside it. Inveraray Jail keeps the 19th-century courtroom and cells as a museum, and above the town a path climbs Dun na Cuaiche to an 18th-century folly built as a ruined watchtower, with a view over the loch.

Inveraray: The Castle, the Jail and Dun na Cuaiche

Walk the shore at Tighnabruaich, the village on the Kyles of Bute whose pier, probably first built in the 1830s and rebuilt in 1885, served paddle steamers and Clyde puffers

Sail or boat the Kyles of Bute, the narrow channel between Bute and Cowal

Take the ferry from Portavadie to Tarbert to continue to Kintyre

Cycle part of National Cycle Route 75, which runs from Edinburgh to Tarbert through the village

Tighnabruaich is a sailing village on the Kyles of Bute, the narrow channel between Bute and Cowal; its pier, probably first built in the 1830s and rebuilt in 1885, served paddle steamers and Clyde puffers. National Cycle Route 75 runs through the village, and from Portavadie a ferry crosses Loch Fyne to Tarbert.