Loch Trool Walk & Bruce's Stone, Galloway Forest Park, Scotland

Loch trool walk Galloway map route Scotland best views Bruce's stone

The stunning Loch Trool in Galloway Forets Park, South West Scotland

One of Scotland's best Loch Walks at Loch Trool & Bruce's Stone

Loch Trool is a little gem in South-West Scotland in the Galloway Forest Park and is one of the finest looking Loch's in Scotland with plenty of native untouched Oak woodland around this lovely little Scottish Loch. Its close also to the summit of Merrick, the highest mountain in the Southern Uplands.

On this walk you'll also pass the famed Bruce's Stone, a commemoration to Robert the Bruce whose small army of 300 men in 1307 once defeated the larger 1500 strong English army on these very shores in the Battle of Trool. Bruce's stone itself gives a fantastic vantage point to take in this stunning Loch.

It's an absolutely stunning walk, along clearly defined paths and it's not that difficult and can be done in 3 hours. If your ever in South-West Scotland - it's one of the best walks you can do!

Loch Trool must be one of finest Scottish Loch's to walk around

Loch Trool Walk overview:

Loch Trool circular walk distance: 5.5 miles (8.8km)
Loch Trool walk time: 3 hours
Loch Trool walk difficulty: Easy

Map route of this Loch Trool Walk

Here's the full walk route around Loch Trool. Usually people start from the most westerly point on Loch Trool at the car park you first approach and go clockwise around Loch Trool. On this occasion we drove to the smaller roadside parking spot near Bruce's stone (northern edge of Loch Trool) where there is space for a handful of cars. All throughout this walk you are walking on clearly defined paths or minor roads and its hard to go wrong to be honest (he says...:-) Download the GPX file here

As you can see theres not a great deal of steep ascents or decents

Photos of this Loch Trool walk

On this particular walk we park up quite near Bruce's stone and learn about it's history

Bruce's stone gives a fantastic vantage point around Lock Trool

If in doubt there are occasional signs pointing you in the right direction!

From Bruce's stone we head clockwise around Lock Trool and first pass over Buchan Bridge near Buchan Falls

Walking through native woodland we then pass over Gairland Burn

After heading away from Loch Trool to cross over Glenhead Burn, we then head west to Loch Trool's shores

Heading west to Loch trool after crossing Glenhead Burn

First glimpse of Loch trool, where we notice on the right the native woodland we have walked through already

Many Scottish Loch's seem a bit barren - but the native woodland around Loch Trool makes this place very special

The paths are quite clearly marked so its hard to go off track on this walk

This is about as steep as it get's on this Loch Trool walk

Stunning views over towards Buchan Hill

The little jetty of land on the mid-point on Loch Trools southern shore makes for a nice place to stop and admire the views

After crossing the little river called the Water of Trool at Loch Trool's western edge, its a case of heading back to the car at Bruce's stone, where you'll have to walk a little bit on the quiet minor road

The reason we started this walk at Bruce's stone was so we could be back here for sunset, as it has expansive views and luckily we where treated to a spectacular light show after a pretty grey day!

Bruce's Stone with Buchan Hill in the background

What a place!

If you can take the time to really admire the views at Bruce's stone. We actually brought some camping chairs, couple of drinks and a cooking stove to spend some time here.

Another reason we parked at Bruce's Stone was to stay after dark as its one of the darkest places in the full UK and a great place to see the stars if you are blessed with clear skies - and fortunately we where. I can honestly say I've never seen so many stars with my eye - absolutely breathtaking

Post by Stuart Hodgson
'The Hiking Photographer'

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