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Breadalbane derives from the Gaelic Bragad Albainn - the hill district of Alban or Scotland. It was adopted as the title of his earldom in 1681 by the alarming John Campbell, described by his contemporaries as ‘cunning as a Fox, wise as a Serpent and supple as an Eel’. He was implicated in the Massacre of Glen Coe and owned the best wig in Scotland. He held land, from his seat at Taymouth Castle at Kenmore, to the Atlantic. Having chosen Breadalbane as his title, he ordered a mapmaker to stamp it on the local landscape round Loch Tay. Today the name has spread even further and is used by Aberfeldy in Strathtay to the east and features on brown sins as far as the A9.

The family has gone. Their spectacular castle is being turned into a hotel but much still goes on round the loch. The Scottish Crannog on south Lochtayside is a rebuild of one of the prehistoric lake dwellings and shows how comfortable life could be in the Iron Age. Further down the loch the award-winning inn at Ardeonaig shows how comfortable it can be today.
High on Ben Lawers, rearing up beyond Fearnan from the north shore of the loch to become Perthshire’s highest mountain, a local archaeology project run by Glasgow University spent three years exploring the sites of ancient shielings and settlements and turned up a wealth of information.

rom the summit of Ben Lawers, the horizon is ringed by mountains. One can see Ben Nevis to the west, the Pentlands above Edinburgh to the southeast, and the north is dominated by the great whaleback of Schiehallion, whose name means the seat of the Caledonian Fairies.