A special place for me has always been the small beautiful Lochan Uaine (Green Lochan) on the hill, above the west shore of Loch Lomond. We were taken here fairly regularly as children for fresh air and a free day out. It is a mysteries little body of water, due to chemicals bubbling out of the bottom of it, turning the depths of it red, green and blue depending how the light refracts off it. The popular name is derived from the stories told to children that the fairies had used this lochan to dye wool and cloth for people who left it by the side of the pool, in exchange for some form of payment. But bad people with a sense of mischief had left wool there, and instead of just wanting a colour added wanted black wool dyed white or white wool dyed tartan (depending on the version of the story you were brought up with). The disgruntled fairies feeling annoyed and unappreciated threw all their remaining dyes to the bottom of the pool.

The way I have always walked up to it is by parking at the lay-by at "Camus Nan Clais", which is just the Inverbeg side of the big "Rudha Mor" rock cut, at the start of the third lane. Park and look for the old ruin where the cyclist used to meet and brew a cup of tea, climb from there up the side of the stream, following the deer’s path up through the trees and bracken, to the ridge where you will find the burn is fed from this colourful little pool. You should give yourself at least half an hour for this ascent as there is quite a bit of scrambling involved. The co ordinates are roughly N 56° 09.490 W 004° 40.607 and it is about 180m above sea level. There are easier, gentler climbs to it which involve walking along the fence line from Glen Douglas, above Inverbeg or parking at Firkin picnic area and climbing over the top of the hill, past the farmland. There is an "Orange mobile phone mast along the ridge from the fairy Loch and this is maintained from the Firkin direction.

More can be found on the local heritage website at http://www.arrocharheritage.com/ArrocharHeritageTrail_Ferkin.htm