Lake of Menteith is famously thought of as the only lake in Scotland but there are others including Pressmennan Lake in East Lothian and the Lake of the Hirsel in Berwickshire.
However, back in the days before health and safety, we local children played in the ruins of Gartartan Castle, on the outskirts of Gartmore.
We were less interested in the mistakes of a mixed up French map maker than in the tales of a secret tunnel which ran from the ruined castle under the lake.
The story went that it was created as an escape route for Mary, Queen of Scots, who sought refuge at Inchmahome Priory, on the lake’s largest island, in 1547.
No one knew if the tales of a tunnel were true, and it seemed unlikely as it would have had to have been five miles long, but that didn’t stop us looking for a secret door in the castle.
A few years ago, I discovered the castle wasn’t built until 1597 – a full 50 years after Mary was at the priory.
Still, sometimes a myth is all we need to spark our imaginations.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here