This gravel drive winds it’s way through the forest, hills and loch’s on the eastern edge of the Trossachs National Park and is a place I wanted to visit ever since I started researching (dreaming) about our new lifestyle 6 or 7 years ago.

The 7 mile track, just off the A821 ‘Dukes Pass’, is crammed with walks, views and in this glorious summer weather swimming spots and picnic places.

Turning off the main road in Aberfoyle and the Dukes Pass reminds us both of a twisty, turning Alpine road and although we get the usual funny looks in Beatrix, there are several coaches using the road too so access is pretty straight forward.

Access and camping

Entry to the forest drive requires a ticket (which at the time of writing is £3) and can be brought online or at the machine by the entrance.

It’s possible to stop and stay overnight in a campervan or motorhome in various Zones along the drive which are all clearly sign posted. From the 1st March to the 30th September, a camping permit is needed to stay overnight which at the time of writing this cost £4 / night, making it a bargain in our book.

You can stay up to 3 nights and the permits can be brought up to 4 weeks in advance online.

Our experience, over a sunny June weekend, was that most of the permit places were booked so reserving in advance was well worth doing but it was pretty quiet during the week.

Obviously to enjoy the wilderness, there aren’t any facilities available so you’ll need to travel in with enough water and energy for your stay. There are a couple of toilet blocks at the start and end of the drive and apparently it’s possible to ‘make like a bear’ if you follow the forestry rules.

Actually emptying cassettes in the national park is not as straight forward as it ought to be. There is one Elsan point beside Loch Lomond but there isn’t a point in the Three Lochs Drive anywhere and the local campsites we visited didn’t allow motorhomes or campervans to pay just for water and dumping, which is a shame.

It’s worth knowing that the gates in and out close at 17:00 and there is a phone number to call to get access if needed. The Rangers, who have a station at the end of the drive, come around to check up just after this.

The Drive

Our tour around the drive was fab.

Driving was easy and as it’s one way, there’s no risk of meeting anyone coming the other way. It seems like there are great views around every corner and although the path is windy and undulating, access wasn’t a problem for any of the motorhomes we saw, ourselves included.

Ofcourse, we took things pretty slow on our loop and there were plenty of passing places to let fast moving cars or vans come around us which kept any frustration down.

The permit website suggests that camping was limited to motorhomes of less than 8m and although we asked for clarification in advance, we didn’t really get a useful reply. In the end, we booked into ‘Zone K’ and had no problems getting parked. I think 4 of the 5 camping stops in that zone would have easily accommodate 10m units.

Summary

The Three Lochs Drive is well worth a visit.

While the sunshine undoubtably helps, and alas can’t always be guaranteed, it’s incredibly beautiful here and it is so peaceful at night with only nature around. Even though there are quite a few camping places they’re all spaced far enough apart that you wouldn’t know anyone else was there which is really great.

There are plenty of walks of differing distance and difficulty and we saw plenty of SUP’s and Kayaks in the Lochs.

The price is also incredible for such an experience, thank you Forestry Scotland.

We’ll definitely be back.

Links and information

Forestry Scotland: https://forestryandland.gov.scot/visit/forest-parks/queen-elizabeth-forest-park/three-lochs-forest-drive

Camping Permits: https://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/things-to-do/camping/get-a-permit/