The Loch Leven Heritage Trail is a circular route around Loch Leven in Fife, Scotland. It is just shy of 20 km long, and you can run it clockwise or anti-clockwise. It is level and barrier-free for most of its length. There are numerous access points, with plenty of parking (and cafes - with toilets) making it super-accessible to walkers, runners and cyclists, but I started and finished at The Boathouse car park in Kinross, running anti-clockwise. It is tricky to get lost on this trail - for the most part you can only go forward or back, and it is only at an access point that there are junctions. There are no “alternative routes” that would give a runner options.
It is incredibly popular - one local running club had around 40 members running different distances (including all the way around the loch) last weekend. There were many other runners and walkers on the trail that morning as well. It is often used as a half marathon final long training run.
Loch Leven is Scotland’s largest Scotland's largest lowland freshwater loch and one of the most important sites for waterfowl in Britain. This National Nature Reserve provides a haven for wildlife and attracts the largest concentration of ducks found anywhere in the UK with many thousands of migratory ducks, geese and swans every autumn and winter. It is internationally important for its overwintering wildfowl, geese in particular - with over 20,000 arriving each season. There are ospreys over the water, and jays, woodpeckers and buzzards in the conifer trees nearby. In the spring and summer the fields are often busy with lapwings, oyster catchers and other birds.
The trail is a unique experience linking natural, historic and cultural heritage around Loch Leven. It gives access to the most attractive parts of Loch Leven so users can experience its remarkable history, nature and beauty first hand. Although all on trail, there is a mixture of woodland (with red squirrels and beautiful flowers) and open trail with views over the loch. You also go through a bog surrounded by high reeds. There are signs pointing out local wildlife and hides from which it can be viewed (if you have the time) as well as an abundance of history. There is an island in the Loch that houses Lochleven Castle. This late 14th or early 15th century tower was the setting for the most traumatic year in the life of Mary Queen of Scots. It was here in 1567 that she was imprisoned and forced to abdicate before her dramatic escape a year later. It can be visited via a short boat trip.
Here's a link to a route description (although this description starts and finishes at a point 1km approx from where my run started and goes clockwise, but it's the same trail and distance overall): https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/perthshire/loch-leven.shtml
This is a really beautiful route, with plenty to look out for along the way. I love it!
