| Loch Treig | |
| Pushpin Map: | Scotland Highland |
| Coords: | 56.814°N -4.727°W |
| Basin Countries: | United Kingdom |
Loch Treig is a deep freshwater loch situated in a steep-sided glen 20km east of Fort William, in Lochaber, Highland, Scotland.[1] While there are no roads alongside the loch, the West Highland Line follows its eastern bank.
Loch Treig was originally a natural freshwater loch over 400 feet deep. In 1929, Loch Treig was made into a reservoir, retained behind the Treig Dam, forming part of the Lochaber hydro-electric scheme, which required diversion of the West Highland Railway.[2] The increase in water level following the construction of the dam submerged the hamlets of Kinlochtreig and Creaguaineach at the loch's southern end, which were stopping points on a cattle drovers' road along the Road to the Isles, which linked up Lochaber and the Inner Hebrides to markets in Perthshire in the south.
Ken Smith (b. 1947), a self-described hermit, has lived alone in a rough cabin on the shore of Loch Treig for forty years.[3] He was profiled in the documentary The Hermit of Treig (2022), and wrote the memoir The Way of the Hermit (2023).[4] Laura Miller opined in 2024, he "may be the most famous living hermit in Great Britain".[5]