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As the largest stretch of inland water within Britain, Loch Lomond has always held a special significance both locally and, increasingly, within the national consciousness. As a pass to the Highlands from Glasgow, it represented both access and vulnerability, while being hemmed in both east and west by mountains made it as dangerous as it was romantic. For the fleeing Scots, lured by the opportunities to disappear into the islands of the loch, it represented, in Geoffrey of Monmouth's rather fanciful account, a sure haven, but, as the narrative continues, "it proved of little advantage to them. For Arthur, having got together a fleet, sailed round the rivers, and besieged the enemy fifteen days together, by which they were so straitened with hunger, that they died by thousands." This paper explores the historical and cultural development of Loch Lomond and its immediate neighbourhood. This includes its role as a place of retreat and concealment as well as its significance as a means of access and thoroughfare, both roles facilitated by the structure and resilience of the landscape. It pays particular attention to the part it played during the tourism boom of the eighteenth century, when Defoe, Boswell and Johnson, the fictional Matthew Bramble, and the real William Wordsworth visited or passed through. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]