been raised causing the island to become submerged, and so its status as a crannog was regarded as uncertain when surveyed in 1969. Mary, Queen of Scots, who was in Glen Tilt, wrote to Colin Campbell of Glenorchy on 3 August 1564, asking him to demolish a house of strength on an island in the loch. The Clan Macdonald of Clanranald were rebuilding the house, which her father James V had previously ordered to be demolished. Transport The historic route of the Road to the Isles went along Loch Rannoch as part of the route between Pitlochry on the main Stirling to Inverness road, and Lochaber, and Loch Rannoch is one of the places mentioned in the Scottish folk song named after the road. The road is now classified as the B846, which runs along the north shore of the loch. The road terminates at Rannoch railway station on the West Highland Line, some west of Loch Rannoch. The route of the Road to the Isles continues only as an untarmaced track from here to the west. Hydro-electricity Rannoch Power Station, on the northern shore of the loch, is part of the Tummel hydro-electric power scheme, which is operated by SSE. The power station has a vertical head of and a total generating capacity of 44 MW, and uses water fed by pipeline and tunnel from Loch Ericht which is discharged into Loch Rannoch. Black Wood of Rannoch The Black Wood of Rannoch, a fragment of the former Caledonian Forest, lies on the southern shore of Loch Rannoch. It is designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), and is the largest remaining area of Caledonian Forest in Perth and Kinross. The forest supports a number of rare plants including species such as coralroot Corallorhiza trifida and serrated wintergreen Orthilia secunda. It also supports populations of Scottish crossbill and capercaillie. The Black Wood of Rannoch had been used to provide timber for nearly 200 years, and during the Great War, there were plans to fell it completely. The wood has been owned and managed by the Forestry Commission and its successor body, Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), since 1947. FLS manage the wood as a forest reserve as well as to provide Scots pine seeds for use in regeneration projects across Scotland. References Rannoch National scenic areas of Scotland Protected areas of Perth and Kinross Rannoch LRannoch