This loch is seriously tricky to get into. There are not just one but three critical points which all require serious concentration on pilotage if you take the east side of Carna. Ignore the chartplotter and follow the Sailing Directions I reckon, or even better the Antares chart, and best at low water neaps when you can see most but not all the dangers. On my first visit, I managed to avoid the rock at the south end of Caol Charna on the way in, and so pleased was I with myself that I then hit it on the way out. Hubris before nemesis. My co-owner had done exactly the same some years earlier so I felt OK about it. I have never attempted west of Carna which is said to be even trickier.
This area is remarkably remote but even so there are some houses scattered around the innermost section of the loch, plus some small boats on moorings. Once over 100 people lived round here, now almost none. There are tracks along each side of the loch, good for walking. On the south side you come to the Barr River, and if you follow the track a short way upstream you will find the abandoned village of Barr. On the north side there is a most attractive, mostly 19th century big house — Rahoy — with a wonderful metal sculpture of a stag by the waterside, by Helen Denerley.
A bit further along the small road to the south, past some very undistinguished holiday cottages, on a small knoll covered with oak trees, just before a house called Carnliath and a sign 'to the office' you will find a very rustic broken-down chambered cairn. No signs, no archaeological excavation, rather magical, sitting there for a few thousand years. And moss-covered stones. Do not be intimidated by being told to go away, which has happened around here. In Scotland you have freedom to roam as long as you do not wander into someone's garden, cause any damage, or get too close to a private house.
Serpulids, tube-like shells containing colonies of red and orange worms forming coral-like reefs, were found in the upper basin of the loch in about 10ft of water in 2006. There are very few other places in the world where you can find them, one of which is Loch Creran. Fortunately hardly any boats come here to anchor and the beasties are not in a normal anchoring area anyway. So presumably the reefs will remain more or less undisturbed. Unfortunately, in 2015, silly attempts were made to close off the whole loch to yachtsman instead of designating a few areas for anchoring as in Loch Creran — not good. Thankfully resisted successfully.
