Central Belt Travel Guide — Things to Do, Food & Hotels
region in the Scottish Lowlands
About Central Belt
Scotland and England were on separate continents until 400 million years ago, and you can still see the join, roughly along the line of the present border. Their collision produced a parallel fault line further north, and this strip of land sank as a rift valley. Down with it went Carboniferous deposits that over millennia turned into coal and oil. So what that created, once humans appeared, was fertile lowlands, a natural transport corridor, and easily-worked deposits of fuel. Edinburgh was important from the Middle Ages, while Glasgow was small until the 18th century then burgeoned into Scotland's largest city. A string of industrial towns grew between and around them, then slumped in the 20th century. Travel to this Central Belt was for workaday practical purposes until the 19th century
Central Belt Travel Guide Sections
Our comprehensive guide covers 12 sections including: