447. Ardentinny to Lochgoilhead

February 2023

This was my first new coastal walk of 2023 although I was only here for the weekend. If I was in any doubt as to whether it was the right decision to walk around the coast between Dunoon and Gourock rather than take the ferry this walk certainly confirmed I had made the right decision to walk around. This was a wonderful walk.

Last night, after work, I had flown up from London Stansted to Glasgow on EasyJet and spent the night at the Holiday Inn at Glasgow Airport. This morning I had breakfast at the hotel and then made the rather dreary walk to Paisley Gilmour Street station, around 30 minutes walk away.

From here I took a train to Gourock and then the ferry from there to Dunoon. Finally a bus from Dunoon to a small village called Ardentinny and I was ready to begin. This had an outdoors centre and hotel/bar (which was closed). I was originally considering doing the walk from Dunoon to Lochgoilhead in one go, but concluded that was too long so I split it into two walks instead. I was pleased to find that a tiny place like Ardentinny actually has a fairly frequent bus service, which helped.

Ardentinny is on the western shore of Loch Long and my plan for the day is to follow the coast north into the smaller Loch Goil and end at the head of the loch at Lochgoilhead from where there is an occasional bus to Helensburgh from where I can then catch a train to Glasgow and another back to Paisley. It was also a complicated walk with logistics, but in this case not having a car was useful as it was easier to get back to Glasgow than it would have been to get back to Ardentinny!

The only point that bothers me with the walk is that part of the walk looks to be on a path and I’m worried it may not or be a mad bath but reports from other walkers suggest this walk is simple, so I hope that turns out to be the case. Although February the weather today is beautiful with hardly a cloud in the sky.

In theory my initial route is along the road but almost immediately I spot I can drop down onto the foreshore and so do just that. I followed the foreshore, mostly pebble and shingle until the road starts to turn away and so rejoin the road near a public car park.

The views along Loch Long in particular are stunning.

Beyond the car park I reach the start of the Argyll Forest Park where there is an information board but more important a pleasant path right along the shore.

This comes to another larger car park where there are a couple of motor homes and cars. I wonder if it’s a bit early for motor homing, it is still below 0 at night, as it was last night.

At the end of the car park there is a footbridge and some steps up. A path is meant to take me from here up to a wide wooded track.

It starts off well enough but soon gets very narrow and is then blocked by a fence. I try going to the left but have to go a long way to get to the end of the fence. Checking the map I realise I am now too far west of the route of the path but also at a fence that isn’t even marked on the map. I head back but at the point the path is supposed to go through it’s completely blocked by the fence. I have to go left, to get past the first fence then try to head back on course. The map shows a second fence with a gap where the path is meant to go through. I do find a gate but it’s a fair bit to the right but this does take me to a proper path up to the forestry track with another gate to go through onto that track.

At last a proper path! I regret slightly taking this path I should have taken the longer and less coastal route to get onto the start of the track (via Stronvochlan), but it’s too late for that now.

Still the height gained makes for a lovely view back along the loch.

The track however soon drops back down to sea level again as I approach a placed called The Knap. There has clearly been recent work on several parts of this track and I can see evidence of parts of the track being relayed.

Heading north the path continues close to the shore to Toll a Bhuic and here I can see from the map the track now passes under power lines and then zig-zags up. Well I can see I am near the power lines and sure enough the track soon starts to turn more steeply.

The map shows it soon ends but about 100 metres before this there is a path on the right which will take me back to the shore and onwards to the next public road near Carrick Castle. Well I continue looking very closely for a path on my right but I see nothing. I’m soon surprised to hear voices and rounding a corner there is a pick up truck and some workers in high-vis jackets. They stop working and shout ahead to warn another worker I am coming. I ask if it’s OK to walk through and they turn out to be friendly (I was a bit worried I was about to be told there was work going on and it wasn’t safe to continue). I guess I know why the track had been recently re-surfaced now! They tell me the track ends soon (which I know) and I re-assure them I know to take a path on the right soon. They tell me it is signed but still easy to miss so keep an eye out for it and comment that it’s a lovely walk and they are sure I will enjoy it. This is good to know! They tell me they are just clearing up from work done yesterday so don’t mind me coming through.

I continue on the track but expected to see the path about 50 metres later. There is no sign, but the track is also meant to end about 100 metres past the path and it hasn’t. I checked on the OS App on my phone to get my exact position. Here I notice that the paper map I am carrying and the version on my phone don’t match. This is odd because the version I have on my phone is essentially a “free” add on with the paper map (they come with a scratch off code allowing you to also download the map on your phone for use via the app) so I assumed they would be the same. But the map on my phone shows the path turns off where I thought it did, but the track continues further than is shown on the paper version of the map I am holding and it intersects with the path a second time. So I keep on the track and at the second point the path is mean to turn off the track, this time it does. Fortunately I also spot the sign which is quite visible – to Carrick Castle.
(It is odd that the OS App appears to be less up to date than the paper maps….).

The path descends, at times quite steeply through trees and I can see through gaps in the trees the village and castle ahead and it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Whilst I’ve been in the woodland I’ve turned left into the smaller Loch Goil and Carrick Castle is the first settlement on the left side of the loch. The path zig-zags down and at the bottom a fairly substantial bridge (by the standard of a footpath) crosses the river.

A sign next to it tells me it was constructed by a “Queens UOTC Northern Ireland” in 1989. (I have no idea who or what that is, but later find this is part of the army). Well for a bridge constructed back in 1989 it seems in very good condition, as does the sign.

The path now runs along the back of woodland with a shingle beach to my right, annoyingly, fenced off from the path.

There is a small grassy peninsula to my right (Roinn Diomhain) but I keep to the path along the back.

At the northern part of this the fence has been knocked down by a fallen tree, so I use this to my advantage to get down onto the beach without having to climb the fence. I am eyeing up this beach as my lunch spot, wanting somewhere dry (and hopefully tick-free) and in the sunshine to sit and have lunch and the beach fits the bill. I notice some wood on the grass at the back of the beach ahead and wonder if I might be able to sit there. As I get nearer to my surprise I find it’s a wooden park bench that has fallen over (or more likely blown over in the wind at some point) and obviously been like that for some time. I pick it up (the grass under it has died, so obviously been like that for some time) and am pleased to have a proper seat for my lunch. I wonder who put it here and why, it doesn’t say and it’s not a garden or even near a house.

Anyway I have a lovely lunch here and then head back onto the path.

This soon comes to the end of the public road and I can see the castle ahead. The castle is an impressive structure with the keep largely intact and a ruined part behind that. Unfortunately it is now in private ownership and I think lived in, so there isn’t the possibility to visit which is a shame, but it’s beautiful to look at.

I continue along the road now right by the shore. Soon a couple of men pass carrying a wooden park bench! I am curious why and try and fail to think of something witty to say so just say hello instead and keep to one side to make room for them to pass. Perhaps that is how the bench I sat on for lunch got where it did!

Carrick Castle (village) is quite a small village but all spread out along this single road so it actually is about a mile long! At the end of the village the road enters woodland and somewhere here I enter the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park though there isn’t a sign.

The road crosses a bridge at Cormonachan and there are a few isolated houses to the right.

There is a surprising amount of traffic along the road and as I continue ahead a few people walking and a queue of cars with someone in a high-vis jacket standing in the road. Initially I think there has been an accident but as I get closer I realise there is some sort of event on in this building (The Lodge). The car park is full (and the building is full of people, as the door is open so I can see inside) so presumably they now have to find somewhere else to park. I continue passed some more walkers and this hive of activity and continue along the road.

The road ahead soon descends and there appears to be some sort of military establishment on my right as there is now a high fence alongside the road and signs that CCTV is in operation. I don’t know what goes on here (I know there is a submarine base not that far from here but that is on Loch Long) and the sign soon tells me it’s MOD Loch Goil but still no idea what goes on here.

The fence soon ends and I reach the 30mph speed limit sign at the start of the village of Lochgoilhead.

I continue along this past some isolated houses and then on my left is a large “holiday village” with lots of wooden cabins, chalets and caravans.

I am surprised to see this here. I mean the place is beautiful but it’s a pretty sizeable holiday facility. Despite being only February it looks quite busy and there are a lot of people walking along the road here too. I wonder who holidays here as whilst it is beautiful it is also quite remote and there are not many facilities in the area or things to do other than walks (which of course I like) and I wonder if people come here on holiday or if these are more used as weekend bolt-holes for the residents of Glasgow. Whatever I can see the attraction albeit there is not that much to do nearby.

The holiday park continue for almost a mile beside the road with a hotel at the far end. Just past this a footbridge crosses the River Goil and then goes along the coastal side of a golf course to a pub at the far end.

I have now reached Lochgoilhead but continue round the corner to the shop and car park. I am pleased to find the bus stop here so I know now where to wait for the bus. Unusually i’m about 45 minutes before the bus is due. I had expected the path through the woodland to be harder and take longer and as it didn’t I have plenty of time to spare (I had wondered if this was going to be tight,  timing wise). I pass the time sitting beside the loch watching some people having a paddle boarding lesson, there is a school for that here it seems. There is also a village shop which seems a hive of activity, as well as toilets.

I actually see the “inward” bus coming as it then drive down to the end of the road at Carrick Castle before starting the return journey, it is a small Mercedes Sprinter Van type bus. I head back to the bus stop about 10 minutes before it is due and now there are a few other passengers. The bus duly comes but the driver spends a while gossiping, so is late leaving.

These things are really vans designed to carry heavy loads, not people and it’s a bumpy ride! The driver is I think trying to make up time having set off late and seems quite aggressive, tail-gating the cars ahead (yes it’s true the one at the front is going pretty slow, but that is no reason to tail gate the cars also stuck behind them) and the bus bumps over the many pot holes with such force it hits the suspension stops several times with loud bangs and everything rattles and I am bounced out of the seat. The destination display attached to the top of the the side window in front of me is being thrown into the window too and I’m worried it might shatter the window.

We soon reach the Rest and Be Thankful on the A83, now somewhere I recognise having driven this road many times before going down to Kintyre. The road works that were here the last time I was here (October) are still here! There is a traffic jam as a result so we have to wait to get through the lights, so we are of course still behind schedule. Once through the road works, the bus driver maintain a rapid pace. Speed limits (especially the 20mph in one of the villages) are completely ignored (and by quite some margin) and on the main road keeps tail-gating and flashing lights at the vehicles in front (succeeding in getting one to pull over). The bumpy ride and fast cornering is also making me feel a little sick and his driving is not good. It is a relief when we reached the edge of Helensburgh where he is forced to slow down by traffic lights and other vehicles. Despite all this speeding, the bus didn’t make up any time.

The bus terminate right outside Helensburgh Central station (the end of the line) where I am planning to take the train to Glasgow. Accroding to the timetable the bus is due to arrive 6 minutes before the train departs, so I am hoping for a swift connection. To avoid any delay in having to buy a ticket I bought one online on my phone whilst on the bus when we reached an area with enough mobile signal. I hurry into the station – the train is still there, but the doors close when I am about 1 metre from the back of the train. Frustrating.

Fortunately I am now close enough to Glasgow the service is frequent and the next train is in half an hour so it’s not a long time to wait. I pass the time by walking down to the waters edge (here the Clyde) and pier (which looks to be mostly modern) for a lovely sunset view over the Clyde. A nice way to end the day and I then head back for the next train to Glasgow.

The train is quite noisy, so I put on some headphone to listen to some music. I am facing the door at the end of the carriage and a group of youths come in and walk past. Then the other passengers near me start to get up and run down the carriage. I look behind to see these youths are now fighting. Fortunately the other passengers seem to quickly calm the situation, but I am keen to get off this train. There seems to be a lot of anti-social behaviour on trains around Glasgow (on a previous walk my train was cancelled due to youths setting off the fire extinguishers).

I am not that familiar with the rail network in the vicinity of Glasgow. There are two stations in Glasgow (Glasgow Central and Queen Street). I think most trains north of the Clyde go to Queen Street and those south of the Clyde (where I’m staying) go from Central. The train I am on is going to Queen Street but the National Rail planner tells me to change to another train about 5 minutes behind mine the one I am on that apparently does go to Glasgow Central, which I find slightly confusing. I discover I can actually change to that train a stop earlier (I am keen to get off the train I am on) so I do that. The next train soon arrives and fortunately this one is quieter and no fight breaks out. I hadn’t realised, but the reason this train goes to Glasgow Central is that it goes underground and there are also underground platforms at Glasgow Central too. I didn’t know that! I then head above ground to the main part of the station for the next train back to Paisley Gilmour Steet and then walk back to the hotel and have an evening meal there.

It is a long (and expensive) way around but the only public transport between Ardentinny and Lochgoilhead are school services, which don’t run at the weekend anyway so it was probably the most practical option (and still cheaper than a taxi).

Anyway despite the slightly fraught journey back this had been a wonderful walk and day. I think there is always something special about the first new coastal walk after the winter (and I started earlier than usual this year). My gamble with the weather paid off, for the time of year I couldn’t ask for better weather and it really showed off the wonderful and still very (and varied) rural scenery, a surprise to me given the proximity to Glasgow. The lack of leaves on the trees also meant I could see more of the coast than I might otherwise be able to in the summer.

Here are details of the public transport needed for this walk. It is easiest to do this walk on a weekday when you can do the journey between Ardentinny on two buses. Otherwise it’s a long way around! On weekdays you can use bus route 489 and 484 with a connection in Dunoon.

West Coast Motors route 489 : Glenfinart – Ardentinny – Blairmore – Strone Pier – Kilmun Pier – Sandbank – Hunter’s Quay – Dunoon – Innellan – Toward (Lighthouse) – Toward Castle. Approximately hourly Monday – Saturday. 4 buses per day on Sunday. It takes around 35 minutes to travel between Ardentinny and Dunoon.

West Coast Motors route 484 : Dunoon – Sandbank – Kilmun – Benmore – Whistlefield Inn – Strachur – St Catherines – Lochgoilhead – Carrick Castle. Around 3 buses per day Monday – Friday between Dunoon and Lochgoilhead on school days. 2 buses per day Monday – Friday during the school holidays.

If you use these buses you can connect in Dunoon. Otherwise or on Saturdays I think the best option is to take bus 302 from Lochgoilhead to Helensburgh (note the last bus of the day on this route runs only on request and must be requested by 4pm). Then take bus 316 from Helensburgh to Kilcreggan. From there take the Kilcreggan to Gourock ferry to Gourock. Then the Gourock to Dunoon ferry to Dunoon and finally bus 489 from Dunoon to Ardentinny (or reverse) but check the first and last times carefully!

Garelochhead Coaches route 302 : Helensburgh (Central Station) – Helensburgh (Upper Station) – Luss – Tarbet – Arrochar and Tarbert Station (limited service) – Succoth – Rest and Be Thankful (A83) – Lochgoilhead – Carrick Castle. 2 services per day run the full length of the route Monday – Saturday. There is an additional service between Arrochar and Tarbert station and Carrick Castle in the morning and another returns in the evening but only if you request, by 4pm by telephone on 01436 810200. There is no service on Sunday.

Gairelochead Coaches route 316 : Helensburgh (Central Station) – Rhu – Shandon – Faslane – Garelochhead – Clynder – Rosneath – Killcreggan (Pier) – Cove – Coulport. Hourly service, seven days a week.

Caledonian MacBrayne Kilcreggan to Gourock ferry : Approximately hourly, Monday – Saturday and takes around 13 minutes. No service on Sundays.

Caledonian MacBrayne Gourock to Dunoon ferry : Hourly, seven days a week. Every 30 minutes for much of the day Monday – Saturday. It takes 25 minutes for the crossing.

Here are the complete set of photos for this walk : Main Link.

Here is a map of the walk :-

446. Ardentinny to Dunoon

March 2023

Last time I had a lot of problems completing my previous walk (that finished in Dunoon) due to the ferry not running on my 2nd attempt (my first attempt being cancelled due to Covid). When planning my walk around this part of the coast I had originally planned to use the ferry from Dunoon to Gourock to cross from Cowal to Inverclyde and head south from there.

When that ferry got cancelled I had already walked the coast south of Gourock. So as much for reasons of not wasting the day as anything else I decided to walk east from Gourock heading towards Glasgow. In fact my main reason for planning to use the ferry was much of the route of that walk looked difficult and not very pleasant (the A8 and later M8 running right along the south shore of the Clyde) as well as going through some areas I heard could be quite rough, such as Port Glasgow. In fact now I head ended up doing it, it was a lot better than expected.

Studying the map the rest of that part of the coast actually looked pretty nice and by using the ferry I’d be missing a huge chunk of coast. I’ve gone round pretty much every other loch on the west coast of Scotland and I subsequently decided missing out this part would be a real shame and a mistake. So for that reason I’m now walking the long way around instead – hence this walk!

I was on another short weekend trip to Glasgow to walk this part of the coast and had travelled up on Friday evening after work. I was heading home after this walk from Glasgow Airport and so for that reason I was staying in a hotel at Glasgow Airport, specifically the Holiday Inn Express Glasgow Airport. After breakfast and check out I did the now familiar, if not especially pleasant walk from the airport to Paisley Gilmour Street station (this saves a lot of time compared with going into Glasgow and back out).

This time I had more luck with the trains as the train I was planning to catch was running, which is a good start and got me to Gourock on time. Unfortunately the weather forecast for today was grim with rain forecast all day as well as being pretty windy. I was pleased therefore that so far it had been dry.

However I was worried about transport – again. On a previous walk the ferry between Gorouck and Dunoon was cancelled despite being a lovely calm (and dry) day for “severe weather” when it was nothing of the sort. Today on the other hand was closer to that description. Already windy and forecast to get stronger, as well as to be very wet. Therefore when I checked the Caledonian MacBrayne website this morning (the ferry company) I saw that the ferry was running at the time but with the warning that due to the weather it was liable to be suspended at any time.

I had debated whether to go ahead with this walk but I didn’t want to leave a gap and end up having to book another weekend trip (which gets quite expensive) for just one walk. So I decided to risk it. I had to get back to Glasgow Airport again for my flight home later this evening so I had a backup plan. If the ferry was running on the way there I’d go ahead with the walk and if it got suspended during the day I’d hope the car ferry from Hunters Quay would still run (because I’d pass it on the way) and could use that and a bus to get back to Gourock.

Now I had arrived at Gourock I was pleased and pleasantly surprised, given my previous experience, to find the ferry was indeed running, albeit the illuminated sign warned of severe weather and that the ferry may be suspended with no notice. Oh well, might as well take the risk and go for it.

It turns out I suspect the weather had put many off. I was one of just 2 passengers on the ferry! So it was a quiet crossing, taking about 25 minutes.

Today is Sunday and my planned start point of this walk, Ardentinny is a tiny place on a narrow unclassified, single track road. I am quite surprised it has a bus service at all. Even more surprising it runs on Sunday! The downside is that there are only 4 buses per day on Sunday. Another problem is the Gorouck to Dunoon ferry only runs hourly on a Sunday (it runs every 30 minutes ever other day of the week). All of this means I have to get to Dunoon 45 minutes before the bus (as the next ferry would be 15 minutes after it). To pass the time I head to shop to get lunch then find a nearby park and then return to the bus stop for “north” buses.

The bus arrives on time and after about ¾ of the way into the journey I am then the only passenger on to Ardentinny. The bus drops me right outside the Ardentinny Hotel, as the bus timetable calls it. To be honest I’m pretty sure it isn’t a hotel any longer.

Actually I am not sure it is even open at all, the signs seem to have all been removed and it doesn’t look very open and the car park is empty.

(I later Google and the website tells me it is under new management and to check the Facebook page for updates, but when I click that I get a message that the page is no longer available, so it doesn’t look good).

I was keen however to get going. Despite the weather forecast for rain all day it was still dry so I wanted to make the most of it! My route is south along the single-track road beside Loch Long. Ardentinny is a small place and I was soon at the end of the village.

It overlooks Loch Long and there is a small pebble beach. The road climbs up a little and for a while is alongside woodland. Some of this is pine woodland and very thick to the point it almost looks dark in the trees.

The road winds onward right beside the loch and I soon pass a mile stone, one of many along the road with 11 miles to Dunoon. Less than I thought!

The road here runs right along the coast to the point it’s actually built on a small sea wall with the beach just below. Ahead at Gairletter Point is a small caravan park. It is accessed by a footbridge that looks to be sagging in the middle. As it’s private and very small I stick to the road which soon crosses a little burn.

In a mile or so I reach Blairmore and the road now becomes the A880 instead of unclassified. Now there is a white line down the middle and a pavement which makes the walking easier and safer now I don’t have to keep focused so much on the traffic.

Blairmore is a long linear village that stretches for about a mile along this road and near the centre of the village is a pier, bus stop and a shop.

The pier is a Victorian structure that used to be used by the paddle steamers that travelled around these sea lochs and the Firth of Clyde and the Waverley still uses it. It became derelict for a time but was restored in 2005. At some point it has also been used by a Helensburgh to Kilcreggan ferry, but that doesn’t run any more, I think it stopped in about 2010.

Another mile or so further along this road and I turn the corner into Holy Loch and the village of Strone which largely seems to have merged with Blairmore. There is another old jetty or pier here and I head a bit along it for a better photo.

The other side of Holy Loch I can already see the outskirts of Dunoon but I have to go the long way all the way around Holy Loch, but even on this grey gloomy day it’s quite a pretty place. Ahead is a small park on the left and I take the opportunity to leave the road and follow this, since it’s also a bit closer to the sea. There is a memorial at the far end of the park and I continue back to the road.

Ahead is another pier, a reminder that boats used to be the main way to travel in this part of Scotland and this one is still in use. For this walk I travelled over on the Gourouck to Dunoon ferry. Until fairly recently this was a car ferry, but these days it’s only a passenger ferry. The old lanes where they used to load the cars are still there at Dunoon (now used for parking) and I gather a new linkspan was even built there for cars but never used. The reason is a competitor set up a service, Western Ferries from Hunters Quay to a bit south of Gourouck and this was I believe cheaper and proved more reliable so much so that CalMac downgraded the Gourouck ferry to passenger only.

One of this companies vehicles ferries seems to be moored at the end of this pier.

It’s not in service but I’m unclear if it’s here for maintenance or perhaps a reduced service runs on Sunday so one boat isn’t used and so moored up here.

At some point, it’s not really obvious when, I have left Strone and entered Kilmun. This is a very historic village which dates from the 7th Century and I soon pass the village church on the right which has a layby and a structure I must admit I thought was a bus shelter when I passed earlier on the bus but actually gives information about the church.

It is open in the summer months (for a fee) and I’ve heard quite interesting but today it’s the 12th March and it doesn’t open until the 1st April so I can’t go inside and take a look.

To my irritation just after this the pavement ends (I had thought it went all the way to Dunoon now but since it switches sides of the road I couldn’t see all the way on the bus from Dunoon) although this turns out to be only for about 1/3 of a mile and then the pavement returns.

I’m near the top of the loch now which has become muddy and narrow and unfortunately the rain has begun though it seems to rain lightly for about 5 minutes, then heavy for about a minute and then stop! So it’s not too much of a problem.

The head of the loch is very pretty and I soon pass a sign that welcomes motorists into the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park if they are going the opposite way to me, meaning I have now left the national park, to be honest I hadn’t realised I was even in it until this point!

Near the top of the loch I am expecting to have to keep with the road, but there is an old bridge just before the road junction so I can use this as a bit of a shortcut (it is open to cyclists, too). This avoids the junction with the A815, too though the path soon rejoins the main road which has now become the A815.

I keep with the road across the Little Eachaig River and round the corner into Sandhaven. Soon I am alongside the loch again and here there is a small picnic area with a car park and some benches. I take advantage of a bench to have my lunch though there are workers from the Council here too doing a litter pick and emptying the bins. I am surprised to see they are working on a Sunday and it’s a shame so much litter had been left for them to pick up.

Back on the road traffic is noticeably busier now, as the A880 I was on before only really serves these few villages, but the A815 is a busier through route. However I only have to follow it for a mile or so until I reach the junction with the A885. This later road acts a sort of bypass of the northern part of Dunoon taking a more direct inland route so most traffic goes that way. I stick with the coastal A815 but the traffic has reduced again now which is nice.

I’m now in Ardnadam which is a small town really and quite pleasant but unfortunately the same cannot be said for the weather which has now turned to rain and is beginning to get quite heavy. I soon pass the pier (most places along the coast near Glasgow seem to have one) but sadly other than the shore end building which looks to be in good condition, the rest is derelict and closed off.

Keeping with the road I soon come to Lazaretto Point which has a very grand war memorial, more a tower really. I did wonder if it was also used as a navigation aid for shipping.

On my right I am soon passing the grand Hafton Castle which was obviously once a grand estate. These days I think the main building is used as wedding and events venue I believe whilst the grounds seem to be a large caravan park.

At the end of the estate the road enters Hunters Quay, really a suburb of Dunoon. Sadly as I approach the weather gets worse and the rain heavier to the point I can barely see across the loch any more.

I soon reach the car ferry terminal and a ferry is just arriving. Here I stop to check my phone (which is buried in my bag) because I want to see if the passenger ferry to Gourock is still running. If it isn’t I will need to use this ferry to get back instead and needed to be here by the latest of 3pm if that is the case in order to be able to catch a bus to Gourock on the other side for the train I need to catch in order to get to the airport in time for my flight.

Fortunately the CalMac website has the same warning it had this morning but doesn’t indicate any sailings have actually been cancelled and the ferry seems to still be running, so I press on, admiring a rather grand hotel on my right. I am glad because otherwise I’d end up with a mile or so gap between Hunters Quay and Dunoon.

My feet are hurting a bit now as I had to make an emergency change of shoes when leaving home on Friday morning when I spotted the sole was coming off so I swapped to trainers and they have let the water in with the result it feels like I am getting blisters, so I’m glad I’ve nearly finished the walk. (Yes I should have planned better!).

At Kirn I round the corner and can see the parts of Dunoon I recognise. I quite like Dunoon. It has the air of a resort about it even though there isn’t a beach, with palm trees even in places and some large buildings that I suspect were once mostly hotels.

Unfortunately at this point the rain is of the sort that is so heavy it bounces back off the road so that is the end of the photos for today.

I head along the road and reach the ferry 20 minutes before the next sailing. At least there is a heated and dry waiting room (portacabin, really) I can go in and begin to dry off (by dripping all over the floor!). Fortunately the ferry is still running so I can take that to Gourouck. From there the train on to Paisley Gilmour Street station then a walk from there to Glasgow Airport. I prefer to walk from the station to the airport (it takes half an hour) because the bus is very slow and by the time I have waited for it, it will take longer than walking. I feared that would mean getting very wet again just as I have been able to spend the last hour and a bit drying off! I am pleased to find that again despite the forecast the rain has stopped so I can walk as I prefer. I have pretty much dried out by the time I reach the airport.

For this trip I ended up having to travel from Stansted airport on EasyJet as it was now the only suitably timed flight I could catch after work on Friday night, which is a pain as it’s the furthest “London” airport from home and I have to travel via central London on the train to get there, but it does at least have a station. My flight is late though only about half an hour in the end so I arrive in plenty of time before the last trains.

I knew the weather would be poor today but relieved it was actually far better than forecast and I only had rain for the last hour or so of the walk. It was almost all on roads, a bit hard on the feet but at least these were right by the coast the whole way so I had some lovely views and there wasn’t too much traffic most of the way. I am glad I made the decision to include this part of the coast. Perhaps that previous ferry cancellation was a blessing in disguise!

Here are details of the public transport needed for this walk:-

West Coast Motors route 489 : Glenfinart – Ardentinny – Blairmore – Strone Pier – Kilmun Pier – Sandbank – Hunter’s Quay – Dunoon – Innellan – Toward (Lighthouse) – Toward Castle. Approximately hourly Monday – Saturday. 4 buses per day on Sunday. It takes around 35 minutes to travel between Ardentinny and Dunoon.

Here are the complete set of photos for this walk : Main Link.

Here is a map of the walk:-

445. Toward to Dunoon

I didn’t have a lot of luck with this particular walk, so let’s see how many attempts it took.

Attempt 1 – April 2020

Well given the date you will probably not be surprised to learn that this attempt ended in failure – Boris Johnson and Nicola Sturgeon put paid to this one (I’m still angry about that). British Airways was the final nail in the coffin.

Attempt 2 – October 2021

For attempt 2 I was in Scotland for another weekend of walking near to Glasgow and staying in the Premier Inn at Greenock. I had last night after 10pm checked my planned train from the nearest station to the hotel (Cartsdyke) was running to Gorouck. I was annoyed to see “cancelled” on the National Rail app so I re-planned using a different train from Greenock Central station instead, which was a slightly longer walk from the hotel but would still get me to Gourock in time for the ferry I needed to catch to Dunoon in order to catch the bus from Dunoon to Toward which runs infrequently on Sunday (which it was). I double checked the ferry was running still and this train would connect with the ferry I needed to catch.

After the good buffet breakfast at the hotel I checked out and made the walk to Greenock and the (re)planned train to Gourock which got me to Gourock on time. I then headed on the walkway from the station to the ferry port to discover …. no ferry.

Instead staff told me the ferry was cancelled due to “severe weather”. Really? I’m sorry I didn’t believe a word of it. I suspect the staff either wanted a skive or the ferry had broken and they didn’t want to admit it because I took a look out over the Firth of Clyde where the ferry runs and saw this.

The water is like a pond. There is some sunshine. It’s not cold. I can’t feel any wind. I could see across the water and it all looked very calm to me.

Yesterday had been calm and there was no particular wind or storm forecast for today so I couldn’t believe that they were insisting this was “severe weather” and the ferry would not be running. (I used it subsequently on far worse weather than this). When I pointed this out I was told “it looks calm from here but it’s rough further out”. Hmm sorry, still don’t believe you.

Instead they had a “replacement bus service”, a phrase every user of public transport dreads. Well if you look at the map you will see it is a very long way to drive around. I only had around 10 minutes to connect with a bus the other side if the ferry was running, which it wasn’t. If I missed that my plans would not work out because I would not get enough time to complete the walk and get back because, of course, British Airways had also struck again.

So now I was going to have to travel home earlier than planned (I hadn’t yet discovered that in this situation you are actually not obliged to take an earlier flight and can take the next one and if that is the next day (as it would have been), or later, you can claim expenses from the airline for overnight accommodation and meals). That meant I’d have to leave before the last bus from Toward and an earlier bus would not give enough time to complete the walk. I was now going to miss the bus to Dunoon on the other side, so I had to come up with a new plan for the day. I did (which would also impact the route I’d take on future walks but more on that another time).

As a footnote I later found I had misunderstood the situation with the bus. It wasn’t going to drive all the way around as I had thought but instead use the car ferry that runs about a mile around the coast to Hunters Quay and then drive from there to Dunoon. However that still would mean I’d miss the bus (it would certainly take more than 10 minutes longer than the original ferry) and have to rely on a taxi, if there was one, so it would not have changed the outcome.

I was at least however able to get a refund for the combined train and ferry ticket I bought given there was so much disruption. But public transport, which was never famed for it’s reliability in the UK at least, seems to have become far worse post Covid.

Therefore attempt 2 also ended in failure.

Attempt 3 – April 2022

For attempt 3 I was on the same trip that I completed my last walk on, a weekend trip staying in the Marriott Glasgow Airport. Due to having to make an early start to complete this walk I had to skip breakfast at the hotel but I had planned ahead for this because the room had a fridge, so last night I had headed to the Marks and Spencer at Glasgow Airport to get food for my breakfast and lunch today so I had breakfast in the room instead then headed to check out.

Once again I did the dreary walk from the hotel to Paisley Gilmour Street station in order to catch a train to Gourock and this time I had success, the train was running! That got me to Gourock on time and – at last – the ferry was also running this time.

It was not busy and took about 25 minutes for the crossing to Dunoon. This meant I was in time for the first bus to Toward Toward from Dunoon (sorry, couldn’t resist) and so I hoped my 3rd attempt was going to prove successful.

I had expected given this was the first bus of the day it might already be waiting, but I headed to the “South” bus stop (there are 4 bus stops by the quay in Dunoon marked North, South, East and West for which direction you are heading, which seems a good system) and there was no bus. Fortunately it turned up a couple of minutes after the expected departure, as I was fearing it wasn’t going to come. When I got on and asked for a ticket to Toward the driver just told me “oh don’t worry about it, just take a seat”. So I had a free ride.

I was the only passenger to get on at the ferry but another passenger got on the bus about half a mile down the road and was also given a free ride. Oddly the 3rd and subsequent passengers to get on (at later stops) were all charged a fare. I never did work out why (perhaps the ticket machine took time to start up or perhaps the driver being behind schedule was trying to make up time and now having caught back up with the schedule had started charging again).

As we approached Toward Lighthouse I had a bit of a worry as I expected the bus to turn towards Towards Lighthouse (it is on a loop off the main road) but instead carried along the main road but fortunately took the 2nd turning to the lighthouse instead and doubled back (I expected in hindsight it does this to turn around ready for the journey back to Dunoon). Anyway that little panic over I had made it on time and was ready to start the walk, back at the bus stop I had caught the bus from last night.

It was a glorious morning and I admired the fine views of the Firth of Clyde from the bus stop. My route onwards was along the road, which did have a pavement passing some quite sizeable houses, though they did block my view of the sea. I soon met the A815 (though the road becomes unclassified a couple of hundred metres further to my left). At the junction I continued straight on.

It was along here where there was a brief section of the road without a pavement but I could continue on the verge (it was actually the only part of the road that lacked a pavement).

There is a small gap of houses at the end of Toward before I reach the start of the next village, Newton Park.

I am looking out over Wemyss Bay but between me and there is a little stubby looking lighthouse which turns out to be The Perch Beacon which presumably warns ships of rocks just below the surface. The beach here is a mixture of rock, shingle and a tiny bit of sand.

After a while there is a bit more sand so, keen to get off the road, I head down onto the beach and follow it but when it becomes rocky again I head back up some steps to the road and continue on the road.

After a short while there is a green beside the road with some seats, which I can follow to take a break from the road. I stop for a snack and drink on one of the benches before continuing.

I continue on the road into Innellan, which joins to Newton Park.

Here there is a hotel, pub and a shop with the odd name of The Lido, which I find is a actually community shop (I presume there was once a lido here?). There is a small quay in the village too, with the village name written on the wall.

I continued along the road to a small picnic area ahead which offered a lovely view over the Firth of Clyde and beyond it, I dropped down to the beach again but soon it became hard going and so I returned to the pavement.

I now reached the end of Innellan and continued on the road, fortunately still with a pavement, to reach Bullwood and soon the edge of Dunoon.

Although a pebble beach, Dunoon has the air of a resort about it with a promenade and some grand buildings that were obviously once hotels (some still area. It strikes me as a pleasant town and I follow the promenade around the West Bay to reach the end of the bay at Castle Hill.

Here to my left is indeed the old castle. Not much of it remains, but the hill does and a few bits of wall and there is a path up so I head to the top to admire the view.

Dunoon is certainly a pleasant town and I enjoyed the views of the Firth of Clyde from up here. Below is the quay where the ferry departs from. There are some old pier buildings here now derelict that I think the ferry used to use in the past.

Until I think 2011 the ferry also used to take cars. I heard that despite the linkspan having been entirely rebuilt the only company that bid for the tender to run the ferry (Caledonian MacBrayne) put in a bid only for a passenger service, so that is what ended up running (and the expensively rebuilt linkspan has never been used for it’s intended purpose of carrying vehicles).

Having admired the view I had a quick look around the town and walked a bit towards the East Bay. I planned (at the time) to make this the crossing point on my coastal walk so I wouldn’t be walking any further north along this peninsula than Dunoon (a plan since changed….) so I headed for the ferry even though I am earlier than originally planned.

This runs hourly on Sundays and is timed to connect with the train at the other end. I cross on the ferry no problem but when I get to the station at the other side the train is cancelled due to shortage of staff and so I have an hour to wait. Not quite the end I hoped for (something always goes wrong), but at least this time my plans weren’t disrupted enough to prevent the walk begin possible, as was the cast the last time I tried to do this walk. Fortunately as I had crossed earlier than originally planned I still have plenty of time to get to the airport and get the flight home, which does at least run to time (this time I was going on EasyJet to Gatwick not British Airways so perhaps that was why).

Despite the travel difficulties this was a short but enjoyable walk with lovely views of the Firth of Clyde. I had worried a bit about all being on a main road but it turned out that in fact there was a pavement almost all the way and it was not that busy so this actually worked out fine. And as you will have worked out by now, it was 3rd time lucky for this walk!

Here are details of the public transport needed for this walk:-

West Coast Motors route 489 : Glenfinart – Ardentinny – Blairmore – Strone Pier – Kilmun Pier – Sandbank – Hunter’s Quay – Dunoon – Innellan – Toward (Lighthouse) – Toward Castle. Approximately hourly Monday – Saturday. 4 buses per day on Sunday. It takes around 30 minutes to travel between Toward and Dunoon.

Here are the complete set of photos for this walk : Main Link.

Here is a map of the walk:-

444. Ardtaraig to Toward

April 2022

Today I’m walking toward Toward (sorry couldn’t resist that one).

Many coast walkers take time off to walk the coast or do so on retirement. I’m doing it with a full time job and that means I try to do as much as I can as day trips (often long day trips) or weekends away. However for much of the coast of Scotland that isn’t practical for me (living in the south of England) as even a weekend doesn’t give enough time to travel to the northern parts of the coast of Scotland, do a couple of walks and get back in time for work on Monday.

So when I reached the parts of the coast that were beyond the reach of weekend trips, my progress slowed as I could only walk when taking a longer trip, meaning time off work. Therefore as a side project I’d also been walking some of the west coast of Scotland nearer to the central belt for weekend trips too and this enabled me to have some enjoyable trips doing more coast walks rather than being limited to just a few times a year. I’ve now reached the point where these two “branches” of my walk have met up!

I thought I had then covered all the west coast of Scotland that I could realistically do for a weekend trip by this point by flying or taking the train early on Saturday morning and coming back on Sunday night and so all that remained would require longer trips and annual leave. Then I realised I was missing a trick. There was just enough time for me to fly up to Scotland after work on Friday night and stay overnight near the airport. That allowed a full day on Saturday and most of Sunday. The time saved by doing that allowed me to reach more of the coast for weekends.

That had been my plan for this walk but this was by now my 2nd attempt at doing this weekend. My original trip had been booked for April 2020. I was furious because Covid lockdowns prevented me from going ahead with that trip and the flights got cancelled though I was able to get a refund for those but I lost money on the hotel (and it was not worth claiming on travel insurance due to the excess).

Now attempt two and it was 2 years later – April 2022. After a day at work I headed to the station to take a coach to Heathrow Airport. This turned up more or less on time and took me to terminal 5 at Heathrow to check in. Fortunately the flight was not until 9pm and ran more or less to time though it was still a requirement to wear face masks at this time both on the flight and the coach.

Due to the late arrival I had booked a hotel at Glasgow Airport, specifically the Marriott Courtyard Glasgow Airport. This is a hotel chain I would normally regard as beyond my price bracket but I suspect with all the Covid related restrictions they were desperate to fill rooms as I had got a 2 night booking for £96 in total which I thought quite reasonable (though it did not include breakfast). I had opted to stay at the airport to avoid having to move hotels during my short visit or travel far after I arrived, given the time of my arrival late on a Friday evening.

This was supposed to be in walking distance but it took me a while to find it, following paths through car parks, it was not well signed so Google maps was invaluable. Sadly I was rather disappointed by the hotel when I found it. There was a queue at reception with a group of about a dozen ahead of me checking in. It took *ages*. At least 20 minutes. By this time the queue behind me was out of the door. It is one of those hotels where the ground floor is all open plan so there is also the restaurant and bar alongside the reception which makes it pretty noisy (I am not a fan of this arrangement) and hence difficult to hear (especially with the staff behind screens). Staff came and went going into doors behind reception or collecting empty glasses but all ignoring the ever growing queue (and the 2 unmanned reception desks). Eventually another member of staff approached one of the desks, I went to walk towards her thinking she was opening another check in desk, having seen the queue, but then she just beckoned me away. I was not especially impressed. I think the issue was partly because the group in front had suffered some flight disruption and had been given hotel vouchers from an airline to pay, rather than using a credit card.

Eventually I got served, but it took almost 30 minutes from when I stepped in the door and I was keen to get to bed! When I got to my room it had a view of the M8 motorway going past on a flyover (though I suppose such a view is to be expected near an airport), but it was also cold and when I closed the curtain I noticed a large patch of mold on the back of the curtain and also free standing table was visibly quite dirty. When I turned on the TV quite a few of the channels (including BBC2) didn’t work. It wasn’t terrible by any means but I expected better from this hotel chain. Fortunately the bed was clean and I couldn’t face queuing at reception again so I put up with these minor irritations.

Anyway to bed.

For this trip I had decided that the public transport links were now sufficiently frequent that I didn’t need to hire a car. That said it was still not a simple journey to get to my start point for the walk. I first needed to get from the hotel to the centre of Paisley, then a train to Gourouck, a ferry from there to Dunoon and then a bus. However I knew there were still a lot of train cancellations, which seemed to have been triggered by Covid (staff shortage, sickness etc, not really sure). I needed to get to Dunoon to catch an infrequent bus (or my plan for the day would fall apart) to get me to Ardtaraig.

After an early breakfast at the hotel (an advantage of staying at the airport) I walked to Paisley Gilmour Street station. This is because Glasgow airport (like many airports) is not actually in Glasgow but the edge of Paisley. There is a bus between the airport and the town centre but having used it before it was tediously slow, diverting via every housing estate and business park on the way, bouncing over speed bumps and negotiating narrow streets with parked cars which meant by the time I had walked to the airport waited for the bus and taken the bus it would take more time than just walking the whole way and was another thing to go wrong.

The walk between Glasgow Airport and Paisley Gilmour Street station (the main station) is grim. A few pavement-less busy roads near the airport then a walk along grotty streets around run down industrial estates, a brief stretch through a newer and nicer housing estate and then back to run-down industry to reach the back entrance of the station, with a lot of litter and dirt on the way. To be fair the town centre and the other side of the town from the station seems a lot nicer. Given the unreliability of the trains and problems I had had before (this was already my 2nd attempt at doing this walk) I opted to get the train 30 minutes earlier than I needed, which would connect with an earlier ferry. That meant I’d have a 30 minute buffer if I needed it.

I needed it.

For arriving at the station I checked the departure screen and the train I planned to catch was cancelled. Blast. Still the one that should still get me there on time (but with no contingency) was running so I had to hope it was going to remain on time. Fortunately in a rare bit of integrated transport the ferry from Gourock to Dunoon runs from the rail station and it is possible to buy a through train ticket to Dunoon that includes the ferry, so that is what I did as I can then avoid queuing again to buy a ferry ticket. I then had half an hour to wait so used the time to buy lunch as this was still a remote walk once I got there with no shops at the start or on the way.

Back at the station the train was still on time and fortunately did indeed get me to Gourock on time. I took the walkway from the station platform to the ferry and was relieved to see it was also running (and on time) and got on board for Dunoon. There were not many other passengers and it left on time. So I was relieved to reach Dunoon on time, my plan still intact!

I had about a 15 minutes wait for the bus and soon the bus I planned to catch also arrived so my plan had come together. It turned out I was the only passenger on the bus! As usual I mis-pronounced Ardtaraig and had to spell it for the driver to know where I was going. Being the only passenger did mean I got to listen to the drivers choice of music, however. I didn’t really know where to get off in Ardtaraig so I followed the route of the bus on Google Maps on my phone. Ardtaraig is tiny (it was a pleasant surprise it even has a bus service) and most of the village (hamlet, really) is located south of the B836 seemingly accessed from a track. When I saw we were approaching this I ran the bell and asked to be let off there, which the driver obligingly did. A sign by the road down to the shore announced this as “Ardtaraig Estate”. So on my 2nd attempt at doing this walk I had made it to the start at least!

Fortunately the weather today was good. The sun was shining and although quite cold I would soon warm up walking. Spring comes later in Scotland though so the trees were all still bare of leaves. Time to get going.

I headed down this track towards the shore and then forked right off it to a fish farm.

Since there was no one about I headed through this to the shore, beside Loch Striven.

Since I did this walk in 2022 before I had reached this point coming from the north I was very pleasantly surprised by the scenery. I hadn’t expected such beauty and remoteness in such proximity to Glasgow.

The walk today would likely start difficult but get easier. The first part was along a path shown on the excellent Argyll and Bute council map of core paths. Of course I have learnt that paths marked on the map don’t always exist on the ground, but well I hoped for the best. This would take me to the end of a minor road at King’s Landing and from there it was road all the rest of the way.

The path actually started from further up the road than I had got off the bus (I saw the sign) but I decided instead to make my way along the foreshore to a slipway 500 metres or so ahead. This wasn’t too bad (it was mostly pebble). At the slipway the track marked on the map did exist behind a building, so that was a good start.

I could then follow the track south to another isolated house. According to the map the track ended here but a path continued south. I couldn’t find it, or a sign. Fortunately the house looked empty so I went round both sides of it looking for a path. In the end there was a part with wire fence that had been broken down (possibly by others looking for the path too) and so I climbed over it there and found a sort of path but it soon disappeared. Heading back I found another sort of path a little further inland and then at last came across a better path. I’m not quite sure where it started, but I think I had found it.

(No I don’t know why the top left corner of that photo came out purple!).

It headed up through woodland and then I lost it again. Sigh. I stopped to check the map and realised I was too far inland. I headed down through the woodland and came across another sort of path and followed that. I briefly lost it too but rejoined it and was now fairly sure it was the proper path at last.

It was then a fairly obvious path through woodland and not too bad under foot for early spring.

I soon emerged from the woodland into a more open area with lots of bracken. Fortunately this was all brown and dead so hadn’t re-grown after the winter yet. Here I lost the path a few times but managed to rejoin it again after a short distance. Mostly it was fairly obvious because it was the only part that was green!

In around a mile I came across the ruins of some buildings in amongst the long grass and dead bracken. I think this is (or was) Bot nan Creagan according to the map.

The path was a little more obvious from here south.  In fact it soon became a track but split. I opted to take the wider looking track going the inland side of a hill called The Craig.

Now it was an excellent track almost cut into the rock so I was pretty confident I’d have no further problems. I suspect it may have been a road at one time.

This climbed and climbed but gave some lovely views.

Then it descended down and came to a T-junction. Here I turned right and ignored a track off it to a house. The track soon returned close to the shore and I saw a short dead-end track to the right down to the shore so I followed this to the pebble beach and decided to sit on the beach for lunch as it was a glorious view and dry to sit on, unlike the grass.

I could see a remote house not far ahead and occasionally people looking out obviously having seem me sitting here. After lunch I headed back up this track and at the point it rejoined the main track I had been following I noticed the track I had just come up from the beach actually had a sign “Private. No access” that I had missed on the way down. Oh well too late now and in any case it’s not a garden so I don’t think there is any right to claim this as private with the right to roam that exists. It probably explains why the residents of the house were watching me though as they didn’t want me there.

I followed the track which crossed a bridge over the Invervegain Burn and then looked much like a private drive to this house. Oh dear. Creeping forward though I could see the track continued and where I was did seem to map the route of the path on the Council website. Fortunately it did continue and no one came out of the house and then became more of a track passing another house on the left. The track even had palm trees beside it!

I continued on the track passing a small pier (a jetty really) which was also marked as private and continued on the track to turn left inland a few metres and came to another T-junction. Here I turned right to continue south alongside the shore.

The track continued to a lodge gate house into the estate. It looked private if you are coming the other way (the photo is looking back from where I had come) but fortunately a sign for anyone coming up the road (the opposite direction to me) did confirm this is a path, so I had been on the correct route as I hoped. (It is the “no car” sign on the left gate post, which has smaller writing telling you it is a path you can walk).

Now it was road the rest of the way so the difficult part was behind me.

Not it was an easy walk with very little traffic, just a couple of cyclists and a post van.

In a mile or so I reached the first little settlement, Inverchaolain. Despite it’s small size it had quite a large church and church yard so was perhaps once more important than it is now.

The road turned a little inalnd to cross another burn (Inverchaolain burn) and then returned to the shore.

A bit ahead on the map is another larger jetty marked and I was surprised ahead now to see a very large ship moored at it. Grey in colour and with the large black “A139” on the back I assume it is a naval ship so I am not sure why it is here. It said it was called “Tideforce” and registered in London (though these days the port of registry is largely meaningless).

(I later saw on another map inland is an “oil storage depot” so I suspect this is some sort of refuelling facility?)

I continued past it and along the road which still hugs the shore.

Sadly though that is only the case for another mile or so as I soon reach Port Lamont. Here the road heads inland but the map suggested there might be a track past a fish farm, down to Ardyne Point and onto rejoin the road at Toward Quay, so I hoped to go that way (though it is not marked as a path).

The track came to a fish farm and I tried to continue but there was a locked gate marked “no access” and beyond hosepipes and other equipment all over the track.

I tried to get along the shore but a big metal wall ahead blocked access that way too.

So reluctantly, I headed back and took the inland route along the road.

There was a little more traffic on the road now, but it was still overall fairly quiet. It turned inland for a little over half a mile then resumed heading south.

It passed a few houses but was otherwise fairly flat and dull but soon emerged back near the coast, passing a village hall and small harbour and then beyond that a quite impressive gate house at Toward Quay.

I don’t know what it is used for now as it didn’t look like a private house (no curtains visible) but also didn’t have any signs on it.

Now rounding the corner I was now heading east along the shore at the bottom of this little peninsula and the south east corner of this peninsula is called Toward Point so I headed toward that.

I passed a small school (a surprise as it’s not marked on the map – they are usually shown) and then came to a junction where the road I am on now becomes the A815. However another more minor road on the right takes the more coastal route, so that is where I am going, signed Toward Lighthouse so I set off towards Toward lighthouse.

Sadly the lighthouse itself is now private (must be a great place to live, assuming you don’t mind lots of stairs) but a track ran around the shore side of the wall so I followed that (it was marked with a “dog on lead” sign which I take to mean access on foot is OK).

When the track rejoins the road it is only a few metres more to the telephone box and bus stop. I had planned in advance and checked the bus times from Toward and had the timetable on my phone. It had actually taken a little less time than expected to do this walk and according to the timetable for the bus on my phone I had around 45 minutes to wait for a bus. I would check on the timetable displayed at the bus stop to confirm but it was half buried in a bush so I didn’t bother.

I didn’t mind the wait. This was a beautiful place to wait and the weather at least for the time of year was lovely.

Rather than sit by the bus stop I headed down onto the rocky foreshore for a better view. It was good to be back on the coast and enjoying this wonderful scenery after a long winter.

I soon saw the bus come the other way and it continued (I think it went onto Toward Quay before returning) so I took this as my cue to head back to the bus stop for the bus back to Dunoon. This was a pleasant journey (the road runs along the coast) and I was soon back to the ferry terminal at Dunoon. Well it’s more a portacabin really but the ferry was already in so I could get on. Dunoon ferry is odd, it is all marked out as a car ferry but now the lines that vehicles used to queue in are used as an informal car park since the ferry now only takes foot passengers (there is a car ferry a bit further along the road though).

Near the current ferry is the old and sadly now derelict pier which is where I suspect the ferry used to dock but it’s now very run down and fenced off.

It was a pleasant journey back on the ferry to Gourock.

I then headed down to the station to catch a train back, sitting on a seat near the end of the platforms (this is the end of the line) until the train arrives. The train soon arrives and I head towards it. Crowds are getting off heading back to Dunoon but going into one of the carriages of the train there is an odd sort of mist inside. Despite this some people are sitting in there. I opt to move to the next carriage.

Then of course a member of staff appears and tells us to get off the train. It turns out some passengers on the way here from Glasgow had set off the fire extinguishers in the carriage, I think they are Carbon Dioxide ones (hence the mist). After initially telling us the train will run but they will lock the carriage in question out of use then they change their mind and say now it’s cancelled and to wait for the next one. What a pain. My experience is that this line is not very reliable and not helped by vandalism like this. Unfortunately the next train is also slower, an all stations stopping service instead of the now cancelled one that skipped some of the stops which adds further to the delay (and of course it’s very crowded due to the previous cancellation).

So I am a bit later back to Paisley than expected. From there it’s back along the fairly grim walking route (now in the dark) back to the hotel. I have a meal at the hotel bar/restaurant which makes for a nice end to the day.

It was lovely to get back onto the coast (my first new coast walk for 2022) and in such lovely conditions too. The scenery was far better than I had expected and I was glad my plan had come together despite a few hicups on the way (and way back) and that the path had existed. It had been a great first half of the weekend.

Here are details of the public transport needed for this walk. It will be necessary to change buses in Dunoon. (I suggest take the less frequent bus from Dunoon to Ardtaraig at the start and from Toward back to Dunoon at the end).

West Coast Motors route 478 : Portavadie – Millhouse – Kames – Tighnabruaich – Colintraive – Auchenbreck – Ardtaraig – Clachaig – Sandhaven – Sandbank – Dunoon. Approximately 6 buses per day Monday – Friday (some school days only). 4 buses per day on Saturday. No service on Sundays. It takes around 25 minutes to travel between Dunoon and Ardtaraig.

West Coast Motors route 489 : Glenfinart – Ardentinny – Blairmore – Strone Pier – Kilmun Pier – Sandbank – Hunter’s Quay – Dunoon – Innellan – Toward (Lighthouse) – Toward Castle. Approximately hourly Monday – Saturday. 4 buses per day on Sunday. It takes 30 minutes to travel between Toward and Dunoon.

Here are the complete set of photos for this walk : Main Link.

Here is a map of the walk:-

443. Colintraive to Ardtaraig

July 2023

If I remember before doing a walk I like to read the reports of other coastal walkers to see what lies in wait and if I can discover any tips on routes that I might have otherwise missed. One thing I found in common is that those that had done this walk and stuck to the coast (rather than following the B836) found it to be very tough, trying to pick along the shore line with numerous outcrops to get past. Whilst a higher up route might be possible if you can find a way up it’s not all that coastal either.

There is a road south from Colintraive part way around the coast to Coustonn on Loch Striven where it ends. From there a forestry track is shown as continuing another 2 miles, ending on the south side of a burn. This leave a gap of about 1 ½ miles and then there is another dead-end track that continues north to the B836 so the problem was this 1 mile gap. The map suggested pine woodland which can be quite dense and hard to walk through and around 4 burns to cross, so it didn’t look an easy route.

However there is another very useful piece of technology for planning walks. It’s called Google Earth (or Google Maps) which has satelite imagery of the whole of the UK. So I checked out this part of the coast on my computer. This showed something different to the map. It showed a track, wide enough to be be very visible from the satellite photos and that the tracks marked as dead end on the map actually joined.

Now I have commented before that the Ordnance Survey Maps of Scotland can often be quite out of date (they seem to print a new cover but leave the actual map unchanged). I didn’t know how old the photos were on Google Earth but I suspect more recent than the map and the tracks have now been joined up.

Therefore my plan was to try and follow this track instead. True it wasn’t right on the coast but hearing the others reports of how tough it was to head around the pathless coast, it seemed a better alternative. However I also had to consider why there might have been dead end tracks through the woodland and why they might have since been joined up. The track goes through woodland so the most obvious reason was logging activity. So my guess a different area of the woodland was now being logged (usually sections are logged, later re-planted and of course cut back down again many years later) and so the tracks have been joined. I figured even with the right to roam I probably wouldn’t be welcome walking through here when the logging was taking place. So I decided to do this walk on the Saturday of this trip.

This was because I hoped any logging taking place was likely only a Monday – Friday operation so if I came at the weekend I hoped there wouldn’t be any taking place that day and with no bus on Sunday that left Saturday as the best option! The downside is the bus is not so frequent on a Saturday as a weekday and the timings worked best if I drove to my planned end point (Ardtaraig) and took the bus to Colintraive and walked back. That was fine except I wasn’t sure of parking.

Ardtraraig is a tiny place just a few houses along tracks south of the B836, itself a single track road with passing places. I had already walked the coast east from Ardtaraig and last time I took the bus to get to this walk so I hadn’t needed to worry about anywhere to park. I drove from Tighnabruaich where I was staying to the start of the B836 and headed along it. As expected rounding Loch Striven there was no where to park and heading south along the eastern side I was approaching Ardtaraig. Then I spotted a possible parking place, not marked on the map.

A large flat area beside the road, now with sort of compacted rock and gravel. Plenty of room to park and leave space if it was also meant to be a passing place (there was no sign saying so). I stopped the car here and checked the Ordnance Survey map which showed I was just south of a house called Lochead (and north of Ardtaraig Wood) where a quarry was marked on the map (oddly, it isn’t online but is on the paper map). So this was presumably a now disused quarry. I figured this was a good enough place to park. There weren’t any signs saying it was intended for parking but nor were there any saying no parking because in fact there weren’t any signs at all. So I hoped it would be OK to park here for the day.

I then walked around 500 metres up the road to the point I remembered I had got off the bus last time I was here, a year or so earlier and waited for the bus, at a junction of a track (signed private) to the few houses that make up the settlement of Ardtaraig (despite it’s tiny size it’s listed as a stopping point in the bus timetable). Visibility wasn’t fantastic (the road isn’t that straight) so I had to keep a close eye on the road so I didn’t miss the bus coming and let it go straight past. It arrived a couple of minutes late and to my relief did stop. It was another of those Mercedes Sprinter buses I recalled the lady I had seen a few days earlier at Tighnabruaich describe as looking like an ice cream van. I was the only passenger. The driver headed around the B836 and obviously wanted a chat, first telling me this bus was new and had only been in service a few weeks and what did I think of it?

To be honest I wasn’t too impressed because these are designed as vans not buses so the suspension is rock hard and they are not very comfortable with 3 seats and a narrow aisle crammed across the width of the bus so it’s quite cramped. Nevertheless I didn’t want to offend the driver so I made appreciative sort of noises. When we joined the A886 and turned left there was a beeping noise and the driver reacted to this by stucking his middle finger up at the ticket machine! He went on to explain that the buses had a new ticket machine that tracked the bus progress against the timetable and it was beeping because we were now a couple of minutes ahead of schedule. Clearly the driver was not impressed at being so closely tracked. He went on to say he’d keep going to Colintraive before waiting so “you don’t miss the ferry” and I then had to explain I’m not waiting for the ferry so don’t hurry on my behalf! He told me the bus is mostly timed about trying to make a connection at the less frequent ferry at Portavadie, the end of the route. However the timetable is very slack so they can usually also get to Colintraive to connect with a ferry from there to the Isle of Bute too, but this means arriving a few minutes early, which is what he usually ends up doing.

In any case I’m glad to have reached Colintraive ready to begin the walk and a couple of people got on at Colintraive so at least the driver has someone else to talk to for the rest of the journey!

The first part of my walk promises to be easy because I now have this quiet, unclassified road to follow for the next few miles that runs right along the coast. Colintraive is bigger than I realised with houses lining the road for another half a mile or so beyond the ferry port and has a lovely outlook over the Isle of Bute.

Nearing the end of the village I pass the attractive church which looks very well maintained.

I soon leave the village and the road becomes a bit more enclosed with rhododendron lining both sides of the road and limiting the views.

Still this soon ends and I soon have fine views again.

Rounding Bargehouse Point there is soon South Hall Farm on the left. I assumed a normal farm but from the road it looks a pretty grand building and reminds me a little of Inveraray with the white painted building with arches.

The road crosses the Inverneil Burn and now I am heading east to Strone Point with the Isle of Bute now becoming more distant.

I can soon see the houses of Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute in the distance.

Another mile or so brings me to Strone Point, the southern most point of this peninsula and I turn left with the road to now begin heading up Loch Striven.

The area already feels more rural with no buildings visible on this side of the loch yet there must be a farm nearby because there are sheep roaming over the shingle beach to my right.

In the loch is another sizeable fish farm though I cannot hear any activity from there.

The road ahead is now very much becoming the road less travelled with grass now growing down the middle.

The other side of the loch looks extremely pretty with high hills rising up from the loch edge, though I can make out a few isolated white houses at the waters edge so it is not entirely deserted.

Soon I reach the end of the public road, but my planned onward route is along a track marked on the map. Unfortunately this passes through the farm yard of Coustonn which is marked private. In theory the right to roam doesn’t extend to farm yards but this is a track serving other properties and I can hear no one around so I continue through unchallenged.

The track soon enters woodland and around 5 minutes after I enter the woodland I see several other people walking towards me, which is unusual. I am not sure if they live here or are on holiday but certainly seem knowledgable about the area and tell me they are going for a walk but ask me where I am going. They tell me that the track I am on soon reaches two houses and it’s private so I will have to leave the track before I get to the houses.

I thank them for this information and this confirms my suspicion that they may be resident and aren’t very keen on me walking this way. Anyway I continue onwards and sure enough the track soon forks with both marked as private and access to a private house only so presumably at some point enter a private garden, not subject to the right to roam. I head up the first track on the left but can quickly see the house so opt for the second track and continue.

This certainly isn’t a private garden – yet, but I know the house is ahead so when it runs right back along the beach I decide to leave the track and try to make my way along the shore, with the aim of rejoining the track once I am a safe distance beyond the house.

This turns out to be harder than expected as the beach soon ends leaving just low rocks sloping sharply into the water and tufty grass beyond.

I make my way over the grass as it’s a bit easier than the rocks. This is very hard going but at least I am out of sight of the house. I make fairly slow progress until at last there is a beach ahead. This is a sizeable beach so it makes for much easier walking. It’s stunningly beautiful too.

A ruined old building is above the beach whilst ahead I have the steep hills on the opposite side of the loch and tree-lined hills on this side and I can see the head of the loch far ahead, a view much improved by the sun coming out.

I make my way along the beach to the point I am level with the ruined building. Here the Troustan Burn makes it’s way out into the loch and once over this I head onto the grass on the other side. Here I turn left and follow along the northern bank of the burn and can soon pick up the track marked on the map, though it is initially more minor than I expected.

Ahead however I can see that a large area of the woodland has been very recently cleared. The hillside is scarred but this does mean I can make out a wide track, so I head for that. The route is very steep and it is a tough climb through the destroyed woodland but soon I am on the track climbing further and further away from the loch. The climb is long and steep and the sunshine means I am soon sweating.

Stopping for a rest I check the map against my GPS and discover I am a bit off course, but the track I am on isn’t marked on the map but I figure it most likely joins up with the track that is on the map so I continue.

The track soon turns into a part of the woodland that hasn’t been logged and becomes more a road. I am surprised at the work that has gone into building this, it is cut steeply into the rock with various pipes to drain the water away.

More than I expected from what I assume is a logging track. The track continues to climb and climb and is harder than I expected, but eventually levels out and I stop for a drink. After a brief rest I am glad that the track is now level.

I soon pass signs means to discourage me warning of forestry operations and to keep out. I ignore them and continue. This track really is very wide, no wonder I could follow it easily on Google Earth, it’s more a road really wide enough for two lorries to pass each other.

I soon pass a sign “No stopping for 1000 metres” which I assume is directed at the lorries (for some reason). Now high up the track undulates and twists and turns along the contours of the woodland, trying to pick a flat-ish route that I assume lorries can negotiate.

I’m just hoping I don’t meet any lorries but so far all has been quiet and I hope my plan to come here at the weekend to avoid any active logging has worked out. According to the map I am on the track is about to end but I know from my research it should continue and sure enough it soon crosses the water flowing out from Lochan ne Leirg (un-named on the map) which is just after the point the track is meant to end according to the map.

After a while the track begins to descend and I again get glimpses of Loch Stiven below and to my right which has been obscured from view by the trees for the last mile or two.

The track soon descends very steeply, steeper than I expected (I wouldn’t like to negotiate it in a heavy track laden with trees) and again is impressively cut into the rock.

Soon an area of logged woodland on the right does open up the view properly and wow, absolutely stunning. All is silent, I cannot hear any traffic or boats on the loch, it is a peaceful and remote place.

I continue ahead on the track which now mostly descends, making for a much easier walk and it’s not long before I can see the head of the loch below me.

By now I have negotiated the part of the track not marked on the map and am now back on the track marked on the map (again shown as a dead-end heading south from the B836, but I know that it isn’t a dead-end). This gives me some reassurance that I am unlikely to find any problems now.

The track winds it’s way down and down and just before the end the woodland has all been cleared and there are various diggers and other bits of equipment but no one is here today just as I hoped. I continue passing a barrier I can walk around but presumably to block vehicles from trying to drive this way and ahead I can now see the road.

I soon emerge on the road, passing more signs warning of forestry works designed to deter anyone walking the other way.

I have mixed feelings. I am glad to have negotiated the track through the woodland unchallenged and that my plan and homework paid off. The downside is I now have to look out for traffic as this is quite a busy road although I am pleased to find it’s not quite as busy as I feared.

Much of the road descending to the head of the loch does in fact have a lane for traffic in either direction (the map suggests it’s single track with passing places) so this makes it much easier for traffic to pass me.

The road soon nears the head of the loch and becomes more open having left the woodland. Of course just as I leave the comparative shelter of the woodland the heavens open with a heavy shower!

At the head of the loch I cross the road bridge over the Balliemore Burn which feeds into the loch and am now heading south again on the eastern side of the loch.

Some cyclists soon pass me. The road soon passes a small power station. This isn’t a giant thing with lots of chimneys, it looks more like a large house and I think is a small scale hydro-electric power station and the only real hints are a pipe coming down from the hill to my left.

At the entrance to this I see the cyclists again now stopped to repair a puncture. Oh dear. I ask if they need any help but they tell me they are OK. It’s only another 5 minutes or so and I am back to my car. Fortunately it is still here without any note telling me not to park here, which is good!

I am very pleased that my plan worked out so well today and I have made quite good time. I then begin the drive back to Tighnabruaich, where I am staying and almost as soon as I set off the cyclists pass me again (they are going the other way) – so they have got the puncture repaired I see!

The A8003 into Tighnabruaich is a very scenic road and as I am not pressed for time for once I stop at the wonderful viewpoint at the top because the rain has passed and the sun returned. This gives views over the Kyle of Bute and several small islands or islets in the Kyle of Bute. A lovely place to stop and I am grateful to whoever built the viewpoint and parking area at the top.

It is then a long descent back to Tighnabruaich and as it’s a nice afternoon head down to the waters edge to read rather than go and sit in my room. The view from here is lovely however a rainbow soon becomes visible further up the loch and of course I know this means another shower is approaching so I take a few photos then head back into the hotel before it hits!

This had been a lovely walk and I was very pleased for the existence of the forestry track which made for an easy route with some lovely views, especially from it’s highest points and certainly beat trying to struggle along the shore as others had had to do. The road sections too were also pretty nice and I was glad that the walk had gone well and I had managed to join up to sections I had previously walked.

Here are details of the public transport needed for this walk:-

West Coast Motors route 478 : Portavadie – Millhouse – Kames – Tighnabruaich – Colintraive – Auchenbreck – Ardtaraig – Clachaig – Sandhaven – Sandbank – Dunoon. Approximately 3 buses per day Monday – Saturday. No service on Sunday. It takes around 20 minutes to travel between Colintraive and Ardtaraig.

Here are the complete set of photos for this walk : Main Link.

Here is a map of the walk:-

213 & 214. Kings Lynn to Hunstanton

March 2024

In a break to the planned schedule, I’m going back to walks in Norfolk this week. Although I had already walked this section of coast my route between Kings Lynn and Hunstanton was not exactly coastal, as all the land nearer the sea is private with no roads or footpaths. I believe parts of it are part of the Sandringham Estate, too. I ended up splitting this part of coast into two walks, breaking at Dersingham, quite a distance inland, and going as far inland as Castle Rising and Babingley.

My previous walks were 214. Dersingham to Kings Lynn and 213. Hunstanton to Dersingham.

This was one of the few parts of the coast of England that didn’t have paths or roads near to the coast. Now plodding along in the background for the last 10 years or so is the England Coast Path or, as it appears to have now been renamed, the King Charles III England Coast Path. To be honest away from the existing coast paths like the South West Coast Path and Norfolk Coast Path I had found actually quite a lot of the coast did have paths and mostly sections of the England Coast Path seems to have largely been routed along these existing paths, sometimes with an upgrade or a minor change of route here and there.

However there are some stretches were there has been significant new access opened up and this is one of them. I don’t plan to go back and walk all the England Coast Path but will look out where the route is more coastal than I was able to achieve for significant sections and go back and re-walk these where there is new access available.

On the 6th March this year (2024) a new section of the coastal path was opened, covering the 33 miles of coast between Sutton Bridge and Hunstanton. The part between Hunstanton and Kings Lynn however was the bit that interested me most because this is the part that has significant new access, much closer to the coast which I was keen to go and see for myself, excited to be seeing new areas of the coast.

So less than 2 weeks after this part of the coast path had opened I set off to walk it. The first problem was the route is obviously not shown yet on Ordnance Survey maps even those on line which should be most up to date. All I could find was the blue “outline” map on the England Coast Path website.

This gave the Ordnance Survey map with the route shown in a light blue line. Unfortunately the map window on the website is quite short so I ended up having to take many screenshots of it and paste them into a document to print out so I knew where to go. I also took the Ordnance Survey maps I had of the area to overlay but of course these were over 10 years old so don’t show most of the route.

I then headed to the station, took the train to London (Waterloo) and the tube to Kings Cross station.

I then took another train from Kings Cross to Kings Lynn in order to walk the King Charles the III Coast Path. (Yes I was trying to see how many times I could use the word “King” in one sentence!). The train ran to time and soon I had reached Kings Lynn station the end of the line.

Kings Lynn is a pleasant market town and also a fairly sizeable port. It is the second most populated place in Norfolk after Norwich. From the station I headed west and followed the road alongside the old harbour area, with many grand buildings although the modern port has moved further north in the town.

I passed the many pretty buildings to reach the large market square. I believe a market still takes place here once a week (but not on a Saturday) but the rest of the time it is a sizeable car park.

Heading north from here I rejoined the road, soon to the edge of the modern port area. I noticed the coast path here was simply signed Norfolk Coast Path rather than England Coast Path or King Charles III Coast Path. Perhaps the county prefers to treat it as an extension of the existing Norfolk Coast Path than use the new name.

Either way I now decided to deviate from the new coastal path to take … a more coastal route! For reasons that I am not entirely clear the coast path goes around the back of an industrial estate and then follows a sea bank initially half a mile from the coast before gradually getting closer to the shore at a place marked as Old West Sea Bank.

I had a better idea. There is a public byway marked on the eastern shore of the Lynn Channel which is the main water channel into the port from the sea. I know this exists because I walked this part as a “there and back” walk last time I walked this coast (because then it was a dead end) and you can follow the road through the docks to get to it. Just before the end of the byway a footpath heads inland about 150 metres along the Old West Sea Bank and then joins up with the new route of the England Coast Path. This seemed a better route to me so I set off.

The first 500 metres are along a road into the docks. Despite being an industrial area there is a pavement most of the way and signs warning motorists of pedestrians. I pass some large warehouses and secure parts of the port. Probably busy on a weekday but quiet today. Nearer the river there is a more traditional part with a large number of brightly painted fishing boats.

Soon I had reached the banks of the river (Great Ouse).

The byway at this point is really just a tarmac road with a few cars parked along it, mostly with people enjoying the view. This is a man-made channel or at least an artificially straightend channel of what was once a river to allow larger sea going vessels into Kings Lynn.

This means it is arrow straight. It already has the feeling of East Anglia. Very flat land and big skies. This is helped by the fact I have managed to time my walk for one of the very few dry and sunny days we have had so far in 2024!

Later the track becomes a muddier track. Well actually it splits into a earth and gravel path lower down closer to the shore and a stony track about 10 metres further inland. I stuck to the lower one nearer the coast, I didn’t remember which path I took last time and there were no signs. I was nearing the end of the industry on my right now, with a couple of wind turbines largely marking the northern end of the industry.

Past this were large pylons carrying electricity cables over the river and needing to be tall to raise the cables enough for large ships to get into the port. The muddy track I am on soon becomes increasingly muddy, with lots of sticks (reeds) that have been washed onto the path at some point during the winter by flooding and now mostly dried out and died, but they are quite deep with occasional puddles in so I need to be careful. As the path essentially comes to an end with marshy grass ahead, I squeeze through a gap in the hedge on my right to join the much better parallel track which I presume is the official route of the byway that I should have been on and not the muddy track beside it.

Progress is quite quick and the track now just leads to a few isolated houses, with signs designed to deter access that it’s a dead end and no through route but I hope and suspect this now only applies to vehicles, not walkers.

The path passes these houses and then a more open area with a few cars parked. This is where I want to find the path heading inland and yes it does exist, I just go through one of those metal field gates that has a separate pedestrian gate built into it and I can follow the sea bank that the path runs along the top of.

Now it is the classic East Anglia landscape. Very flat marshy land, given over to agriculture with large fields separated by arrow straight man-made drainage channels. This means you can see a long way because despite being low down there is not a lot in the way! I can see back to the wind turbines and industry of the port, now quite distant.

Now this path should come to a T-junction with the new coast path and ahead I can already see the sign for it. This is good news because it confirms the news that the path was indeed open!

As I said, to my surprise this is basically just signed as the Norfolk Coast Path I had assumed this would be signed England Coast Path. In fact the only hint to the new name is in tiny writing around the acorn symbol on the wooden post, which reads “Kings Charles III England Coast Path”, but this looks a bit like an an afterthought, added later.

Anyway whatever it is called, I can now turn left as signed and follow the sea bank due north.

I know some who have walked the coast before came this way anyway when it wasn’t a right of way (though at least one got challenged about it I believe) so I am glad I can now walk the area without the risk of being challenged about trespassing. I past the first person I have seen on the new path, a dog walker going the other way who I suspect is just doing a short circuit.

The path soon reaches a sluice gate at the back of a muddy channel, another arrow straight one.

I can see more reeds washed up from flooding over the winter.

Now I come to a bunch of warning signs. The first tells me it’s 11 ¼ miles with no toilets, cafes or public transport.

In fact it isn’t far off 10 miles before I even reach any sort of road. If I had come across such a sign when I first started out on my coastal walk I would have been quite daunted. Now having tackled most of the coast of Scotland including some extremely remote parts like Knoydart and Cape Wrath it doesn’t bother me, but I am surprised quite how remote this area is really. There aren’t many parts of England I think where you can walk so far on paths without even reaching a road.

Sadly, it’s not all good news. The sign now tells me the onward route is NOT along the top of the sea bank as I expected, but below it to the right of the sea bank. This means whilst the path is next to the coast, you can’t see it because even if you are very tall the grass bank is too high to see over. I think the idea is to reduce disturbance to the bird life on the Wash and in the Lynn Channel, by trying to keep people out of sight. I am disappointed by this because it feels a bit like building a promenade beside a beach and then building a wall next to it, so anyone walking on the promenade can’t actually see the sea they are next to!

Of course with the England Coast Path on much of the coast where it has opened the area of coast around the path has also becomes designated open access land so you can leave the path, marked with a purple wash on the maps. I don’t know if that has happened here, it is too early for this “purple wash” or the path to appear on the Ordnance Survey Maps, but time will tell. In any case there is no fence between the path and the top of the grass bank at all, so you can just climb up onto the bank anyway and I suspect most people will choose to walk this way anyway despite the signs. On top there is already a well worn path presumably created by the landowners or fisherman (I doubt the coast path has been open long enough for it to be walkers given the grass is worn away in parts) so clearly the top bank is well used by someone anyway.

Sadly another problem is the “path” isn’t much of a path. Flat land beside the marshy bank but it has been churned up by cattle. Fortunately it has dried out so it’s not a sticky mud path but it makes the ground incredibly uneven and difficult to walk on. For now I decided to mostly stick with the official route below the sea bank as given it’s just open it’s probably not a good idea to annoy the landowners who presumably allowed it to open by leaving the path and you are quite conspicuous on the sea bank due it being so flat. Instead I head onto the top of the sea bank from time to time to take photos, but then return to the proper path.

This is a wonderful peaceful place though. With no roads coming anywhere near there is no noise other than the birds on the marsh, it is lovely and I don’t think many know this path exists yet (I would pass just one other couple between here and Snettisham!).

Ironically when I am briefly up on the top of the sea bank I spot a deer below on the path I am supposed to be on. Sadly it sees me too but I do get a picture of it as it runs ahead, over the sea bank and then out somewhere onto the marsh.

The path briefly returns to the top of the sea bank as I near the end of the Lynn Channel. Somewhere to my left is the sea, but the land is so marshy that it’s really just a tiny blue strip between the marsh and the sky. On the marshes though are some odd structures. Sort of a cross between caravans and sheds I wonder if they are lived in. Some have chimneys suggesting a fire or some sort of heating and daffodils line the bank, perhaps as if escaped from a garden. I suspect in fact this is used by shooting parties or fisherman during the summer months, though I don’t know for sure. I doubt people live permanently somewhere so remote and so basic.

These structures continue, in various states of repair for a few miles. Some are out in the marshes with board walks over to reach them. Quite strange really.

The path now seems to alternate between the top of the bank and the path below it, but at least the path below it has improved now and hasn’t been churned up by cattle. I still pop up from time to time for the view when the path is below the bank.

Now having left the Lynn Channel I am slowly heading out of the Wash into the open sea, as the marsh begins to narrow and get wetter, with larger pools of water now visible. It is a calm still day and it is beautiful and very peaceful. Not as spectacular as many parts of the coast for sure but pretty in it’s own way.

I find a bit of old concrete beside the path and decide this will do for my lunch since the grass is all damp and muddy so it’s hard to find anywhere else I can sit down without getting a wet bum.

After lunch I resume and a few minutes later meet the only other people I will see on this new section of path a couple walking the other way and obviously doing a through walk like me because they both have rucksacks.

The path occasionally meets gravel tracks coming from inland presumably used by the farmers, though ahead I can see a white van parked on the top of the sea bank. Since that part of the sea bank is a part where the path goes below the sea bank not on it, I make sure I stick to the lower path to avoid being told off (but I’m sure a van driving on the wall will do far more to disturb the birds than someone walking).

Ahead the path goes inland again a little around another area of marshland and soon I reach the southern end of the Snettisham RSPB reserve.

Suddenly I can see people everywhere, wandering the various paths and many of them with dogs which must disturb the birds a lot too.

I read this reserve got badly damaged in a storm a few years ago with many of the bird hides destroyed or knocked into the lakes, but now I wouldn’t really know it, as it seems to have all been rebuilt or repaired. It consists of several long thin lakes (I suspect old gravel workings) with bird hides alongside. There are quite a lot of birds I can hear here which is nice and I go into one of the hides to look but without binoculars I can’t get a closer look at the birds.

Now by the coast the marshland is very much turning to open sea, now just a thin strip of gorse separate me from the acres of mud that make up The Wash but I can see the change becoming more rapid now as it gradually turns to the open sea.

Gradually too the mud on my left has a shingle beach between the bank I am on and the muddy water, so it’s getting a bit of beach too. It’s now a mixture of mud and sand and the water makes some pretty patterns in the mud, a nice abstract arty photo I thought.

I have now reached the end of the RSPB reserve and the end of the first road for about 10 miles! (Which of course is how most of the people at the RSPB reserve will have got here).

Ahead the coast path now runs along the top of a concrete slab sea wall with various structures on the right. Some are larger brick built houses, but most are caravans, chalets or flat-roofed bungalows. I suspect most are holiday properties rather than permanent homes as many of them have the front coast-facing windows boarded up presumably to protect the glass from the waves of winter storms and the stones and pebbles that might be within them.

When I walked here last time there seemed to be some sort of battle going on between the residents and walkers. The residents had stuck up numerous signs insisting this concrete wall was private and there was absolutely no public access and to walk along it would be trespassing. I therefore walked last time on the thin strip of shingle at the base of the wall to avoid conflict (you can see this thin strip on the left). However I believe other locals insisted this was a right of way. I believe it ended up in court and the judgement was made that it was indeed a right of way. So now this is officially a footpath and all the “bugger off” type notices have gone, I’m pleased to say.

The concrete block wall from time to time changes to a gravel track and soon I have reached the last of the houses of Snettisham and there is now mostly a beach rather than mud and marsh to my left.

A mile or so beyond the end of Snettisham the coast path again turns a little more inland to follow sea banks. This is a new path I believe (it was previously private) but when I came here last time I followed the beach. I can see plenty of people ahead doing just that so that seems the better route to me than through the marshes 200 metres or so inland. I am puzzled why the coast path has been routed that way and not along this beach. I think it would have to be a very high tide for the beach to be flooded so that doesn’t seem to be a reason either.

I can mostly pick out firmer areas of sand and after about a mile of walking have reached the southern edge of the small town of Heacham and the point the new official coast path rejoins the beach again after it’s slightly puzzling little diversion inland.

From here there is promenade the whole way now to Hunstanton so none of the rest of the walk is new to me.

When I reach the end of Heacham there is then just a single row of houses along a byway (that is really just a road) along the coast, behind that is a golf course but the line of houses and bungalows essentially join the two towns, on the coast at least.

Beside me now it’s really proper beach,l not mud and marsh as I have properly reached the open sea.

I have done this part before and am surprised how busy Hunstanton is even in March. The fun fair behind the promenade is open and seems to be doing good business too. I like Hunstanton and a particular attraction is the stripey cliffs near the north end of the beach, half white chalk, half orange, it is quite a feature.

However I am also aware that the sun has gone, it has clouded up and rain is forecast to start in around an hour. Checking my phone I can see that if I head straight to the bus station now I can get a bus to Kings Lynn that connects quite nicely with a train back to London. Since the trains only run hourly if I miss it, it would be an hour to wait for the next one. So I decided to call it a day at this point and head for the bus station.

When I walked this part of the coast before there was an express bus (Coasthopper) back to Kings Lynn but Stagecoach bought the bus company that ran that and subsequently closed it down, so it doesn’t run any more. Instead I have to take the slower bus so it’s a rather tedious bus journey of nearly an hour back to Kings Lynn and it seems this bus company isn’t taking part in the Government £2 fare cap either  so it’s a surprise to be charged almost double that amount, but the bus does at least drop me off right outside the station.

The home trains is on time back to London and again whilst the scenery is not spectacular it’s quite gentle and pleasant as the train speeds across the Fens via Ely and Cambridge and then onto London. The transfer between Kings Cross and Waterloo on the tube is horrible as the Victoria Line service seems to have fallen apart and all the trains and platforms are jam packed but once at Waterloo the train the rest of the way home was a lot quieter.

Still this had been a lovely day exploring a new bit of coast that I thought I had already walked and my first new UK coastal walk of 2024. It is great to see the England coast path opening up parts of the coast that were previously inaccessible (even if the path is behind a grass bank at times) and nice to get back to the peaceful and sparsely populated fens and back on the coast! Given the path is now called the King Charles III Coast Path it seems well named in this area as it runs very close to the Sandringham Estate (possibly across some of it). It is also a reminder than when I finish my walk I perhaps won’t have finished for long if new areas are opened up I will want to come back to, as here.

Here are details of the public transport needed for this walk:-

Lynx Bus route 34, 35 and 36 : Hunstanton – Heacham – Snettisham – Ingoldisthorpe – Dersingham – Sandringham (35 only) – West Newton (35 only) – Castle Rising (35 only) – South Wotton (36 only) – Kings Lynn. Between the 3 routes there are 4 buses per hour Monday – Saturday and 3 buses per hour on Sundays. It takes around 50 – 55 minutes to travel between Kings Lynn and Hunstanton.

Here are the complete set of photos : Main Link.

Here is a map of the walk:-

442. Colintraive to Tighnabruaich

July 2023

This was my first walk of this trip so I had started the day at home making an early start in order to catch a 09:40am flight from London Heathrow to Glasgow which unusually (as it was British Airways) didn’t get rescheduled and ran broadly to time. Here I had booked a hire car. Fortunately this time I was given the car I had actually booked (a petrol Fiat 500) and not an electric car, as had happened on my previous trip (for this reason I absolutely avoided booking with Hertz again and used Budget this time).

Other than the usual seemingly permanent roadworks at the “rest and be thankful” where I had about a 15 minute queue in the temporary traffic lights (perhaps it is so called because you get plenty of time to rest waiting for the lights to change!) the journey went fairly well.

Unusually for a fairly rural area there is a direct bus between Colintraive and Tighnabruaich and it runs several times a day. I parked up in the public road-side parking outside the hotel I would be staying at in Tighnabruaich as it was too early to check in yet. The bus timetable showed I actually only had about 20 minutes to wait for a bus from Tighnabruaich to Colintraive so I decided to wait for that, so I could then walk back and not have to worry about arriving at a specific time to catch a bus.

This meant I had time to faff about and sort out the stuff I’d need in my rucksack for today’s walk and take out the rest of my luggage needed for the rest of the trip that I didn’t need for the walk, to save carrying it all about (I’m too stingy to pay extra for checked in luggage on the flight so have to make do with the free hand luggage allowance).

Then I headed across the road to the bus stop because it was directly outside the hotel I would be staying at. By the time I had finished faffing another lady had arrived waiting for the bus. This is fairly unusual in my experience in rural parts of Scotland, I am usually the only passenger getting on somewhere!

I never find her name so I shall call her Mrs Grumpy (sorry), for reasons that will probably quickly become apparent. She soon asked me if I was waiting for the bus to Dunoon. I said yes I was waiting for the bus but was going to Colintraive not Dunoon (which is the end of the route). Of course she then assumed I was going to the Isle of Bute (as Colintraive is one of the ferry ports for the Isle of Bute) so I said no I was just going for a walk from there which probably confused things. So I asked if she was going to Dunoon and she told me she was. Then went on to tell me “Oh it’s a terrible place now. All the shops have closed. There is nothing there”.  Of course this isn’t quite true. I’m sure some of the shops have closed but certainly not all of them!

She went on to tell me her age and how long she had lived in Tighnabruaich and that she was going to Dunoon in order to catch the ferry to Gourock. “Oh it’s a terrible thing” she tells me. “Like a washing machine, it throws you about all over the place”. (I haven’t found the ride too bad myself I mean it goes over the sea, so it’s never going to be completely flat). I asked if she was going on from Gourock (where the ferry docks). “Oh yes then I’m going to catch a bus to Glasgow” she told me. I said I hoped she enjoyed it but “oh no it’s a terrible place, there is so much crime, it’s nothing like it used to be, it’s not safe now”. She went on and told me she was going to visit a friend and “I hope I don’t have to leave her house once I get there until I come home again”. Well I tried to make polite conversation but I admit I was finding it hard!

Fortunately at this point I spotted the bus arriving and flagged it down. This didn’t go down well either. The bus was a small Mercedes Sprinter type thing. Not the most comfortable perhaps (it’s basically a van with seats). I was just glad to see it arrive, I wasn’t going to be on it for long anyway, but Mrs Grumpy exclaimed “Oh god is that the bus? It looks more like a bloody ice cream van”. It took a lot of effort not to burst out laughing at that point! Although I had to agree she had a point – it did look a bit like an ice cream van, being painted a mixture of red and cream. Fortunately she found another friend of hers already on the bus so sat with her for a chat so I had a break!

The road we were on will be my route for about half the walk so I got a bit of a sneak preview and the road into Tighnabruaich is particularly scenic, with a view point at the highest part.

Soon we arrived at Colintraive which has a ferry over to the Isle of Bute (though it’s not the only ferry to serve the island). I think the service is quite frequent and the boat was already in when I arrived.

Since I had had to travel here from home in Surrey I was quite hungry by this point after several hours of travelling so I decided first to have lunch on the beach beside the ferry port before setting off since the pebbles at the back of the beach were dry.

The ferry was larger than I was expecting and the route seems quite busy. The first mile or so of my walk was back along the A886. This ends at Colintraive except it doesn’t. By which I mean the road beyond the ferry on the mainland ceases to be the A886 but the A886 itself carries on onto the Isle of Bute which is unusual in my experience.

Fortunately because there is not a lot beyond the ferry traffic is quiet and mostly comes in bursts when a ferry arrives. In any case there was the great luxury of a pavement! Just past the ferry was a monument which I learnt was the McKirdy Monument and was so named after twins who were both injured and died within six weeks of each other during World War I. A sad place although I noticed it did have a bench where I could have sat and had lunch (it would have been more comfortable than the beach) if I had known it existed. Oh well, too late now.

The pavement continued until my planned turn off onto the B866 which then is the more coastal road. I suspect at one time the B866 was the A886 because there was a brief bit of old road that linked them (now part of the pavement, really). The B866 runs as a roughly 2 mile “loop” off the A886, re-joining it later but providing a more coastal route, so that was where I was going.

It passed a couple of large houses and then in and out of woodland with intermittent views of Isle of Bute, Kyle of Bute and later a loch which seems confused as to it’s name as the Ordnance Survey map shows it as “Loch Riddon or Loch Ruel”. So I’m not really clear what to call it. I shall call it “Loch R” to avoid causing any offence by using the “wrong” name.

Soon I heard a sound and spotted a boat in the waters of the Kyle of Bute. I took a closer look. Yes … I recognise that ship. It’s the paddle steamer Waverley. (Just visible near the centre of the photo below).

I had travelled on Waverley earlier in the year (from Clevedon to Ilfracombe) and was due to do so again later in the year from London to Southend. Waverley spends much of the year in her home waters of the Clyde and sea lochs around it and a quick check on my phone of the Waverley website confirmed she was running a “Round the Isle of Bute” trip this afternoon and would be docking at Tighnabruaich later. I had no idea Waverley was operating in the area and it was nice to see this historic ship again, this time in her home waters (she is the last remaining ocean going paddle steamer in the world).

After a while the B866 runs right along the shores of the loch so I can drop down onto the beach for a brief break. It is a beautiful spot and although not sunny it is at least dry and with a few patches of blue sky around.

Sadly, it is soon back to the busier A886 for the next 2 1/2 miles or so and by now the pavement has ended so it’s a bit of grass-verge hopping ahead.

42 miles from Inveraray, according to the road sign which is further than I expected. At times the road climbs a little and gaps in the trees give me fine views of the marshy waters as the Kyle of Bute becomes Loch R. The tide is out, so much of it is mud flats.

As I near the road junction the road climbs higher and I can see further inland where it looks like there is a heavy rain shower. Fortunately, the worst of it misses me, with just a few spots of drizzle.

As I near the junction with the A886 and A8003 there is a track beside the road with warning sign “Bridge Ahead Unsafe”. I usually take such things with a pinch of salt, they often seem to be more designed to deter walkers than be factual. Fortunately I’m not going that way so it doesn’t matter today.

I soon reach the junction and can turn left onto the quieter A8003.

Despite the A-road designation it is mostly single track with passing places and so traffic is not that busy but there is the ferry to Portavadie ahead with an illuminated sign giving details of the next ferry and another describing this as “Argyll’s Secret Coast”. Really? What’s secret about it I mean the road is on the map so it is hardly hard to find.

The road soon crosses a river called Cuil Uinseann. It is very beautiful with some sunshine casting rays through the trees to the water, a lovely peaceful spot.

The road climbs a little through woodland and then descends back to the marshy water at the head of Loch R. As I head south the water gets wider and soon the road is right beside it again.

The tide was low earlier but it seems even lower now as it is almost entirely mud rather than water.

I pass the entrance to an area of woodland that the sign tells me is called Mechans Grave. The Ordnance Survey map on the other hand tells me it’s called “Meckan’s Grave” (different spelling). Either way there doesn’t seem to be a sign explaining this name.

The weather is improving all the time and soon it is mostly sunshine. This makes everything look so much prettier and it’s a lovely area.

Soon I can leave the A8003 and follow a more minor road that runs closer to the shore. This runs for about a mile and is, for motorists, a dead end but the map shows that a footpath, part of the longer distance Cowal Way continues from the end of the road to the end of another road that leads into to Tighnabruaich and I wonder if the two roads were joined in the past. Either way I’m pleased at the prospect of a proper path instead of roads.

This is a very pleasant section along this very minor road because there is no traffic it only serves at most half a dozen properties. Soon I am at the end of the road, with a rather grand property ahead with an impressive tower.

Craig Lodge, according to my map and to my surprise there is even a phone box here although I am not sure it still has a phone in it.

Unfortunately it has all the hall marks of being a dead end and the various private notices don’t exactly welcome visitors, but then I spot the onwards footpath sign under the trees to the right of the driveway. Ah the path. Good. I was beginning to fear it might not exist.

The path is quite narrow and begins to climb steeply and heads away from the house, up and up. There is a lot of rhododendron growing here, a bit out of control which limits the views a little and narrows the path. However board walks have been provided in places, which helps. In fact I quickly learn that the only flat parts of this path are the boardwalks!

It is a long way up but I am rewarded for my efforts with this stunning view over Loch R and the Kyle of Bute.

Unfortunately as soon as I reach the top, it’s back down and in places the path emerges onto the shore. In truth, it’s not really a path at all for much of it’s length. More rock climbing up and down. Can you spot the path on either the next two photos?

It is there – but it’s hard to spot, the sort of path that it keeps looking like you come to a dead end only to spot an onward route at the last minute, but it’s more rock climbing and dodging through thick undergrowth.

I have my camera (a Canon EOS 6D) around my neck, which turns out to be a mistake. It was, when I bought it, supposed to be “weather resistant” (I think this means it is meant to withstand rain, but not a fall into a lake, for instance), but that seems to have long since stopped being the case. Now if it gets any water on for more than a few minutes or in the rain for more than a few minutes it starts to misbehave as the water presumably gets inside and interferes with the electronics. It’s not raining but all the thick bushes are very wet with dew and water from the earlier shower and this has got onto the camera as I brush past. For this reason some of the next few photos are in a different aspect ratio (more “wide screen”) as some times it decides to switch itself to video mode and refuse to switch back.

Anyway despite the path being quite difficult it is beautiful and I am quite enjoying the challenging route. I am glad I am not pressed for time and having to hurry for a bus though as I can take my time (necessary in places) and enjoy it.

Part way along the path comes back down to the shore at a burn. I have to jump across this and later I spot the remains of a footbridge now turned upside down on the grass and bracken. I presume washed away in a storm at some point.

I soon come to a choice of routes, which is unexpected (as it’s not marked on the map). (Sorry the camera auto focus had stopped working at this point too and I hadn’t noticed, so it is a very blurred picture).

A low tide route and a high tide route. Well I know the tide seems far out, so I stick with the low tide route.

This follows the shore with a brief climb up into woodland again and comes down to pretty Cladh Harbour. A few boats are moored here and I wonder if they belong to nearby residents who use them rather than the road, owing to there not being any road.

From here the path becomes much easier. Perhaps an old road it is mostly a wide track, sometime grass, sometimes gravel or tarmac.

There is a small waterfall beside the track at one point which is pretty.

I have lovely views of the loch and I can enjoy them more now I don’t have to watch every footstep. Unfortunately the damp in my camera has now turned to mistiness on the lens, sorry about that.

I can soon see the many boats moored up in the loch ahead, a sign I am approaching a town, in this case Tighnabruaich.

It looks a pretty place even if I have no idea how to say it. Later when I checked in to the hotel I did ask the member of staff at the reception desk at the hotel who told me how to say it – then I more or less instantly forgot. Oops.

The track, now partly cut into the cliff face soon rounds the corner and becomes the end of a public road again.

Progress is easier and the mistiness on my camera lens seems to have gone now which helps with the photos.

Traffic is light as this is a dead end road but it builds a little as I progress along it.

Soon I spot the familiar sight of Waverley again in the loch ahead, as she is due to dock at Tighnabruaich pier about now.

She departs the pier before I get there but this gives me the opportunity to see the boat moving at fairly close quarters because of course when you are on board you don’t see much of the boat itself, a lovely sight. (I have already booked another trip on this ship for 2024 this time along the Gower and Pembrokeshire coast which I am looking forward to).

She soon moves closer to the coast of the Isle of Bute and heads around the north coast of the island again. I think she is heading back to somewhere near the Clyde now (Gourock? I can’t remember exactly and didn’t take a note).

When Waverley disappears around the corner I continue along the road to soon reach the pier. This was a hive of activity 15 minutes ago when Waverley docked. Now all is quiet.

The pier isn’t really a pleasure pier as such (there are no arcades, theatres or the like) but more for boats to dock, exactly as Waverley has just done but I suspect it is not much used these days by boats. A side gate gives access and I enjoy the view from it although some of the planks feel quite wobbly.

Anyway I head back on the pier to the road and continue south. The hotel at which I am staying is about another mile up the road, by the junction of the B8000 (as the road I am on has come) and the A8003 (which ends there).

Soon I can see it, knowing what it looks like having parked there this morning.

I soon reach the hotel I have booked, the Royal an Lochan and check in. I never know quite what to expect in small independent hotels. I’ve had some good ones and some bad ones (and not a lot in between). This one turns out to be one of the former. I have a large double room which is spotlessly clean and recently decorated with a thick carpet (I have to try not to get too much mud on it!) and a large bath which is nice. It is not the cheapest but at least it’s good.

The setting is lovely right by the shore. Before dinner I decide to continue along the road a little more down to Kames, the next village a little over half a mile to the south. This takes me past the shinty pitch (not football! – thanks Alan) and later the small shop in Kames.

It is a nice setting and I soon head back to the hotel. Although a small hotel (I think there are around 15 rooms) I am pleased it has a restaurant (and bar) so I don’t have to go anywhere else to get an evening meal and it is in a conservatory at the front with a lovely view. Although I haven’t booked a table (and never did, during my stay) the manager always finds room for me each night when I ask if there is space at the reception desk. For a small place in a rural setting the menu has a good selection and the food turns out to be really excellent each night. I’m not a fussy eater at all anyway but the presentation is beautiful, it tastes lovely and the portions are a good size (often pretty food means tiny portions!) so it is a nice way to end the day.

This was a really enjoyable walk. Right beside the coast and with lovely views and a good variety of scenery too and no problems finding a good route. Whilst the path section was tough going it was also very enjoyable and I felt a good sense of achievement when I made it through to the road at the other side.

Here are details of the public transport needed for this walk:-

West Coast Motors route 478 : Portavadie – Millhouse – Kames – Tighnabruaich – Colintraive – Auchenbreck – Ardtaraig – Clachaig – Sandhaven – Sandbank – Dunoon. Approximately 6 buses per day Monday – Friday (some varying depending on whether it is a school day or not). 4 buses per day on Saturday. No service on Sunday. It takes around 25 minutes to travel between Colintraive and Tighnabruaich.

Here are the complete set of photos for this walk : Album.

Here is a map of this walk:-

441. Tighnabruaich circular via Millhouse

July 2023

This was my last walk of this trip and I’d saved it for this day, Sunday, because there were no buses running, but this was planned to be a circular walk so I wouldn’t need to use any buses.

I had been staying at the Royal an Lochan Hotel in Tighnabruaich so decided to start from there.

I had already parked in the public parking spaces in front of the hotel so I didn’t need to move the car after checking out of the hotel.

Tighnabruaich is a pretty place located on the Kyle of Bute with fine views of the Isle of Bute ahead.

I headed south on the road to Kames, initially beside the loch but later turning a little inland and heading uphill passing the small football ground and shinty club. I continued passing the Tide and Thyme restaurant (I like the pun) and then turned left to follow the road closer to the coast.

Helpfully this takes me past the Kames village store which was useful as I needed to buy lunch and this was open on Sunday.

That had been a bit of a problem on this trip as the shops in both Tighnabruaich and Kames did not open until 9am and closed by 6pm and I usually wanted to leave before then and got back after then.

Soon after the road splits and I followed the lower road, passing the Kames Hotel and back down to the waters edge.

Although only a fairly small village most of the houses in the village seem to be on this road, they stretch for almost a mile. What now followed was an easy and pleasant walk along this quiet road, which mostly hugs the shore line, though with some occasional trees to block the view.

I passed a slipway and later a little shingle spit, not sure if it is natural or man made.

In another mile or so I reach the next village, a tiny place called Carry. The main buildings in the village are the wooden lodges and caravans of Carry Farm, which are let for holidays. The only permanent buildings are a row of tin-roofed white painted cottages, which I think are associated with the holiday park. I see the first people not in cars since I left Kames.

The road turns a little inland now but is still only 200 metres at most from the water and the land here is very flat so I still have good views. In another mile or so there is a junction with a signed dead-end road to Ardlamont Ferry to the left. I presume this is so named because there used to be a ferry over to the Isle of Bute but there isn’t now.

I had planned to walk down this dead-end road to the shore but despite the map suggesting it was a public road it didn’t look much like one, more a private drive with grass growing along the middle and the bins of the only house left at the junction. Since the road ended at the house anyway I decided to abandon walking down this road and instead continue with the “main” road which now turns right following close to the south shore.

However I didn’t want to miss out so much of the coast and the helpful Argyll and Bute map suggested a path followed the track down to Point Farm and on to Port a Ghobhlain and Ardlamont Point, about a mile to the south and at the southern tip of this little peninsula. I wanted to go down there and was pleased to soon spot the track and set off down it to the farm. After the farm the track became narrower and unsurfaced with grass down the middle. At the end was a metal gate which I climbed over to get down to the beach.

It was a rock and pebble beach and I had fine views to the Ayrshire Coast and Isle of Arran to the south, an island I’ve seen from most angles now, even if I haven’t yet been to it.

I sat on the beach for a rest, pleased that the rain had stopped at least for now and for long enough the pebbles had dried out.

My plan was to head back up the track and continue along the road, but sitting here on the beach I was coming up with a new plan. The coast to the west didn’t look too steep with mostly flat rocks I could walk across and some fairly short grass, mixed in with boggy areas. My concern was there were cliffs ahead at Creag Mhor but lower land between these and the shore that I hoped to get along. If I could get past those I could get around to Ardlamont Bay which was closer to the road should I want to rejoin it. So I decided to abandon my original plan (going back up to the road) and follow this new plan instead.

Initially things were fairly easy. There were occasional sheep tracks and a lot of flat rocks I could make my way over.

As I got a bit further north it became harder with the cliffs now on my right and some areas of woodland. It was a bit harder work now jumping over the low rocks and avoiding the gaps between them, sometimes going right down to the shore and others a bit higher up.

I was making slow but steady progress and was soon pleased to see the pebble beach of Ardlamont Bay ahead. Having dropped down onto the foreshore the tide was coming in and in places I had to time my steps between waves to avoid having to go on a higher route. When I finally reached a part of the beach that was wider and where I could see was not covered at high tide I could rest.

This beach is I imagine mostly used by the residents of Ardlamont House and the estate houses around it. The beach had a stone wall behind it and the buildings were mostly out of sight behind it.

Oddly at the far eastern end of the beach was a stretch of railway line heading down onto the shore. What purpose this might serve I wasn’t clear but it obviously wasn’t used now and I don’t believe any part of the rail network ever reached here, so it must have been isolated track. Possibly for launching boats?

There was also a basic building here that I had read was a private bothy.

A track ran up from the beach which would ultimately join to the public road but it goes right past the front of the house so I don’t imagine the public are very welcome to use it.

That meant to get back onto the road would mean making my own route likely along fields to the west of the track. However to get to those I first had to cross the burn. That turned out to be simple it was easy to step over via some rocks.

Now over I initially continued along the beach but inland the fields I would need to cross were filled with cows some of which looked quite frisky (they were running about). I decided to continue along the beach for now.

The rocks were very beautiful on this beach with lines visible in the rock (not sure what type of rocks it is I am afraid).

At the end of the beach a path and track continued and I could see a caravan on the shore beyond (these get everywhere in Scotland, even miles from roads as here). Sitting on the beach I could see the cows all walking along this track and here voices so I think they were being shepherded here by someone just out of sight.

I set off along the track and fortunately the remaining cows ran ahead keeping away from me. On reaching the field with the caravan which looked quite run down but I suspect was still lived in I headed down to the shore away from the track. I couldn’t see or hear a person here now but I think the cows had been driven here on purpose, so I was keen not to linger.

By this point I was at about the point the road headed away from the shore but now the route inland looked to be harder, with gorse and bushes and no obvious route. I’d either have to go back and go across the fields where the cows were or continue on.

Flushed with the success of getting to Ardlamont Bay I decided to continue. Ahead was a sandy beach, Kilbride Bay. I had planned to follow the road and then the path down to the beach but the road would go about a mile inland before the track back to the beach starts, another mile to get back to the beach. So if I could make it along the shore it would be a short cut in terms of distance, if not time.

I therefore decided to continue on the foreshore. This was initially quite easy but soon became harder. I was able to climb over the rocks and occasional small areas of shingle initially fairly easily, but as I got further along the height differences between the areas of rock got greater and it turned into more of a scramble than a walk as I had to get round the many little gullies formed in the rock. At one point I got an unpleasant smell and soon saw a skeleton, not sure if it was a sheep or a dolphin perhaps but I didn’t want to get closer to look.

I made slow progress now and as I headed north the thin strip of rocks got thinner and thinner and in places I had to head up into the edge of the trees to my right. The wood was very thick with bracken under all the trees. I didn’t want to go far into there if I could avoid it, but there were a few places where the gap I had to jump or height difference right beside the waves was too much to jump and I had to head inland to get round, often squeezing through the trees and between rocks. Despite the difficulties it did look in places as if steps had been cut into the rock and there was sometimes a feint path in the grass, so I did wonder if this was a better path at one time though it is not marked as a path at all now.

As I got north progress became slower and slower and at one point I was not sure if I would make it at all. Eventually I did however and it was a relief to get over the last rocks and onto the shingle and rock beach. I headed west and soon the beach became sandy, just as the map promised.

The weather had been poor but given it was the weekend and the school summer holiday (in Scotland, at least) I thought there might be others here but was glad that there wasn’t. I stopped here for lunch in dunes at the back of the beach.

I wasn’t seeing this place at it’s best due to the weather, but it was a lovely beach despite the grey and overcast weather. The walk to get here had taken me longer than expected and checked the map whilst eating lunch and I was now worried about the distance remaining and the time remaining to cover it.

This was planned to be my last walk in Argyll and Bute. I had completed all the rest of the coast of this county already by this point (I had not done it in order). I had also walked all the coast from there around the Clyde and down through Ayrshire. This meant I really wanted to finish this small stretch of coast so that on my next trip I could stay the whole time in Stranraer rather than have to come up for a day to Argyll and Bute and then make the fairly lengthy journey south to Stranraer. It would be a long way to come for a mile or two of coast!

The only path onward was the one inland to the road, but I had noticed at the western end of the beach a footbridge was marked crossing the river (which is un-named on the map). Why would there be a footbridge if there wasn’t a path, beyond it, I pondered? It was worth going to check out and I hoped I would find the bridge and a path into the woodland beyond that might take me to the next beach, Asgog Bay.

So I headed to the west of the beach. The river was wider than I imagined, it was flowing fast and quite deep so trying to cross on the beach did not look a good idea.

Fortunately inland I could see the bridge, which was actually a larger concrete structure with water really gushing under it, enough to create some white water, so I headed for it. The problem was that as I approached it the path disappeared into head-high bracken (no exaggeration). I tried a few different paths but all had the same problem and in addition on the bridge itself it looked like the far end was also overgrown suggesting no onward path.

I tried a few different approaches as a number of paths had been made through the bracken and dunes but every time I got closer to the bridge, it was back into head high bracken.

I decided to abandon my plan of crossing the bridge as the walk had already taken a fair bit longer than planned due to the difficulties of getting around to Kilbride Bay.

Today was my last day of this trip and I had a deadline to get back to Glasgow Airport in time for my flight and to return the hired car. I really wanted to finish today, but I also didn’t want to miss out any of the coast I planned to get to, so I got the map out to see if I could work something out.

My original plan for today from here was to follow the road up to Millhouse, then take the road for Portavadie and then head back to the coast by following the track from that road down to Salann Bay and Port Leathan, then return to the road, walk around to Portavadie, then walk back to Tighnabruaich making a circular walk.

However due to the bus not running on an earlier walk I had actually already walked along all of the road between Portavadie and Millhouse after I had to re-plan that walk. Therefore I didn’t need to do it again.

That meant west of Millhouse the only bit of coast left to walk was the track from the road down to Salann Bay and Port Leathan. I therefore came up with the plan to follow the path I saw on the map from the eastern end of this beach up to the road. Then I could follow the road up to Millhouse and then walk back to Tighnabruaich on the road. Then I would retrieve the car and drive to the start of that track down to Salann Bay on the road and walk there and back, to complete all the cost, albeit it in a roundabout sort of way.

I worked out that I should have enough time to do that if I was quick. So now for my changed plan. I walked back along the beach and tried to find the path.

Initially I had some difficulty as people walking different routes to the beach meant there were many paths when the map only showed one. I checked with the GPS and soon located the correct path, which was quite wide and easy to follow, once I found it, more or track for much of the way. I had seen no one on the beach but now I passed a couple of large groups walking down to the beach. I was in some ways quite glad I had left, as one of the groups seemed very rowdy.

The path continued soon as a track emerging at the road by Kilbride Farm. I was surprised here to find that there was actually a small cafe here serving lunches and snacks, which was a surprise in such a remote place. I was tempted to stop, but I had already had lunch and was pressed for time so didn’t. There were also a lot of cars parked in a passing place and all over the grass here which would explain where all the people I had seen had come from.

It was now around a mile and a half to the village of Millhouse. The road was not especially interesting to be honest, over the flat lands. As I reached the village a man emerged from a house and then turned right on the road to Kames. He did say hello but was walking a little faster than me. I assume he wasn’t going far but in fact he went at least as far as Kames too.

It is a little over another mile to Kames so I walked quickly, but still not as quickly as the man in front. Traffic was mostly light but sometimes came in bursts and I had to be careful when approaching a tractor, for overtaking traffic. Soon I was safely back in Kames where there was then a pavement I could follow all the way back to Tighnabruaich.

I then picked up my car from outside the hotel and set off for the drive towards Portavadie. It is quite a pleasant drive but as I approached the track I looked for somewhere to park. At this point the road is single track with passing places and as I feared there was no suitable layby or parking area. In the end I settled for parking at the top of the track where there was room just beside the road at the top of the track. I wasn’t massively happy with this but I wasn’t blocking the track at all and there was still plenty of room for vehicles to turn in though I still didn’t really like parking there. In addition the track had a metal chain locked across it to prevent vehicles coming down and it being a Sunday I suspect it wasn’t going to be used anyway in the hour or so my car was parked there, so I hoped it would be OK.

There wasn’t a sign saying no parking either. I headed over the chain and along the track. It was a wide stone and earth track and headed gradually down hill, with fine views over the valley and to the nearby farm house (fortunately accessed off a different track).

Nearing the coast I saw there was a standing stone marked on the map and was pleased to spot it in the long grass beside the track.

I was now nearing the coast and soon very surprised at what I saw. I had noticed tyre tracks along the track but near the end there was a couple of buildings, one of them quite large with a sort of municipal look to it like a village hall or similar. The other looked more like a smart bothy. I hadn’t even noticed buildings on the map when I first looked but looking closer I could spot them now. However the building was busy and looked at the very least to contain a kitchen and toilets. I think it might have been some sort of outdoor activity centre. (I later read that it is, or was, a Boys Bridge sailing centre) There were about half a dozen cars parked in the grass beside it and a large campsite set up the other side of the track with about 10 tents.

A scout camp perhaps? It looked like the teenagers and children were sleeping in the tents whilst the parents or supervisors were sleeping in the building. In addition the other side of the little bays was the usual seemingly abandoned caravan which seem to be such a common site in Scotland.

I hadn’t expect so much activity and I must admit was a little disappointed at not having the place to myself as I did at Kilbride Bay. Still I went ahead onto a narrow spit of land between the two beaches. It was very beautiful and at long last the sun had come out too. Both beaches were similar a mixture of rock and pebbles with a little bit of sand. Ahead was a small bit of land, Eilean Aoidhe but despite the name it is not quite an island since it is connected to the main land with a thin strip of land.

It was a lovely spot and the children camping seem to be engaged in something else at the moment.

I sat on the beach for a last snack and took in the lovely view. Argyll and Bute had been beautiful and now I had reached the end of this county. It was also the end of my trip effectively, and time to head home. I had a mixture of emotions, happy to have completed the walk (via a slightly different plan than I initially made) and the entire county, but sad this trip was almost at an end.

Still now it was time to head back up the track to my car. I walked pretty quickly keen to get back in case anyone complained about my car parked there. Fortunately when I got back, all was well.

I had made back enough time I knew I would be a bit early getting to Glasgow Airport but that was fine, I’d rather have time to spare than too little! I had done all my walks after all.

I dithered about whether to cross via the ferry from Dunoon to Gourock or drive around. The ferry route is much less distance but takes about the same amount of time owing to likely having to wait for the ferry. Still I preferred that for a change but thought I’d better double check it was running, but I couldn’t because there was no phone signal.

Instead I drove back to Tighnabruaich and stopped there, where there was a signal and confirmed that yes, it was indeed running. However when I checked the prices I was shocked. £21.70 for a car and driver, one way (even more for each additional passenger, though I didn’t have any). I have found most ferries in Scotland to be very reasonably priced, but this was an exception. It would save me a bit of money in petrol to take the ferry, but no time, and nothing like £21 worth of petrol. So that was it, I was driving around instead!

Fortunately I had no real hold ups and stopped at a petrol station just before Glasgow Airport to fill up. I was pleasantly surprised to find I had only used a little over £30 worth of petrol the entire trip, which was excellent (the “Hybrid” Fiat 500 I had struggled a little on some of the hills but it had certainly proved to be economical).

I returned the car to the car hire centre finding, as usually seems to be the case no one in the hut in the car park. Instead I headed into the main building where I picked up the keys, which was staffed. But the member of staff there said they can’t leave the desk at the moment to check it so just hand in the keys and he’ll do it later. I’m always a bit wary of that in case they then find some damage and claim I caused it when I’m not there to argue or to see it for myself (I wasn’t aware of any damage, but…).

Well nothing I could do about it now so I headed into the terminal for food and to wait for the flight. Fortunately it was on time. BA had allocated me a middle seat (bah) (I won’t pay extra to pick a seat) but fortunately the flight was not full and when the staff announced boarding was complete and no one was sat at the window seat I could move across. I was pleased for once it was on time and in fact we almost left 10 minutes early. The cabin crew announced everyone was on board. The captain told the cabin crew to prepare the cabin for take off, but we didn’t leave the gate.

I could hear some noises from under the seats and sure enough the tannoy soon came to life again where the captain had to apologise because they had discovered one too many bags had been loaded and they are not allowed to take off with an extra bag, so it had to be located and removed. Sigh. There is always something! By the time that was done we were of course late, albeit it only about 15 minutes.

Fortunately most of that was made up by the time we landed at Heathrow and when I reconnected my phone to the outside world I was pleased to find an email from the car hire company confirming they had checked my hire car back in and all was fine with nothing else to pay, so that was good. Sadly I’d missed the coach I hoped to get home by 5 minutes, which was annoying and had to an hour for the next (and last one of the day – although since doing this walk the coach service has since been increased to run every half an hour which is very welcome). Still at least I could wait in the terminal not outside and the next coach did at least arrive on time albeit I didn’t get home until around 00:30!

Still it had been a wonderful trip and I was pleased to have completed another county, with only one more to go now!

This is a circular walk so there is no need for public transport although it could be reduced in length by cutting out the inland road walking because there is a bus between Tighnabruaich and Portavadie:-

West Coast Motors route 478 : Dunoon (Ferry terminal) – Sandbank – Sandhaven – Clachaig – Ardtaraig – Auchenbreck – Colintravie – Tighnabruaich road end – Tighnabruaich – Kames – Millhouse – Portavadie. Approximately half a dozen buses Monday – Friday (the times vary depending on if it’s a school day or not). 4 buses per day on Saturdays. No buses on Sunday. It takes a little under 15 minutes to travel between Tighnabruaich and Portavadie.

Here are the complete set of photos for this walk : Main Link.

Here is a map of the walk. The route in red was the first part of the walk and the second in blue the shorter second walk I did, driving between them as I had walked the “gap” along the road on my previous walk.

440. Portavadie to Otter Ferry

July 2023

Today promised to be a bit of a more relaxed day with the plan being to wander out of the hotel I was staying in and catch the bus from directly outside to Otter Ferry and walk back. Sadly it didn’t quite work that way.

I was staying in the Royal an Lochan hotel in Tighnabruaich for this walk and after an excellent breakfast I headed outside to catch the bus to Otter Ferry. Initially when planning this trip, I hadn’t realised Otter Ferry had a bus. The route is not shown on the route map of West Coast Motors (who run the service). Nor did a search on Traveline bring anything up but the problem is that is a journey planner so you first have to pick a day and it tells you if there is a bus. It’s not so good at finding if a service exists on other days from that you picked.

It turns out there is a bus to Otter Ferry and the reason I hadn’t found it until the day before was because I had picked the wrong day. The route, number 473, has a very complicated timetable with lots of different codes. Most of the buses on the route run only on school days and at the time I was doing this trip it was the school holidays.

During the school holidays the bus only runs one day a week, on a Thursday. So I planned this walk for a Thursday for this reason (one of the reasons I did the walks a little out of order on this trip). Even better the first stop on the bus service was directly outside the hotel I was staying at, so I didn’t need to drive anywhere and simply needed to step outside and wait for the bus at 08:58.

This time came and went and no bus had arrived. Well perhaps it was late, it does happen. 10 minutes after it was due and I was now having serious doubts. I checked the companies website but nothing about disruption to this service. I tried to call but only got recorded messages. Next I tried Twitter (or had it become “X” at that point … can’t remember) as I often find this is the only way to get a reasonably quick response from companies (most seem to take days to reply to emails for some reason) but still nothing (they never did respond). 20 minutes late and still no bus and I was becoming resigned to re-planning this walk and got the map out.

I didn’t really want to have to do a there and back walk but it might be the only choice. I waited another 10 minutes. Still no sign of the bus. Well how long would you wait? I had to accept it wasn’t coming and come up with a new plan.

I looked at the map and worked out a walk that was part there and back and part circular, which would be very long. But it gave me the option of returning by bus from Otter Ferry at the end of the walk to save the walk back and hence cut the mileage. However that relied on the bus in the afternoon running and given the one in the morning hadn’t run I wasn’t confident it would.

Actually I wasn’t even sure the afternoon bus existed. The timetable for this route is very complicated with 3 buses shown, two with the code “Thu” above the column and one with “NThu”. I have become quite used to deciphering often quite complicated bus timetables in rural areas and usually the code “Thu” means only runs on Thursday and the code “NThu” means Does not run on Thursdays. However on this particular timetable the code “Thu” was described as only running on Thursday as expected, but NThu was listed as “Operates on Thursday School Holidays Only”. Well it was the school holidays but I was dubious this was correct. If I looked for the bus on Traveline it showed only the first two service (marked with code Thu) but not the last bus (marked by code NThu) suggesting they believed that service did not run on Thursday.

I wouldn’t get to Otter Ferry in time for the first or second bus now so only if the third one would run could I avoid my longer route so it was a risk but I had no real alternative. This was planned to be my last trip based in Argyll and Bute (my next I was in Dumfries and Galloway) and so if I didn’t complete this walk I’d have to come back to the area for just a few miles of coast.

I therefore decided that if I drove to Portavadie this would cut the distance of my part circular and part there and back walk and if the bus did run I could get off in Millhouse and walk back along the road (a distance of around 2 miles), but it’s a dead-end road that ends at Portavadie so I was hopeful that traffic would be light. Fortunately my hire care was parked right outside the hotel so now having worked out a route I got in and set off for the drive to Portavadie. It was now 40 minutes after the bus was due and it hadn’t come.

The reason I mentioned this 40 minutes is that after this walk I complained to the bus company that this service did not run. I did get a reply a day or so later reply telling me that the bus did in fact run but was 30 minutes late due to a “technical issue”. Hmm. Well I don’t believe it because if it had run 30 minutes late I would still have seen it given it started from the hotel. I suspect it didn’t ran at all or started from further along the route (which would explain why I didn’t see it).

I got into the car and drove towards Portavadie but stopped in Kames because it has a shop. One issue I hadn’t resolved with my original plan was lunch given the shop in Tighnabruaich did not open until 9am and I was supposed to be on the bus by then. I was going to hope to find something on the way (probably optimistic) but now there is also a shop in Kames so I can stop there on the way to get lunch then continues to Portavadie.

Portavadie is a strange place. It consists of a large marina, a ferry slipway (and small terminal building) for a car ferry service to Tarbert on the Kintyre peninsula and a couple of blocks of modern flats and that is about it! I parked in a layby just before the bus turning area.

I then headed back up the road a short distance to a junction where the Cowal Way forks off. My plan is to follow this towards a place called Derybruich and fork off on another track heading north. This isn’t shown as a core path but the OS map shows it does join up with another core path later so with the right to roam I am hoping this won’t be a problem. This will bring me out onto the B8000 near Melldalloch and I plan to follow the road for the rest of the way.

This began to climb quickly, soon passing a large barn type structure on the right and continued up and up.

The problem I had was I was constantly bothered by flies on this section not just when I stopped but when I was moving, many of them buzzing about my ears and eyes and getting in my hair, it was very unpleasant. Fortunately I was wearing a hoodie so resorted to putting the hood up as it served to keep the flies out of my ears and hair at least.

I soon reach the junction of tracks and fortunately the track I plan to follow that is marked on the map also exists on the ground and isn’t blocked off, so I continue along it.

This climbed further up into the woodland almost continually climbing for the next mile or so where I picked up another track also marked on the map and this one also a core path. There is a brief shower near the top.

From here I turned left along the track and followed it as it curves to the right and heads towards the B8000.

Nearing the road, the map shows I come to a T-junction with a track to the left that would lead to the dead-end road to Melldalloch chalets and the private track onwards to Ardmarnock House.

Sadly when I reach this T-junction there is no sign of the path to the left at all. So I have to stick with the core path that turns to the right almost doubling back and coming down to the B8000 a bit further to the south. Still at least that path exists and I soon emerge onto the road, opposite Loch Melldalloch.

It is a pretty loch with a little wooded island in it and pine forest on the far shore. Now after all that climbing it is time to lose the height again with the road descending steeply down towards the shore again. I can see across Loch Fyne ahead to Knapdale and Kintyre.

Sadly it isn’t quite downhill all the way, the road drops down to cross the River Auchalick but then climbs back up again.

The road is marked by lovely old (restored) mile posts giving the mileage to Tighnabruaich but I am going in the opposite direction so for me the miles are counting up not down.

The road turns a little to the right and soon becomes straighter as I approach the small village of Kilfinan, which again tells me this is “Argyll’s Secret Coast” but I am unclear what is (or meant to be) secret about it.

This is a small village with a church and war memorial but the map also promises a hotel.

This hotel was where I was vaguely hoping I might be able to get lunch if I had started from Otter Ferry if the bus had come (but I’d have been here far too early I expect). Lucky then I had stopped to by lunch in Kames because it is closed (though this appears to have been temporary as it appears to be open again at the time of writing).

Beyond the hotel and village the road descends to cross another river, Strone Burn then forks left and right and climbs once more.

Around this point I come across a surprising sight. A bus! That is the middle of the 3 services that are meant to run today and I am pleased to see that one is running because it gives me more cause for optimism that I might be able to catch the bus back.

As I near the top of the hill I again get fine views over Loch Fyne. The road soon straightens and begins the long descent to Otter Ferry. Near the junction with the minor road that leads to the A886 (that I walked along on my previous walk) the map shows a disused quarry but on reaching this it doesn’t look very disused to me with fresh piles of gravel and freshly cut looking rock face.

I soon reach the junction and the road sign now tells me the minor road I followed last time is in fact the to C11 Glendaruel. It is unusual to see a C road number on signs and I am surprised the road number is so low.

Another half a mile downhill brings me down to Otter Ferry and the end of this walk (I hope – IF the bus comes!).

Otter Ferry is a pretty place with a shingle beach and a pub.

The walk hasn’t taken too long and I am early for the bus (if it comes). This walk hasn’t been as coastal as I’d like having largely stuck to the road so I decide to head west on a path to Ballimore which is shown as a core path on the map for at least some of the time.

I have time to do a there and back walk before the bus. This turns out to be a lovely wooded track. Over to the right a shingle spit sticks out quite far into Loch Fyne. This is called Oitir and this name was originally shared with the village I believe before the spelling was changed.

After a dull start the weather has picked up too and now there is some sunshine. I soon leave the track and head down onto the beach as the tide is out. it is a bit boggy at times but it’s nice to be by the water after all the road walking today.

At the end of the beach I sit and relax for a little while enjoying the sunny and dry weather before it is time to head back to the pub to see if the bus comes.

I sit on rocks just below the quay and wait for the bus. I have positioned myself so I am in sight of the B8000 heading north which runs right along the loch shore (I followed it last time). From here I can see when the bus comes because according to the timetable it actually runs another mile north along this road to Largiemore so I will see it pass.

In about 10 minutes I hear an engine running behind me and see the bus stopped in the pub car park. Well I am pleased to see it’s running but I had expected it to turn back at Largiemore not here. I get on and check the driver is going to Millhouse and turning here and he tells me he is (not sure why he isn’t going to Largiemore as planned). There are quite a few people on the bus which is a surprise and soon we set off, with the radio on.

Soon it becomes clear that the passengers are all family members of the driver or at least family friends (the children call him Uncle) and the music is soon turned up and I have to endure some singing too.

I think it is becoming clear what happened with the bus this morning. I get the distinct impression the driver is using the bus primarily to entertain the family during the school holiday and actually running the service seems rather secondary to this. I am wondering if he just didn’t bother with the morning service expecting no one to be waiting or only ran part of it (maybe starting from his house) given he missed out the part of the route to Largiemore on this journey. Either way it’s not very professional and I am glad when the bus gets to Millhouse and I can get off!

Now from here I need to get back to my car at Portavadie. Going back via the Cowal Way is about the same distance as the road (in theory) but after the big hill this morning I decide the road route will be easier. There isn’t much traffic because it mostly only comes when the ferry is docking (as I found earlier there isn’t a lot else at Portavadie).

Unfortunately the road isn’t flat either (I should have remembered after the drive this morning) and soon climbs to the top of a quite high hill before descending back down but again it gives me some good views.

After the long descent I soon enter the village, which a hand-amended sign suggests has a population of just 23 (as I said there isn’t much here!).

I soon reach my car and drop my bag off but continue down to the shore at Lub na Faochaige where the tide has gone out since this morning.

Finally I head down to the ferry slipway. I can’t see the ferry and there are only 2 cars waiting so I suspect it is over on the Tarbert side.

After this I head back to the Royal an Lochan hotel in Tighnabruaich where I am staying. Once again I have an excellent meal overlooking the coast from the hotel restaurant.

After the early frustrations of this walk with the lack of bus I was glad that it came on the return journey and so I didn’t have to do a there and back walk or a long circular walk with only half of it really coastal mileage. There had been some nice views on the way (though also quite a lot of road walking not that near the coast) but the highlight had been the chance to explore Otter Ferry a bit more (as last time I had to rush through) and it’s pretty tree lined beach in this village.

Here are details of the public transport needed for this walk (if it runs!):-

West Coast Motors route 473 : Tighnabruaich – Kames – Millhouse – Portavadie (school days only) – Kilfinan – Otter Ferry – Largiemore. 2 buses per day on school days only. 2 to 3 additional buses on Thursdays only (including school holidays). It takes around 20 minutes to travel between Millhouse and Otter Ferry. No service at weekends.

Here are the complete set of photos for this walk : Main Link.

Here is a map of this walk:-

439. A8003/A886 junction to Otter Ferry and Strachur

July 2023

Although this walk was to be almost entirely on roads, the road on the east shore of Loch Fyne are more minor than the busy A83 I had to follow for much of the west shore, so I am hoping today’s walk will be quieter and I can focus more on the scenery and surroundings than the traffic.

The downside of being on quieter roads is there tends to be less public transport and that is certainly the case here (which also accounts for the rather complicated title of this walk). When planning this trip I had worked out this route believing there to be no buses along the B8000 which is the route for much of this walk.

That was because the website of the local bus company (West Coast Motors) has a map which shows the routes they run which had helped to plan many of my walks in Argyll and Bute. However it turns out their own map is wrong or at least incomplete. There actually is a bus along part of the B8000, between Tighnabruaich and Otter Ferry. The problem is that at least at the time I did this walk (school holidays) it only ran on one day of the week – a Thursday.

This trip was planned to be my last to walk the mainland of Argyll and Bute (I had already walked the parts of this county closer to Glasgow at the time I did this walk) and for my next trip I would be based in Dumfries and Galloway (in Stranraer). Although I will probably come back to walk around the Isle of Bute in future. This meant it was not very practical to come back to this area on my next visit. I had already done walk yesterday using this bus (after a fashion), so I had no option than to plan around not using the bus today, which wasn’t actually a major problem as I had already done that before I found out the route existed. Finding out bus routes like this is really quite tricky as if you don’t know it only runs one day a week Traveline probably won’t be much help as it works off a journey planner where you have to pick the date/time you want to travel first which means if you pick the wrong day it will tell you there isn’t a bus.

Anyway to work around this lack of bus I had worked out a complicated plan! For this trip I was staying at the Royal an Lochan hotel in Tighnabruaich which is located right on the loch shore with a beautiful view. I was pleasantly surprised the room I had was nice (but at the back) but the restaurant in a conservatory at the front had a lovely view over the loch. I had a good breakfast at the hotel. I was expecting pleasant homely food at a fairly small hotel in a rural location like this. However the food really was excellent, beautifully presented but also a good size (which often isn’t the case when it looks pretty) and very nice. I did however have a tight deadline and being cooked to order (rather than a buffet) I was hoping the service would be quick enough which fortunately it was.

My complicated plan was to drive to Dunoon. Then I would take a bus this morning to the junction of the A8003/A886 which was as close to a Otter Ferry as a bus got today. Then at the end of my walk in Strachur (which is where I ended the last walk I wrote up) I would I hoped arrive in time for the last bus on a different route that would take me back to Dunoon where I’d then drive back to Tighnabruaich.

After breakfast I drove to Tighnabruaich and found that like I found in Inveraray the car park was split in two, half was free and half was pay and display so naturally I headed to the free bit! The downside of staying in Tighnabruaich is there is only one shop selling food (10 minutes walk from the hotel) and it is open only 9am to 6pm which is too late for me to get lunch before I left (I did ask at the hotel reception on my first morning if there was another shop, knowing there wasn’t, but hoping they might offer to make me a packed lunch – for a price, but sadly they didn’t).

Fortunately I make it to Dunoon with enough time to find a shop to get lunch and head to the bus stop. Staying in somewhere quiet as I am, Dunoon feels quite the metropolis. In fact it’s almost in sight of Glasgow, facing the mouth of Clyde and I suspect people do commute from here to Glasgow each day as there is a frequent (though as I had found not very reliable) passenger ferry over to Gourock, which is timed to connect with trains onto Glasgow. There are several bus stops organised by direction of travel (North, South, East and West) and it is clear the ferry used to take cars as the loading area for cars is still there (and now seems to be used as an adhoc car park instead). Fortunately the bus is already here (it starts from here) and I ask to be dropped at the junction of the A8003 to Tighnabruaich. I thought the driver might think this was odd, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

There are only a couple of other passengers and after leaving Dunoon it runs via the single-track B836 via Ardtaraig. I get off at the end of the road and after the bus pulls away, all is quiet. I set off along the A8003. This road is a short road, it only goes to Tighnabruaich and is quiet in fact like many A-road in Scotland it is single track with passing places, at least on this part. A sign beside the road declares “Argyll’s Secret Coast” which seems a bit odd. I mean it’s hardly a secret, it’s on the map and a road goes here so I can’t see why it’s any different from the rest of the coast in the county.

Another (electronic) sign gives information on the next sailing on the Portavadie to Tarbert ferry, which is accessed from this road. After crossing the Cuil Uinseann river on the bridge there is a track off to the right which I plan to follow. This is part of a long distance walk the Ordnance Survey map calls the Cowal Way but the official website calls the Loch Lomond and Cowal Way and is one of the Scotland’s Great Trails. I am only following a short part along this track. After passing a house this quickly narrows to a narrow track with grass but I think it’s still tarmac and was once a road, now blocked and very overgrown.

It then emerges onto a minor public road. This has more the feel of a mountain bus and reminds me a little of a much smaller version of the Bealach na Bà (the Applecross pass), as it climbs from sea level quite high up then descends sharply down to Otter Ferry at the other end. However it is very steep with many hairpin bends and as it’s not the only road to Otter Ferry I think most traffic uses the B8000 instead. Therefore this makes a quiet road to follow to get back to Otter Ferry. After passing a farm it climbs steeply around a hairpin (with double chevrons on the map).

It then straightens a bit but continues to climb through woodland. Whilst not by the coast I have good views back into the valley, as I gain height.

I will be following this road for 4 miles (and all of that is just to get me back to Otter Ferry, it’s only really a coast walk when I get there). As I hoped this road is quiet. Really quiet. In the time I am on the road (over an hour) just one vehicle passes me! For quite a while the road has grass growing down the middle.

As I continue to climb I spot movement on the road ahead. Two brown animals, but I confess I am not sure what they are.

They look a little like ferrets perhaps, but they do not live wild in the UK. So perhaps a weasel or even a polecat? (see comments below – probably Pine Martens)

Either way I guess the lack of traffic means wildlife is more prevalent. They clearly haven’t seen me and are soon walking along the road ahead. Sadly I don’t have a good zoom lens with me today so I can only zoom a small amount to try and get a picture.

Soon one of them spots me and then stands up on it’s hind legs for a presumably closer look.

Then they scurry off into the bracken beside the road as I approach. I don’t try to go for a closer look (I don’t want to disturb them) but it is lovely to see even if I am not sure exactly what animals I have just seen. (Thank you for the comments below that they are most likely Pine Martens).

Eventually the road levels out and I can see for a long way.

Sadly some logging is taking place in the woodland beside the road, I can see a white pick up truck and a digger and hear a chain saw, which rather spoils the peace.

Fortunately I am soon away from this, peace is restored and soon the road begins to head gently downhill. I can see Loch Fyne ahead now, far below me.

The road now drops down steeply and after the long climb at least I have the reward of a long descent too.

Eventually this descends down to the junction with the B8000 and about 500 metres further brings me to Otter Ferry on the banks of Loch Fyne.

It’s only now the coastal part of my walk begins! Otter Ferry is a tiny place. Less than a dozen houses as far as I can see. Despite it’s tiny size it does boast a pub (which was quite busy when I was here yesterday but looks a lot quieter today).

As you might guess from the name there was once a ferry from here to West Otter Ferry on the other side of Loch Fyne and I suspect the pub dates from then when I imagine people would stop at the pub whilst waiting for the ferry. The ferry is long gone (it stopped running in 1948). So that accounts for the ferry part of the name. Otter however does not mean the animal in this case but the Gaelic word oitir, which is a sandbank so this is how the place got the name Otter Ferry.

The next few miles will be along the B8000 which follows right along the coast for the next few miles. The weather is mostly overcast and rain was forecast to start around lunch time, becoming heavier later so I am hoping it will hold off for a while.

The road soon crosses the Kilail Burn and continues along the shore.

The tide looks to be out with quite a wide shingle beach here. The grass very has also recently been mown which is nice as it provides an easy surface to get out of the way of passing traffic. There isn’t much, but this road is also single track with passing places.

In a little over a mile I am approaching the small village of Largiemore which seems to consist mostly of a large chalet park.

Passing this (there are a few people about in the chalet park) I cross another stream and continue on the road intermittently through woodland. This road is at least quite flat so I can make good time as I am aware I need to make the last bus from Strachur to not get stranded.

As I emerge from the woodland near Gortein Croft the forecast rain begins, but it is fortunately light, more drizzle really.

Given the name Otter Ferry where I start, I do notice what I think is an otter in the loch. I try to get a picture but all I really got was the ripples left on the surface of the loch. Oh well.

I am pleased that the rain does not in fact continue all afternoon as forecast but stops 10 minutes or so later, which is a relief.

The road is quiet pleasant, not much traffic quite flat and with intermittent views of the pretty loch. I can make good progress and enjoy the scenery which is nice.

After a few miles the road turns inland at Lachan Bay. I had considered trying to find a more coastal route here.

A footbridge is marked at the back of Lachan Bay and then a track runs about half a mile beyond along the shore but then, according to the map at least just ends. That leaves around 2 1/2 miles to try and make may way over the rough ground to join the end of the next road. Sadly I concluded I don’t have time to try as I know that when there isn’t a path or track progress is usually very slow and difficult.

What I hadn’t realised is there is quite a sizeable castle here on the other side of the bay.

This is considerably bigger than I expected in fact I confess I hadn’t even noticed it on the map when planning this walk. I can see it on the map now but the map doesn’t even give it a name, just shows “Castle (remains of)”. Oh well it looks pretty big and I’m a bit disappointed I can’t spare the time to take a closer look. Still I will quite likely come back to walk around the Isle of Bute in future so perhaps I will get time to come back here for a closer look then – I hope so.

I am soon also passing a burial ground and the ruins of a chapel (again the map just shows “Chapel (remains of)”. But a large ruined castle and chapel suggests there was once an important settlement here.

A sign however tells me this is Kilmorie Chapel and is an ancient burial place of the Clan Maclachlan. It doesn’t however tell me any more than that.

A short distance beyond the chapel is a rather ugly caravan park.

This seems to generate quite a bit of traffic, there is a quite noticeable uptick in traffic once I am past it, as it’s July so likely about the busiest time of year for caravaning.

The road continues inland to another place called Garbhallt. This seems now to consist of a house that is in the process of being restored (I can see from Google streetview it was completely derelict with no windows a doors a few years earlier), which is nice to see and just across the road is a chapel that looks like it’s still in use although the van might be a clue it is being converted, not sure.

Now heading further up the valley the road climbs beside the Strathlachland River. Near the top is a red telephone box and some more isolated cottages.

Not long after this the road then begins to descend and turn a little to the left and soon I can see Loch Fyne once more, as the road gets closer to the shore again.

I soon reach a junction with the B8000 and er … the B8000 (if you look below you can see that in all 3 directions, it’s the B8000).

It seems the road splits into two here (both with the same number), part of it going east through Leanach to join the A886 and another running north for almost another mile through nowhere very much to join the A886 further north.

I continue ahead. In another 3/4 of a mile is another junction with a dead-end road ahead signed to Leachd (and it also goes to Newton, along the shore). I continue ahead as whilst the road is a dead end I suspect this only applies to vehicles – the map certainly suggests so. Actually after passing a house it just sort of fizzles out and I have to crash through the bracken and long grass to get back up to the road, now the A886.

Drizzle has begun again and that is unfortunate because it means not only do I get wet from the rain but all the passing vehicles kick up spray too. The light rain and drizzle soon gets heavier and soon is pretty much bouncing off the road variety of rain. I guess the forecast rain has arrived now and I guess at least it’s arrived later than forecast.

Once this starts it’s only about a minute before a car passes me, then slows and stops and when I catch up the driver offers me a lift. A kind offer and I tempted to accept – but as I need to get to Dunoon and he is going the other way he could likely drop me in Strachur and then I’d have to wait for the bus anyway and come back and fill this gap another day. So I decide to press on anyway but thank him for the kind offer.

It is pretty unpleasant conditions now with the heavy rain and the fast traffic so I just put my head down and walk quickly, hoping to get to somewhere more sheltered soon.

Soon I am passing another caravan park at a place called Stuckreoch.

Another mile or so and I have reached the edge of Strachur (strictly somewhere called Mid Letter at this point).

This brings with it a pavement – thank goodness. I am relieved to get off the road.

As I get nearer the centre of the village the road is narrowed down to single track with passing places but fortunately the pavement continues (oddly this part of the road is not shown as single track on the Ordnance Survey map).

I soon reach the centre of the village where the road widens again. Here there is a post office marked on the map. This turns out to also have a tea room which sounds lovely. Unfortunately for me it has already closed for the day.

After worrying about the time earlier and so not wanting to stop the faster walking on the inland part of the road and especially once the heavy rain began and I just wanted to get to the end of the walk I now have about 25 minutes wait for the bus. Only another 100 metres or so and I am at the junction with the A886 and A815 which is where I started the previous walk I wrote up so I have now joined up the walks. Google maps shows a bus stop here but I know there isn’t one on the ground. The bus driver did drop me off here last time but I am less confident about getting on here with no bus stop marked and have visions of the bus going straight passed and getting stranded.

So as I have time I head into the main part of Strachur which is actually on the A815 (it seems a surprisingly large and spread out village, straggling both roads). Here there is a minor “loop” road off the main road which has a pub along it (but I don’t have time to stop) and just before it rejoins the A815 there is a proper bus stop – with a shelter!

I am glad to finally get out of the rain and can begin to dry. I still have about 15 minutes to wait for the bus but I am glad to have made it in time as this is the last one so if I missed it I would have to call for a taxi (or try hitching a lift). The bus is meant to come the other way first, then turns round somewhere (I am not sure where) and comes back and I am getting nervous because it is late going the other way. Fortunately about 5 minutes late the bus comes going the other way. A women gets off the bus and immediately crosses the road to come and wait in the bus shelter with me. I find this rather odd. The bus is going to go immediately back to where she just came from so why after getting off the bus is she now waiting for the exact same bus to go back the other way? Perhaps sensing my puzzlement at this (I was too polite to say anything or ask of course) she tells me she is waiting for a friend to pick her up and take her the rest of the way to a freinds barbecue. I wish them the best of luck in the pouring rain! Her friend arrives a minute or so later and off she goes. The bus arrives another few minutes later.

There are a few passengers aboard and it’s a wet journey back to Dunoon. As we progress the bus soon empties out and soon I am the only passenger, but still sitting a few rows back. The driver then asks me something but I am struggling to hear him over the noise of the engine, but I catch something about the ferry and think he is asking me where I want to get off. I say yes, dropping me at the ferry is fine which he seems happy with.

I think he was actually offering to drop me anywhere on the route perhaps given the heavy rain. When we approach the main bus stops by the ferry I ring the bell, he drives straight past and instead stops right at the top of the slipway to the ferry to drop me off with a triumphant “here we are, right by the ferry”. I don’t actually want the ferry. He is being helpful dropping me closer to where he thinks I want to go but unfortunately as I didn’t catch what he was asking me quiet it’s not actually where I want to go so feel slightly awkward when I then got off and walk in the opposite direction from the waiting ferry, watched by the crew of the ferry who I think assume I am also going to get on. Well a nice gesture, even if I misunderstood the question!

I now have to walk past the old “loading area” for when the ferry was a car ferry and the old now derelict pier (from which I assume the ferry used to operate from) to the car park where I am parked (at the far end, of course). So I get quite wet again just getting back to the car.

Fortunately I can dry off with the drive back to Tighnabruaich and get changed into dry clothes when I get there. It’s a very wet drive back and I am glad to be able to park right outside the hotel so I don’t have to get soaked again.

I had a nice meal at the hotel (again the food was very good) overlooking the loch. Today there is quite a large group in the restaurant who finish before me. I watch and to my surprise when they have finished eating they all go outside and set up tents on the neatly mown grass directly outside the hotel, on the other side of the road. This doesn’t seem very considerate (wild camping is of course allowed in Scotland but I think wild camping is supposed to be a bit of a distance from properties, not right in front of them), but perhaps they have asked and been given permission from the hotel to do this (they are in and out using the hotel toilet the next morning).

This had been quite a varied walk. Even the long “positioning” part of the walk at the start was quite enjoyable with some good views and no traffic. I enjoyed good views of Loch Fyne and with the quieter roads on this side of the shore enjoy it more. It was just a shame about the heavy rain at the end but I was lucky it didn’t come earlier, as had been forecast.

Here are details of the public transport needed for this walk:-

West Coast Motors route 473 : Tighnabruaich – Kames – Millhouse – Otter Ferry. 2 – 3 buses per day on Thursdays only. There are additional services on school days only.

West Coast Motors route 478 : Dunoon – Sandbank – Sandhaven – Clachaig – Ardtaraig – Auchenbreck – Tighnabruaich Road End (A8003/A886 junction) – Colintravie – Tighnabruaich Road End (A8003/A886 junction) – Tighnabruaich – Kames – Millhouse – Portavadie. Approximately 5 buses per day Monday – Saturday, with additional buses on schooldays.

West Coast Motors route 484 : St Catherines – Strachur – Whistlefield Inn – Benmore – Kilmun – Sandbank – Dunoon. Approximately 6 buses per day Monday – Saturday, with additional services on school days.

Here are the complete set of photos for this walk : Main Link.

Here is a map of the walk:-