449. Arrochar to Cove

April 2023

This was another weekend visit and last night after work I had travelled to Stansted Airport to take a flight to Glasgow and then spent the night at the Premier Inn, Glasgow Airport. This time the journey had gone reasonably smoothly, although my hotel room had been a bit noisy with children (I assume) running about in the room above me during the early hours.

Still it was great to be back on the coast for a weekend of walks and I took the airport express bus from Glasgow Airport into the city centre. To be honest this is something of a rip off, it costs £10 one way for a ride on an ordinary double decker bus (by way of comparison the coach from my local station to Heathrow costs less, despite being twice as far and uses coaches instead of buses). However it does go to Glasgow Queen Street, or close by anyway which is where I want to be and saves me the walk to Paisley Gilmour Street and between Glasgow Central and Queen Street.

I then catch a train to Arrochar and Tarbet station again, another lovely journey. For my last walk on reaching the station I headed down to the road and turned right towards Arrochar (the station is around half way between Arrochar and Tarbet). The most coastal route for my walk today would be follow the A814 however I have some past knowledge that that is not going to be a safe route.

On one of my prior trips when I was staying further north in Scotland I was driving home and I attempted to follow the A82 south. After passing the narrow part beside Loch Lomond (you’ll know the bit I mean if you have driven this way before) I reached the junction with the A83 at Tarbet I was prevented from turning left to head south along the A82 due to a police road closure. The police were directing traffic to right onto the A83 instead. This turned out to be because of a serious accident further south that had just closed the A82. I was not that familiar with the road network in this part of Scotland at the time but had a feeling the A83 was going to take me down to Kintyre. I pulled over just on the edge of Arrochar to check on the map and sure enough that would take me down the dead-end Kintyre Peninsula so I didn’t want to be going that way. So instead I spotted the A814 which I could follow to Garelochhead then take the A817 to rejoin the A82. So that is what I did.

Unfortunately it turns out that although marked as a normal A-road on the map it is also very narrow, to the point that there are a lot of places where two cars can just pass each other but nothing wider. Due to the A82 closure the road was jammed with lorries, coaches and motor homes which could not pass each other and had to keep reversing back as they had stopped where the road was too narrow. It took almost 2 hours to get along it (due to the congestion) and back onto the A82 and was a complete nightmare! I admit I probably saw it in worse conditions than usual, but I didn’t fancy walking down a narrow enclosed main road such as this one if there was an alternative.

Fortunately there is an alternative so I decided for safety reasons I’d follow that as long as I could. The alternative is the Three Lochs Way, a signed path and one of the “Scotlands Great Trails” walks. This followed parallel with the A814 albeit about 2-300 metres further inland than the A814 for the first few miles so I opted to follow this instead.

That meant turning left not right when I left the station then crossed the road to join the path which starts out as a track. This heads uphill, giving good views to Arrocha ahead and soon comes to a modern building.

This turns out to be the Arrochar Community Hydro power plant and the map shows a small damn nearby which is presumably used to feed this power plant. A display in the window tells me it is currently generating 12.44 kw of electricity which doesn’t seem an awful lot (enough to power 2 or 3 of houses I imagine), but I guess it’s better than nothing and probably generates more when the local streams are in spate.

There is also a handy map of local paths displayed here which I’m pleased to see confirms the path I am hoping to follow does indeed exist!

Although I am not right alongside the loch I am above the tree line so still get a wonderful view of Loch Long below me, so I can still see the coast. This time the weather is not so good, overcast and with cloud hanging over the tops of the hills on the opposite side bank.

It’s still beautiful though and soon the view opens out a bit more as I turn south and can see up to the head of the loch, where I walked last time.

The path has levelled out a bit now too and I can see the hotel at Ardgartan, where I walked last time.

After all that climbing, the track soon begins to descend again, which is welcome as it’s a gentle descent and I was beginning to wonder if the path continued to climb if I’d soon be disappearing into the cloud and losing the view!

I don’t know if this track has been used for logging because, rather strangely there is a mobile power plant left beside the track.

I am not sure what it would have been powering but whatever it was is not here today.

The track now winds it’s way slowly down the side of the loch and I have a glorious view ahead along this straight track, a nice easy walk. I am glad it is firm underfoot and not too muddy.

I soon have a view of the railway line to my right too, which separates me from the A814. If I want to get closer to the coast I will need to cross it!

The track descends down to a a minor road (Tulloch Road).

This runs through Glen Douglas to the east or back down to the A814 to the west. Whilst the Three Lochs Way continues south from here it goes increasingly inland at this point and I am not sure if there are other paths or tracks I can follow to get back down to the shore further ahead, so I decided to leave the path at this point.

The road I have emerged onto is not quite the rural lane I had imagined. There are some other buildings nearby which look to be military and with some warning signs. Still I stick to the public road and turn right now heading downhill, but I can see there is another road close by on my left, parallel with the road I am on. The road I am on zig-zags down steeply to the A814 at a place called Craggan just to the west so then I’ll have to follow the A814. However the map suggests another track that more or less parallels the A814, taking a much more gentle descent to reach the A814 at a jetty at place called Glenmallan, much further south. I decide to try and follow this route instead, it will be a more pleasant route and reduces the amount of distance I need to do on the A814.

I soon spot a gap on the left where I can climb up onto the track, which is now slightly higher than the track I am on. It turns out to be a proper tarmac road with a high security fence to my left and the passing places are all numbered, for some reason. Here is number 15.

There isn’t a pavement but the road is too narrow for two way traffic but wider than single track so there is generally space for vehicles to pass me without me having to step off the road or get to a passing place, which is good as there is a crash barrier on one side and a steep slope on the other. The only vehicle that passes me is a shiny black car.

I am curious by the numbers on the passing places, that count down my descent. There is not a lot to see, thick woodland now blocks my view of the loch. As I reach the bottom I can see there are all sorts of signs beside the track I followed, but facing the other way. Looking back I realise I am probably not supposed to have been on the road. One sign is a “No Pedestrian” sign with the text “Ministry of Defence Prohibited Area” and a warning of armed dogs and police patrols.

I imagine if any such patrol saw me walking down the track holding a camera they might not have been too pleased, fortunately they didn’t (though I did wonder if that black car that passed me was sent to check me out, or perhaps they just happened to be leaving).

More curiously a sign also says “No Entry between Mon – Thurs 16:15 to 16:45 and Fri 12:45 to 13:15” and also “No access when lights flashing”. What on earth goes on here and at those specific times? Very curious and it was probably just as well I hadn’t walked down here on a weekday as it sounds like there is far more activity then!

Anyway I am now back onto the A814 at Glenmallan and the pier and jetty are all also MOD property and behind a high security fence with a security hut at the barrier.

I don’t linger in case there is someone in there who has seen me walking down the track! The road is busy but not as bad as I feared, but narrow enough for no central white line and a wall to my right. At a jetty I decided to head down to that and sit on the edge of the jetty over looking the loch to have lunch, now I am out of the way of the traffic and far enough beyond the MOD site.

After lunch it’s back to the road and traffic dodging. The road initially follows the loch but then goes around an MOD oil storage depot ahead. This is all behind high wire fences topped with barbed wire and numerous warning notices. Fortunately for part of this the grass verge is wide enough I can walk on that rather than the road. Sadly when this ends the road narrows with a wall on either side and poor visibility. Not a nice road to walk on but this section is at least not that long.

The height gained does at least allow for intermittent views of the loch.

At the turning for Portincaple I did try and follow the road but it all became private roads and drives so I couldn’t quite get back to the loch shore, so returned back up the road.

A short distance further along this comes to a rather eccentric looking B&B called the Green Kettle Inn (I don’t know if the rooms have green kettles in them!). I believe it is also a restaurant but I had already had lunch so didn’t stop (I am not sure if it was open anyway).

I soon come to a roundabout ahead and turn right onto a road that goes to Coulport and seems to run parallel with the B872 which runs on the east side of this little peninsula. This is about as close as I can get to the west side, so follow this road. Ahead I am coming to RNAD Coulport which is where nuclear warheads for the Trident nuclear submarines are stored. There is clearly no point trying to find a closer route to the coast since there is no way I would be able to walk through that facility, which begins a mile or so ahead so I stick to the road.

Actually I am not entirely sure I am meant to be on the road either. I noticed at the roundabout it has red bordered road signs giving the miles to Coulport and I tend to associated red-bordered place name signs as being on military roads (there are a number around Aldershot fairly close to where I live). In addition the road is signed as “MOD Property, road traffic act enforced by Ministry of Defence Police” and another sign that police dogs patrol. However it is marked in dark yellow on the OS map (which typically means a wider un-classified public road) and there are no keep out signs this time so I continue along the road.

Traffic is intermittent but tends to come at great speed when it does come. Fortunately there is a grass verge or sometimes gravel verge most of the time and visibility is good so I can keep out of the way of the traffic.

A clearing in the trees gives a fine view over the various sea lochs ahead.

To be honest though most of the road is dull. It has the feeling of an A-road and traffic is fast, but with a wide verge and some bizarre warning signs. For example one warning sign says “Gritting Vehicles Turning”. Does this happen often enough to warrant it’s own sign? Bizarre.

Apart from the odd gap in the trees there is nothing to see and it’s quite dull so it is a relief to come to the roundabout at the entrance to Coulport which is also a junction with the B833 so I am back on public roads and am glad no one bothered me for walking on the MOD road.

The entrance to the naval base is, as you might expect, high security but I did stop to take a photo (probably not something the MOD are keen on!).

Back beside Loch Long a large fence protrudes into the loch too presumably to prevent anyone from trying to walk in along the beach.

The road intermittently follows right along the loch shore, which is mostly a shingle and rock beach.

I soon reach a tiny settlement called Letter with some large houses. I wonder what they must make of the MOD base right alongside!

I continue into another small settlement, Peaton and then Knockderry. The road is not too busy though I suspect at the time of a shift change at the MOD base it might be different!

Time is getting on now and there is a bus along this road now (and quite a frequent one), which even runs on Sunday so I don’t need to aim for anywhere specific to end the walk now.

When I come to the start of the village of Cove, just south of Knockderry Castle there is a proper marked bus stop by some houses so I decide to make this the end of this walk. I can get the bus back to here tomorrow. I don’t have long to wait for a bus (the next would be in an hour), which takes me to Helensburgh where I can take the train to Glasgow and this time I head back to Paisley Gilmour Street and walked back to the hotel rather than take the expensive airport express bus.

This walk turned out to be far better than expected as I was able to avoid the A814 for most of the way and the Three Lochs Way was a lovely path too. That did mean going on a few MOD roads with possibly dubious public access but fortunately I wasn’t challenged for doing it!

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

There are no direct services between Cove and Arrochar. Instead you can either travel via Helensburgh or Garelochhead. There are buses between Cove and Garelochhead and Helensburgh and trains and buses between Helensburgh and Garelochhead and Arrochar.

Garelochhead Coaches route 316 : Coulport – Cove – Kilcreggan – Clynder – Garelochhead – Faslane – Shandon – Rhu – Helensburgh. Every hour, Monday – Saturday. Approximately once every 2 hours on Sunday. It takes a little over 45 minutes to travel between Helensburgh and Cove and around 25 minutes between Garelochhead and Cove.

Garelochhead Coaches route 302 : Helensburgh (Central and Upper stations) – Luss – Tarbet – Arrochar – Succoth – Rest and be Thankful – Lochgoilhead – Carrick Castle. 3 buses per day Monday – Saturday. Note that if you wish to use the last of these services, you must telephone 01436 810 200 by 4pm to request this service runs, as it only runs by request. There is no service on Sunday. It takes around 40 minutes to travel between Helensburgh and Arrochar.

ScotRail Trains West Highland Line : Glasgow (Queen Street) – Dalmuir – Dumbarton Central – Helensburgh Upper – Garelochhead – Arrochar and Tarbet – Ardlui – Crainlarich. Here trains usually divide, with one part going to Oban and another to Mallaig via Fort William. Trains run approximately 6 times per day Monday – Saturday and 4 times per day on Sundays. It takes around 30 minutes to travel between Helensburgh Upper and Arrochar and Tarbet station. It takes around 20 minutes to travel between Garelochhead and Arrochar and Tarbet. Note that buses from Cove stop outside Helensburgh Central station. From there it is a little over half a mile walk to Helensburgh Upper station which is the station served by trains on this line.

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

Here is a map of this walk:-