Walk in depth: Cowal Way

When the Cowal Way was extended to meet with the West Highland Way, it bridged the gap in an epic walking route from the Mull of Kintyre to Inverness. Paul Lamarra went to investigate, with photographer Steve Morgan capturing the route’s beauty…

The ferry across Loch Fyne from Tarbert to Portavadie is just long enough to contemplate the loch’s deep dark waters, the black clouds massed on Arran’s sharp peaks and Cowal’s empty coastline looming ahead. It was the last leg of a four-hour journey from Glasgow that took me north by bus around the heads of Loch Long and Loch Fyne, before turning south towards Kintyre. It’s a watery world of long sea lochs and narrow peninsulas, in which journeys by boat often make more sense than those by roads forced to follow the contorted coastline. As we closed in on Portavadie, I could see lumber piled up on the quay and a Norwegian supply vessel moored by the pier, giving Portavadie the flavour of a remote Arctic outpost despite being less than 64km/40 miles from Glasgow. From loch to shock So it was with more than the usual tinge of excitement that I walked down the ramp and up the slipway into an apparently empty country to follow the Cowal Way – a 91km/57-mile walking route that follows the rising ground north via Tighnabruaich, Glendaruel and Arrochar to Loch Lomond.

Around the first bend however, I was delivered a shock – an inner city housing estate of windowless flats rotting on the hillside above Portavadie. Built in the 1970s for the workforce at the new oil platform fabrication yard on Loch Fyne, it was a product of the brave new world of North Sea oil and the tide of prosperity that was going to wash over Scotland. The houses were never occupied and are soon to be demolished. The huge dry dock where the oil rigs were to be built is now a snazzy new marina. Along with sailing, there is a hope that walking can be part of a new and more sustainable economy. The difficulty for Cowal is that it is not high on a long list of Scottish walking destinations and its credentials are taking time to establish. Working hard alongside the Cowal Way is Cowalfest, an annual walking and arts festival, now in its seventh year and supported by Inverclyde Ramblers. This year it hopes to attract more than 900 walkers and surpass the £100,000 brought in by last year’s festival. Certainly the view that opened up, once I had gained the high ground between Loch Fyne and the narrow sea loch known as the Kyles of Bute, is one that should have no problem attracting walkers. Sparsely populated, the landscape is on the cusp between wild and pastoral. Ahead sits the Isle of Bute: green and serene in waters so sheltered that the sails on the many yachts hung about their masts like wet washing. Looking south across the Firth of Clyde, Arran resembled a hologram oscillating between a dark silhouette and the three-dimensional image of sharp ridges and rocky peaks shaded in pink and grey. The bracken, though, was high in places and the grass around Loch Asgog was deep and barely disturbed – a sure sign that walkers are not yet coming through in significant numbers.

Later on, between Millhouse and Tighnabruaich, the track disappeared into a bog that was thigh-deep in places. Establishing the route To be fair to the Cowal Way, it is a classic chicken-and-egg situation. The route needs more walkers to persevere through these difficulties so that it can prove its wider appeal. Then it might attract the necessary funding to keep the bracken back and install duckboard over the very boggy bits. More extensive signing, a newly-published guidebook and this year’s extension from Arrochar to Loch Lomond to form a link between the Kintyre Way and the West Highland Way (see box out, page 64), all help to solidify the concept. But, ultimately, it is only through regular use that the Cowal Way will become firmly established. Lacking official long-distance path status, the development of the way has been entirely down to the heroic efforts of James McLuckie – a retired army man, owner of an adventure business based in Cowal, and chairman of the tiny Colintraive community council. “Initially, I thought this was a walk that I enjoyed and I thought was worth doing, ” said McLuckie. “But then it struck me that the honeypot destinations, such as the Lake District and Fort William, were full. So it seemed reasonable to me that creating the Cowal Way would be a good way of persuading some of these people off the beaten track and into Cowal. ” Ten years on, the new guidebook is increasing footfall and McLuckie hopes businesses along the way will feel the benefit – something that’s now become increasingly urgent. “The Glendaruel hotel has closed – a big loss to the community – and helping to sustain places such as this was exactly what we had in mind when we first decided to push on with the idea of the Cowal Way, ” added McLuckie.

Yet Cowal is by no means devoid of visitors. Since the early days, when Glaswegians holidayed on the Firth of Clyde, Cowal has been popular with a discerning cognoscenti who valued its tranquillity, locally caught seafood and – more recently – its excellent sailing opportunities. Tighnabruaich, in particular, has always been popular with well-heeled sailors. Large yachts are a permanent feature in the bay and their spending power is eagerly anticipated in the handful of galleries and gift shops. Rocky shores and highland crags I may not have been leaving Tighnabruaich with a watercolour under my arm, but on my overnight stay I had contributed at least £75 to the local economy. And it was a small price to pay to enjoy the morning walk through Tighnabruaich and then north by the shoreline of the Kyles of Bute and Loch Riddon. Beyond the old promenade, out past the last remaining wooden pier where visitors from Glasgow disembark from their steamer to the robust strains of a rousing German oompa band, I took up the Cowal Way again. Following the old road that mimics every nuance of the rocky shoreline, it’s clear that the natural beauty of the ancient oak woodland clinging to the steep hillside on my right and the seaweed strewn foreshore had been ‘improved’ to conform to a Victorian sense of the picturesque. The rhododendron bushes, the private slipways flanked by grand sandstone gateposts, pretty cottages painted in bright marine colours and decorative lighthouses gave the landscape a sense of elegant parkland and my stride settled down to a dignified stroll.

My carefree wandering was, though, often disrupted by the need to clamber over and squeeze between the giant boulders that littered the hillside and beach. At times the path was steep and narrow but fixed ropes were on hand to help. If the Cowal Way excels at anything, it’s that no two sections are the same and the character is constantly changing as it progresses north. From the end of Loch Riddon, the way enters Glendaruel – an ample Highland glen flanked by steadily growing hills. Each of the next two days started with a climb. The first from Glendaruel over to Glenbranter is straightforward enough; but the walk from Strachur over to Loch Goil requires care and an ability to navigate. There were now crags at close quarters and the sound of fast-flowing water had replaced the gentle lapping of the sea lochs. Although geologically Cowal is entirely Highland, only now was its character unmistakable as the surrounding hills stretched upwards to over 914m/3,000ft. It was an exciting end to the route and, judging by the number of walkers, hotels and caravan sites I encountered in the final miles, it was clear that this end of the Cowal Way at least is already a honeypot. The Cowal Way is not yet a polished product: the need for investment is in places obvious. But the people that have taken it this far continue to believe in it and are ambitious. All they need now is you.

TIME/DISTANCE: Allow 5–6 days to walk the 94km/57miles from Portavadie to Loch Lomond.

MAPS: OS Explorer 362,363, 364; Landranger 62,63,55,56 (extension not yet marked).

TRAVEL TO: Scottish Citylink (✆ 08705505050, www.citylink.co.uk) runs a bus service from Glasgow to Tarbert (Kintyre) and on the return from Sloy/Inveruglas. Calmac operates a half-hourly ferry (✆ 08000 66 5000, www.calmac.co.uk) from Tarbert to Portavadie – the start point of the Cowal Way.

TRAVEL AROUND: The 477 bus service connects Portavadie, Tighnabruaich and Colintraive; the 488 service runs from
Portavadie to Dunoon (0871 200 22 33, www.travelinescotland.com).

GUIDES: The Cowal Way by James McLuckie and Michael Kaufmann (£10.99, www.rucsacs.com, ISBN 978 1 898481 32 4).

FURTHER INFO: www.cowalway.com; walking.visitscotland.com

DON’T MISS: Cowal Fest –the local walking and arts festival based in Dunoon takes place from 9 to 18 October 2009 (www.cowalfest.org).