Cowal Peninsula Highlights

Cowal Gateway to Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park

Plan a Visit to Cowal

Cowal Peninsula is one of my favourite parts of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs; this guide introduces this beautiful area, picking out some highlights to visit.

 

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Cowal Road Trip

I compiled this guide from a visit on a sunny spring Saturday, with a full-day circular trip, calling in at points of interest and enjoying short walks between.

Hopefully, this guide will tempt you to consider visiting Argyll Forest on the Cowal Peninsula. There is much to see and do and comparatively with other park areas is much quieter. A great way to plan your trip is with our photo/guidebook, ‘101 things to do in Loch Lomond & The Trossachs’. In it, you will find lots of ideas of things to see and do including lots in Cowal. Click here to purchase.

Lauder Memorial

This guide starts at the point where you re-enter the National Park, near Glenbranter. Shortly after, the gateway sign was the first stop and a visit to the Lauder Memorial.

Camping by Loch Long at Ardentinny

Ardentinny

A few miles on and a left turn to drive along the five-mile single track road to Ardentinny.

Ardentinny looked glorious in the early morning sunshine. A few of the overnight campers were getting out of their tents and campervans to cook breakfast. I was tempted to walk to Carrick Castle but resisted to save for another day.

Helpful to note that there are toilets in both the Forestry Land Scotland car park and village car park. 

Ardentinny, on Loch Long

Blairmore Pier

Blairmore, Loch Long

The single track Shore Road runs alongside Loch Long, with Blairmore the next stop. Blairmore Pier was having repairs, so there was no access onto it.

Kilmun on Holy Loch

Kilmun

The next destination is Kilmum, via Shore Road. The loch on the left becomes Holy Loch. Lots to report in a soon to be published guide to Kilmun, including visits to St Munns Parish Church and Kilmun Arboretum.

I had planned to get some lunch at Benmore Botanic Garden, but according to their website, the cafe is closed this season, so I drove the short distance to Dunoon.

St Munns Church, Kilmun

Puck's Glen, Cowal Penninsula

Puck’s Glen

Back into the National Park, this time heading to Puck's Glen. It was an enjoyable climb along the Victorian walkway alongside the impressive gorge. There are so many photo stops that you don't realise how high you've climbed until you return. I came back using the path through the forest.

Takeaways at Benmore Botanic Garden

Benmore Botanic Garden

I did stop in at Benmore Botanic Garden, sadly not enough time to look around, but I did get ice cream from their outside catering van. It also sells toasties, so I needn't have gone to Dunoon after all. The car park was reasonably busy, which was notable as everywhere else had been so quiet.

Loch Eck, Cowal Penninsula

Loch Eck

The next scheduled stop was Glenbranter, although the views of Loch Eck from laybys and Jubilee Point tempted a few additional stops for photographs.

Waterfall Trail, Glenbranter

Glenbranter

Onto Glenbranter, where the information centre is closed, but the toilets are open. I opted for the waterfall trail and lugged my tripod to get some photographs of the waterfalls. The yellow markered trail also takes in a wildlife hide where if lucky you can see Red Squirrels and Deer.

Now I was back where I had started this morning. Good to see some of the Cowal highlights, including the communities of Ardentinny, Blairmore and Kilmun. Plus the opportunity to walk along some trails at Puck's Glen and Glenbranter. It's worth noting that Kilmun Arboretum, Puck's Glen and Benmore Botanic Garden are all connected by forestry paths.

On my next visit to Glenbranter, I will bring my bike to tackle the trail alongside Loch Eck. There is so much to do on Cowal. Lots more than what is covered here and what I have mentioned often deserve longer visits.

The purpose of my trip was a long overdue visit to Argyll Forest and to see what had changed and update various guides. The trip also inspired ideas for new guides, which I will work publish soon. When returning to Loch Lomond, I passed through Luss and saw that it was jam-packed with cards. I read that the same had been true at Rowardennan, Ben A'an, Bracklinn Falls and Balmaha.

I hadn't had any problems parking. In fact, on my various walks, I'd hardly seen a soul. So do consider Cowal as a way to go somewhere a bit quieter. Remember also that you can get a ferry to Dunoon from Gourock.

Thanks for reading

Words and photography by Paul Saunders. Visit Paul’s Marketing and Photography websites for details of his services in Scotland.

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