Adventure walking on the Cowal Way

The Cowal Way – 6 days, 57 miles and 5670 ft of adventurous walking – is one of the great long distance walking trails of Argyll. It is the first stage in a continuous chain of walks offering the challenge of footing it from the Mull of Kintyre to Inverness.

Every year, the very existence of Cowalfest, with its fusion of physical and creative effort, draws attention to the Cowal Way.

While the walk takes 6 days on average to complete, fit nd experienced walkers can do it in 4 or 5 days – but anyone on this walk needs good, detailed maps. There are parts where the way marking is not obvious and there are sections of walking across open hillsides without visible paths. That’s the fun of it, of course – walking as it should be.

In character, ever day offers different landscapes as the walk runs from sea level, through the low hills of south Cowal to the high mountains and Munros of its northern heights. There are views to sea lochs and there are the discoveries of hidden hill lochs.

The Cowal Way starts at Portavadie on Loch Fyne, with its new marina and well-regarded restaurant. It then weaves its way up through this peninsula of peninsulas – like a giant hand grasping southwards, crossing east to west from Strachur to Lochgoilhead. From there it hits the most challenging section – from Lochgoilhead to Arrochar with a long and steep ascent (540m) from Lochgoilhead to the mountain pass. Now in the Arrochar Alps, the trail finishes with a passage through to Inveruglas on west Loch Lomond.

if Argyll is something of a secret, Cowal is a secret within a secret – and every part of Cowal is a secret within a secret within a secret. Its steep sided, winding glens and long sea lochs create the very different and self contained worlds of traditional communities.

Cowal is the start of the Highlands – remote, powerful, sweeping, timeless, almost empty – yet it is within easy access of Glasgow on the A83 or by ferry across the Clyde to Dunoon. Despite this ease of access, an enduring attraction of the Cowal way for walkers is the relative emptiness of the landscape. Walkers can have it all and they can more or less have it all to themselves.

Frieda Bos, whose company, About Argyll, runs guided and self-guided walking holidays, all of which start and end in Glasgow, says that one of their clients spotted no fewer than 120 species of birds on the Way. And there are red squirrels, red deer and golden eagles.

Frieda’s own favourite sections of the Cowal Way are those from Strachur to Lochgoilhead and from Lochgoilhead to Arrochar – because she particuarly enjoys the experience of walking across open hillsides.

About Argyll guides walkers to the quiet, remote corners of this intriguing area that can only be reached on foot, offering an introduction to the solitude this secret place. About Argyll also introduces walkers to the history and culture of the area – something residents met on the walks are always happy to talk about.

The groups that About Argyll takes on its hikes are small and international group (a maximum of 8 people). Its guides are well-qualified, well-informed and enthusiastic and accommodation en route is in comfortable B&Bs or hotels.

On their self-guided walks, About Argyll says no one has ever got into trouble but that some have occasionally lost their way – temporarily.

Maybe that’s the real secret of the Cowal Way. It gives us the chance to lose a way we need to lose – temporarily.