John Muir Way: Helensburgh to Balloch

Saturday 23rd August 2025

A few years ago, while studying a map of the long distance trails in Scotland, I came up with an idea to combine several trails into an awesome trek across the central belt of Scotland and down the east coast into Northumberland. The first trail, and taking up more than half the distance, is the John Muir Way, which starts in Helensburgh at the mouth of the Clyde. John Muir was a nineteenth century naturalist who pioneered the environmental movement, especially in the United States. He was born in Dunbar, in Scotland, but while still a child he immigrated to North America where he campaigned for the formation of the first national parks. The John Muir Way follows his final journey from Dunbar to the Firth of Clyde where he set sail for America. However, rather than following in his steps, the trail is usually done in the other direction, retracing John Muir’s journey, starting from Helensburgh. I had a troublesome journey up to Scotland, starting with train strikes on the line to Birmingham, which forced me to travel Friday evening and stay in the Backpacker’s Hostel before the catching the train to Scotland early the following morning, which arrived in Glasgow late, but I eventually reached Helensburgh where I was finally able to begin my trek across Scotland. First, I made my way onto the pier from where the steamers used to set sail across the Atlantic, though not anymore and the pier is now deteriorating. The start of the trail is on the landward side of the pier beside a memorial to John Muir and from there it heads up the hill, through the town and away from the coast.

The trail took me past some grand houses, around Helensburgh Upper Station, and on to reach Hill House, which is regarded as an architectural masterpiece, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, but I couldn’t see it as it was covered in scaffolding and I wasn’t there to look around houses. Instead I headed through a strip of woodland along the edge of Helensburgh that brought me onto the main road to walk along a cycle path beside it, which was enlivened by many wild flowers including crocosmia, rosebay willowherb and knapweed. I knew I was not going to be traversing any mountains on this holiday, so the sight to the north of the hills of the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park filled me with a longing to be heading in that direction, but I needed gentle walks on this holiday so maybe this was for the best. I had hardly done any walking over the summer, since completing the Cambrian Way at the beginning of June, partly due to the heat, but also stress and poor sleep, so my primary goal for this holiday was just to let go of the noise of everyday life and embrace life on the trail. There is nothing better for me than walking and I had loved doing the Cambrian Way so it had been a shock for me to return to normal life afterwards. Now that I was finally back on the trail I could let it do its miraculous work on my psyche. When I eventually came off the cycle path I turned onto a path that is often closed for tree felling, so I was curious to see what I would find. I had expected a thick conifer plantation, but instead deciduous trees lined the path while the conifers were so young I could see over their tops which let me see more of the mountains to the north and of Loch Lomond to the east.

Despite the overcast skies, this was a picturesque walk with the purple flowers of devil’s bit scabious and heather adding to the scene as I crossed Bannachra Muir gradually climbing around Ben Bowie. On the eastern slopes I came across a barrier across the forestry track and a sign that indicated there were felling operations ahead and I would need to take a diversion. This forced me to descend back towards Helensburgh along a great path with stunning views across the Firth of Clyde while heather lined the path. Before returning to Helensburgh the diversion eventually took me left across the hillside on a tedious, wide track to reach a farmer’s road and finally climb back up the hill, past the farm and eventually return to the John Muir Way below Killoeter escarpment. This diversion took me over an hour and was very tiring, so I relieved to be back on the trail, which soon led me onto Stoneymollan Muir with views down to Loch Lomond and the end of this stage of the trail, in Balloch. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures at this point so I have nothing to preserve the memory of that delightful descent until I reached a line of trees that marked my coming off the moor and onto a road that led me into Balloch. This fabulous descent started my treatment to refresh my body from the summer’s hardships and by the time I reached the bottom I felt much better.

The John Muir Way took me over the busy A82 road and into the Loch Lomond Shores complex, which I had previously visited at the start of my first walking holiday in Scotland, back in 2004, before doing the West Highland Way. Now, I rushed past the crowds and shops and through the woodland that lines the southern tip of Loch Lomond to eventually reach the railway station in Balloch, which is at the end of the first stage of the John Muir Way. This first day of my holiday was a brief taste of the walking that was ahead of me, made a little longer due to the diversion around Gouk Hill, which I could have done without. The weather was never bad, but sunshine was rare and fleeting while persistent cloud covered the skies and ensured that it was never too hot, so this short walk was a relaxing start to my holiday.