Loch Lomond & Cowal Way, day three

Wednesday 20th May 2026

It was still raining. The previous day I had spent the whole day walking in the rain along the Loch Lomond and Cowal Way from Glendaruel to a wild camp on the pass Bealach an Lochain and the following morning it was still raining, so after breaking camp I set off along the trail past the lake Curra Lochain between the fabulous crags that are either side of the pass on the side of the mountains Beinn Lochain and Beinn Bhuela. Despite the poor, misty weather conditions there were geese on the lake, honking at me as I passed while my path under foot was excellent and dry, but this wasn’t the case beyond the lake, where the path was very boggy, which continued on the descent into a conifer plantation. It is very difficult to keep a grip on a wet, muddy path that is descending steeply, though not so in ascent. I very carefully made my way down, almost slipping over at one point, so I was relieved when I finally reached the wide forestry track at the bottom that took me over the Lettermay Burn. While looking back now, I was able to see the waterfalls on the burn Sruth Bàn, which I must have walked past on my descent but been too preoccupied with staying upright to notice, while the two mountains either side of the pass looked even more impressive from further away, even in the misty conditions due to their abundance of visible rock. My descent continued down forestry tracks until I eventually reached the road around the head of Loch Goil where holiday homes dominated the coastline while the rain finally eased with the weather slowly improving.

Lochgoilhead seemed like a magical place to spend your holiday because it is quiet, out of the way, a difficult place to get to, so would hopefully not be too overrun with tourists, but maybe if I had been there in better weather I would have seen what it is really like. A narrow lane hugged the coast between the loch and a caravan park before reaching the River Goil where I had to follow this upstream for a distance before finding a bridge. At high tide, I would need to have kept to the road, but that was not necessary so after crossing the bridge I followed the coast into the centre of the village where unfortunately I didn’t stop, but turned left up a lane that steepened to reach an area of rhododendrons. After turning left, a wide, gently rising path took me pleasantly into a conifer plantation, leading me to a dramatic landscape at a crossing of the Allt Airigh na Creige with many waterfalls at its meeting with the Donich Water. I lingered there, taking a few pictures, before continuing to climb through the trees, which became increasingly steep as I toiled up an ascent reminiscent of many I have done in the past. The path zigzagged ingeniously beside a stream until eventually, after leaving the plantation behind, the path became less distinct and boggier with my route guided by white painted posts. During my frequent stops for a breath I now had views over the trees towards the hills the other side of Loch Goil and in the improving weather they looked spectacular, basking in the sunshine that had now come out.

The relentless climb eventually eased and I came to the top of the pass, which is the highest on the whole trail. North of the pass was the Brack, which I had previously climbed in 2022 from this point, so when I began to descend into Coilessan Glen I was retracing my steps of four years ago. Many of the trees I had passed on that occasion had now been felled leaving a desolate wasteland that caused me a few difficulties. Once the steep descent had ended I found my way blocked by young trees, which either crowded out my path or had fallen across it, so when I was once more back on forestry tracks my route down became a lot easier, eventually leading me to a road. I was now near Loch Long, heading north with the sun finally making an appearance, which prompted me to take off all my waterproofs. The contrast in this day was quite remarkable with rain at the start of the day, but now, with all my waterproofs folded up in my rucksack, I was enjoying the sunshine. After a while I came to a path that branched off the road and led me down to the shore of Loch Long heading towards the impressive Ardgarton Hotel, turning left before then to pass a fabulous bank of bluebells.

As great as the sight of the bluebells was, I couldn’t help feeling a bit blasé about them since I had been seeing many of them for over a month and at home they had gone to seed a long time ago. Even just on this holiday I had been seeing bluebells every day, so it was becoming nothing special, which is a shame because bluebells are always a wonderful sight. Eventually I reached the car park in Glen Croe where the trail took me across the busy A83 trunk road and along an excellent path that weaved across the hillside slowly gaining height past fabulous vegetation until I eventually reached a conifer plantation and joined a forestry track. This track led me to a radio mast where a wide, gravel path zigzagged back down to the A83 and the shore of Loch Long, where I rounded the head to reach the village of Arrochar. From this point the Loch Lomond and Cowal Way heads north through Glen Loin to reach Loch Lomond at Inveruglas where there used to be a ferry to take you across Loch Lomond, but since this no longer runs there is no point. Instead, I considered the Loch Lomond and Cowal Way complete at this point so, after having some fish & chips, I headed through the woods above the village, surrounded by bluebells, to get to the railway station of Arrochar & Tarbet. There was a lot of road walking on this trail, though it passes through some beautiful countryside or it would have been if I’d been able to see more of it, without the weather interfering. My main problem with the Loch Lomond and Cowal Way is that it is too short, but for me it was only a good start to much more walking to come.