To Ride or Hike or Water Sport …

July 31, 2024

Round the Rosneath Peninsula

Our original plan for today was to discover and play around Loch Lomond. However after riding along the lake yesterday and winding our way through the throngs of tourists, we changed our minds. We looked at hike options and decided that our shoes weren’t meant for this kind of hiking. After chatting with our BnB host, we decided to ride south and tour the Rosneath Peninsula.

We left Arrochar heading south along the shoreline of Loch Long. The history of this loch dates back to the Vikings. They traveled up this particular loch thinking it would give them access to Loch Lomond where they would attack the clans living on the various islands. This loch doesn’t go anywhere; it just ends. The Vikings weren’t happy with this situation and they ended up carrying their boats over land to Loch Lomond! That’s a tough one to visualize.

Our route took us down a nice quiet road that our host called Whoop-d-doo lane. It’s roll-y, but not the rollers where we can gather speed to try and crest the next one. The scenery was forest with those rhododendrons on steroids (like we discovered in Ireland), and cedars and oaks.

After riding along through the forests it seemed odd and out of place to see these tankers docked.

Up the shoreline from the tankers, construction is happening on this pier. I wasn’t sure if it was all new or just an expansion.

At one point we had to climb away from the shoreline because an oil refinery was blocking the route. So we traversed over a ridge that dropped us down onto the east side of the peninsula along Gare Loch. We passed through several tiny villages and spied the large town of Helensburgh on the other side of the lake. At the most southern tip of the peninsula we stopped in the village of Kilcreggan. We were considering taking the ferry across to Gourock to spend some time exploring the village. However the ferry wasn’t due to dock for another hour. We opted to keep riding instead.

Looking south from Kilcreggan to Gourock. Gare Loch joins Loch Long at this point.

Looking southwest where Gare Loch, Loch Long, and Holy Loch are joining in the Fyrth of Clyde.

The ferry port in Kilcreggan. If you look in the distance you’ll see one of those huge cruise ships docked at Greenock.

Our next stop was in the small village of Cove. There wasn’t much of a village, but there were mansion after mansion along the road overlooking Loch Long where it merges with Holy Loch and Gare Loch. Our host used to live in one of the mansions. She said because they are so big usually 3 families would occupy one mansion. Sadly, I didn’t take any pictures of them.

In Cove I took this photo of Loch Long and it’s anchored boats.

Loch Long runs north/south. This view is looking north from Cove.

Paddle boarders are enjoying the dry weather.

Our route continued along the shores of Loch Long heading back north. We ended at the settlement of Coulport which is a naval base and the surrounding land is controlled by the Ministry of Defense. From this point we had to climb back up that ridge we rode earlier in the day. This way up was a lot longer than the other side!

We finally arrived back on that roll-y road and rode back into Arrochar. Our day was cooler than yesterday and we were under a high cloud cover. But it was another dry day and we were quite content.

Chuck’s beef burger with blood sausage and haggis. His dessert was sticky toffee pudding cheesecake. It was delicious!

My burger was venison and haggis. Burgers were washed down with a local IPA.

Day 2: Riding around Rosneath Peninsula.

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 122 km (76 miles)

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