Old Road along Loch Striven

Start location: Unclassified road south of Invervegain (NS 085 772)
End location: B836, north of Ardtaraig (NS 059 829)
Geographical area: Argyll and Bute
Path Type: Rural Path
Path distance: 7km
Accessibility info: Suitable for pedestrians

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Route Description

From the telephone box at the end of the public road, the original route goes at first beside the loch. However, this line is reportedly overgrown and wet, so it may be preferable to take the estate road past the lodge, turning left about 400m later to reach and follow the shore road north and over the bridge. The route continues higher up on the hillside above the loch through attractive oak and birch woods, where pleasant stretches of grassy path alternate with some very wet and boggy sections. Waymarkers show the route at several points. A fingerpost marks the north end of the right of way on the B836.

The path is not always clear and at some points can be overgrown with bracken, so careful navigation is required to avoid getting lost. Our surveyor recommends the earlier part of the year as a good time to do this walk as the bracken will have died back.

Explore Cowal walked this old route south to north and back again in February 2015, then helpfully blogged about the experience - it's a great read with an interactive map and loads of photos.

OS Landranger 56 (Loch Lomond & Inveraray area) and 63 (Firth of Clyde area)

Heritage Information

This is a very old packhorse and possibly a cart track as well. Signs of the old terraces and hollow way are visible, and it passes ruined settlements.

A hollow way is where a section of unsurfaced road has had so much use that it has sunk down below the level of the surrounding level of land dramatically. Rainwater would have exacerbated this and eventually the surface of the road can be metres below the road boundary.

Click here to view this path on a map

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