Follow an easy track along the west side of Bute with great views across the Kyles to Kames and Tighnabruaich in Cowal. The interest is in the various diversions from the track to visit the remains of several chambered cairns and the ruins of a chapel.
Summary
Sometimes muddy but fairly level track to Kilmichael. Visiting the archaeological remains involve detours from this uphill through woods and fields.
Terrain
Users'
rating
No public transport to the start. The walk could be started from Ettrick Bay, adding
4km each way.
Open Traveline Scotland
Public transport
1. This walk can be started from beautiful Ettrick Bay, the finest beach on Bute, by walking four kilometres along the minor road to Glecknabae - and back. There is little traffic and the views are good. From the car park at Glecknabae it is worth a short diversion on the path to the stony beach on the left for the views down the Kyles to Arran. Begin the walk by heading through the gate and following the track past a large cattle barn.
2. After seven hundred metres a wooden signpost indicates the start of a detour to the right to visit the long cairn of Cairnbaan. This involves a steep climb through the woods for six hundred metres; to make it, cross the stile and follow the path uphill, first with a tiny burn on the right and further on a slightly bigger burn on the left, complete with waterfall. There are infrequent marker posts; near the top of the wood the path bears left across a footbridge and the cairn is just beyond. Cairnbaan is thirty metres long and contained several cists or small chambers - there is one visible in the centre and one towards the west end. Return from the cairn back down to the track and continue along it.
3. Continue along the track, ignoring a stile on the right with a 'Pass' sign. Eventually a muddy track goes off to the left; this is worth a very short detour to a shingle beach for the views. Beyond the shingle beach, across the rocks, is an inlet from where a ferry once operated across the Kyle to the village of Kames in clear view opposite. Returning to the track, the next detour is a very short one to the cluster of rocks in an unfenced field. This is St Michael's Grave, another chambered cairn dating back to between 4000 and 2000 BC.
Photo: © Hamish Kirkpatrick, under CC licence
4. Return to the track once more and continue past a white cottage. A short distance beyond, a rough track goes off sharply to the right, climbing the hillside behind the cottage. Take this, going through a gate and continuing ahead to the end of the trees. The track, from here just tyre-marks in the grass, bends left. Continue up it, bearing left of it to look for the Glenvoiden Cairn. This can be hard to spot; it is situated on the left edge of one of the patches of gorse, not far from a telegraph pole. Glenvoiden Cairn is thought to be 5000 years old; finely decorated pots were found in a cist within. Today the main visible remains are two upright slabs with a capstone on the grass nearby. Once more, return to the track.
Photo: © Elliot Simpson, under CC licence
5. Continue along the track almost to Kilmichael Farm. Before reaching it, turn left through a gate and also cross the second gate to reach the other side of a fence. Follow the fence down the field, taking care not to disturb any livestock, eventually bearing left to visit the remains of St Michael's Chapel in a walled enclosure, an early Christian site. There are views to the attractive village of Tighnabruaich from here. Return back to the track and retrace your steps back to the minor road to Glecknabae.
Photo: © Andrew Mitchell, under CC licence
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