Stage 1: Portavadie to Tighnabruaich

1. The Cowal Way begins at Portavadie, the tiny port which is joined to Tarbert in Kintyre by a regular ferry service. Start by heading up the main concrete road from the pier; after about four hundred metres a Cowal Way sign and a footpath sign for Loch Ascog indicate a left turn onto a wide forestry track. Follow this track uphill for around seven hundred metres to where a signed path goes off to the right. The path crosses a recently felled area of forest so follow any signed diversions. It heads through the bracken and round the edge of a clearing and heads gently uphill and bending right.

2. The path, which is boggy in places, keeps well above two whitewashed cottages on the shores of Loch Asgog before descending to reach the loch at the ruins of Asgog Castle. This was a stronghold of Clan Lamont, dating from the fifteenth century, but was sacked and destroyed by the Campbells in 1646. Follow the path northeast - it was once a track but has deteriorated badly; at one point it passes through a gate with a warning that Bulls are in the field ahead. A more immediate problem here it getting past the gate as this part of the path has become waterlogged.

3. The path disappears completely in the grassy fields. Climb across the field, aiming about half-way between Auchoirk Cottages and the loch and passing through a boggy area overgrown with reeds. Once beyond the cottages their access track can be picked up for easier going. Follow this down to reach the B8000, and then turn right along the road to the crossroads in Millhouse. Turn left at this road junction, signed for Kames and Tighnabruaich. The ruins to the right of the road are all that remains of a gunpowder works which operated here until 1921.

4. Cross the road bridge over the burn and head uphill to a bend in the road at the attractive whitewashed cottage of Cladh a Mhuillin Lodge. The striking memorial records the names of sixteen workers who were killed in gunpowder explosions at the factory; it is topped by the bell which once marked the working day. Beneath the memorial is a cannon that was used to test the strength of the gunpowder. To continue the Cowal Way, head through the gate straight ahead, signed as a public footpath to the Tank Landing Site and Golf Course - this old right of way was once used to export the gunpowder.

5. Unfortunately there is no path but the route heads straight ahead, keeping the fence on your right. The field is very boggy; keep ahead in the same direction, passing through a gate and still with the fence on the right. At the end of the next field the direct route ahead is blocked by rampant shrubbery and a Cowal Way marker points the way, cutting across the corner of the field to the left and aiming for a small pedestrian gate. This last section of the field is completely waterlogged for much of the year and wet feet are probably inevitable. The gate gives access to a golf course.

6. Head to the right along the edge of the fairway towards the green. From the near side of the green, follow the ditch left across the fairway, then following a rough track and to reach the left edge of a plantation. At the trees, ignore a track from the left and follow the main track to reach a better track at a right-angled bend - keep straight ahead onto this track. It curves to the left and right - look out for a low Cowal Way and Walkers Welcome sign beside an old tee that indicates the start of a path downhill into the woods. Head down this path, heading through fine, twisted old oak woods with some grand views across the Kyles to the island of Bute. Follow the path as it descends across the back of the houses of Kames, eventually reaching the road at the southernmost end of the village.

7. Turn left along the road past the houses. Ignore turnings to the left, keeping to the shore road until it rises in a zag-zag behind the Kames Hotel. Follow the road uphill to reach a cross-roads by the Post Office. Turn right here and follow the B8000 back down to the shore in Tighnabruaich. Continue along the coastal road past the fine houses dating back to the village's origin as a Victorian holiday resort. After a little over a mile the centre of Tighnabruaich is reached where the road leaves the shore briefly to make a short main street.

Photo: erwlas

Next stage: Tighnabruaich to Clachan of Glendaruel

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