This easy-going circuit on forest tracks visits Loch Àrd including the remains of a small crannog. The return leg's once superb views over the loch to Ben Lomond are becoming obscured by trees.
Bog Factor
Well graded forestry tracks throughout. The route is not waymarked.
Kinlochard car park.
None to start.
NN447020
Start from the Kinlochard car park which is towards the west end of Loch Àrd. To reach it, turn off the main road and drive through Kinlochard, passing the houses; just before the end of the public road turn right along a track to reach a (signed) car park in the forest. From the car park return to the road and turn right heading along the private road. Ignore a path off right, and a track off left that leads to the sailing club. The track then climbs; continue past Blairhullichan.
Keep straight on where a track heads down to Couligarten to the left, and stay on the main track to keep right of the houses at Strathard. After around 200m beyond a white corrugated iron house there's a junction - turn left on the track here, soon leading past a vehicle barrier. The track passes through rhododendron as well as native trees before heading through more open ground. Eventually the track comes close to the water at Couligarten Bay.
At the next junction turn left, then, as the water is reached, follow the track as it swings to the right again. From here it is possible to head down to the shore for a better view of the crannog. The small artificial island, on which an iron-age round house would have stood, can be seen in the water to the left of the much larger Eilean Gorm. Continue along the track as it keeps above the shoreline of the loch. A seat at the corner makes a good viewpoint.
Follow the track round, now with good views along the loch in the opposite direction, until you reach a T-junction. A right turn here would provide a quicker return route if a shortcut is needed, soon rejoining the outward route. But to continue the full walk, turn left and follow the track as it climbs gently uphill, ignoring a smaller turning to the left and another on the right (this was a short-cut but turns into a path which has become very overgrown). Keep right at the next fork in the track after another 600m, then after a further 500m take two right turns in fairly quick succession. You are now following the Statue Labour Road - a waymarked cycle route that begins in Aberfoyle and leads on to Kinlochard and Stronachlachar.
The track crosses the northern side of Bad Dearg; ignore a track off left. There's a bench here which once had a fantastic view down Loch Àrd and Ben Lomond, now increasingly obscured by trees. Eventually a cross-roads is reached; turn right here, signed for Statue Labour Road Kinlochard.
At a fork keep right to head downhill, leaving the Statute Labour Road and heading downhill. The track soon reaches the point where you turned off earlier in the walk. Continue straight on and retrace your steps along the private road back to Kinlochard.
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