Inverary castle Duke of Argyll
The Argyll Loop
HIGHLAND
COAST
WILDLIFE
GARDENS
Five nights along the Argyll peninsula, where the lochs reach so far inland it stops feeling like the same country. A morning at one of Scotland's great west-coast gardens, an oyster lunch on Loch Fyne, and a final crossing to a small island the ferry only visits twice a week — the kind of week that ends in a different rhythm than it began.
A sense of the days
ARRIVAL — GLASGOW
Met at the airport. North along Loch Lomond — the western side is the better one. Lunch at a small hotel in Tarbet. On to Inveraray by evening. The first sight of the castle across the loch is worth slowing down for.
1
INVERARAY AND THE LOCH ROAD
Morning at the Duke of Argyll's house, Inveraray Castle. Still lived in with an armoury hall that nobody photographs because it's too dark to photograph. Lunch on the water. Afternoon at Crarae Garden where Himalayan plants line a glen that runs down to the loch.
2
TO OBAN AND THE BOATS
Down the loch to Oban. A short ferry to Kerrera, the small island that holds the harbour in its lee. A half-day walk before lunch back in Oban. Afternoon at the distillery in town. A hotel on the front for the night.
3
A DAY ON MULL
The early ferry to Mull. Across the island to Calgary Bay — the beach the Canadian city is named after, and not the other way around. Lunch at a small place on the water. Back on the late afternoon ferry. Dinner in Oban.
4
KILMARTIN GLEN AND EASDALE
South to Kilmartin Glen. Five thousand years of prehistoric monuments in a long, flat valley, more concentrated than anywhere else in Britain. Lunch in the village. Afternoon to Easdale, a slate island reached by an old fishing boat, where the garden walls are made of slate offcuts.
5
DEPARTURE
South via the Crinan Canal. It’s small enough to walk along, long enough to give the day shape. Lunch en route. Glasgow airport by mid-afternoon.