Isle Of Bute

6 miles / 10 km

This is a walk in two halves. The first half is down the east coast of this island to Ascog. The second half is the walk inland over Loch Ascog and then the Serpentine Road down to Rothesay again. This is a brilliant walk indeed with some excellent scenery on a clear day.

Pretty Easy

Most of this walk is flat. But there are two hard climbs at the final half of this walk. The one over to Loch Ascog is long but not steep. The climb up from Loch Ascog is short but very steep. Bring plenty of water here and some good shoes.

Train from Glasgow Central Station/Paisley/Port Glasgow 2 times an hour to Wemyss Bay. Alternative take the McGill's 901/906 bus from Glasgow/Braehead. The bus covers this distance two times slower than the train and is not recommended.

The Wemyss Bay - Rothesay ferry 1 time an hour. But check out the ferry timetable before leaving.

When leaving the ferry, take the main road, on the promenade and then the pavement, along the coast to the left. This part of the walk has some great views out of the bay.








The road now turn towards south where we meet the ferry going back to Wemyss Bay again. The views towards Toward Lighthouse and the Cowal Peninsula are great here.



The walk down the coast is really good and interesting. There is a short, small climb over a rocky outcrop near Ascog Bay. Besides that climb, this is a great flat and scenic walk as these two pictures show...






There are a couple of hundred yards of walking on the grass verge of this road before the turn off to the right at a signposted single track road. See picture below which is the beginning of this road.




The road climbs gently past a farm and between two farm fields where it starts to climb a lot more before we get the first glimpse of Loch Ascog. A very fine inland loch.



The road crests a hill and we get a dramatic view of the dam at Loch Ascog.



The road drops down to this dam and below it before it starts on the very steep climb up towards the top of this hill. The views along this climb are very good.



At the next crossroad, take the road to the right. This road takes you past the golf course and the caravan and holiday park to the top of The Serpentine Road. The road goes down to the left, signposted as unsuitable for buses and HGV vehicles. The road is zig - zag between some big walls before the real serpentine road opens up... The first picture is from above. The second picture is from below. This is one of the most remarkable roads in Europe.






The road ends at Rothesay Castle. Take the road down to the right which takes you down to the promenade and the ferry harbour. Have a walk along the promenade if you got some spare time... which you should.




Ferry back to Wemyss Bay again and the train or bus back to Glasgow/Paisley/Port Glasgow again 2 times an hour (the train) or 4 - times an hour (the bus).
Please note that the bus is bypassing Paisley by going to Braehead instead.