So very kindly they have replaced our stile for us – unfortunately instead of just putting a replacement stile to the left of the path where it is dry, they have decided to put a swanky new gate in. Unfortunately, they’ve put it to the right of the path, in an area which in anything but the driest of weather is basically a stream. And they’ve removed the original stile so now you either have to hop over a fence or get your feet wet.

There really are some idiots in this world.

R and I just walked along the lochside rather than going up the mountain today as the weather was surpassingly foul. All day, waves of rain and sleet have been battering on the house, driven by gale force winds – so much that last night I couldn’t sleep because it sounded as though the roof was going to come off. Eventually we went for a walk during a ‘nice’ spell after lunch. We nearly made it home without getting wet – and then five minutes from home, the sleet hit us and only being clad from head to toe in waterproofs saved us from getting soaked.

Tonight when I went out to put nuts out for the creatures the wind had dropped and it was cold with some stars overhead. Tomorrow we are supposed to be going to get snow.

I got to Corran and ate half my sandwich looking at the loch – though I have no idea of what has happened to the picnic table which was there until recently – it is not the kind of thing that you would think someone would steal, but there was no sign of it. I then pressed on and soon the path (forestry road at this point) was running along side Loch Long. I had been a bit concerned from the map that there were a lot of different forestry roads intersecting, but in fact it is very clearly signposted.

As a slight digression – someone had placed a portaloo cabin every couple of miles along the whole route. Now call me old-fashioned, but I would be no more likely to use a portaloo when out in the wilderness with all those perfectly good bushes around than I would be to buy a bottle of water when there is a stream nearby. So if that was the council that put them there, I have to say that it is a right waste of public money that could be put to a lot of better uses. Also while I am on a rant, it was sad to see what a mess human beings have made of the other side of the Loch with all the military installations there. Rant over now.

I pressed on. It was now early afternoon and getting very warm. I stopped for the other half of my lunch at the turning to Coilessan glen, and suddenly decided that as it was such a nice day, I would walk back over the high pass and save R picking me up. This was a lovely part of the walk, although I really was a bit unwise to do it, as the pass goes over 500m between the Brack and Cnoc Coinnich, and I didn’t really have the right clothes with me if the clouds came down. Anyway, all was well, although I got my trainers very muddy and really missed my walking pole. There were some great views walking up through the woods, and one of the pernicious portaloos had fallen into a crevasse so that was good. The path stops being good at the end of the forestry, and there is a bleak stretch between the mountains which in true Cowal Way tradition is only very intermittently marked with white poles. Personally I wouldn’t like to do this bit on my own in bad weather. The path then drops back through the forestry at the other side on a very wet muddy path, and descends to Lochgoilhead via the Donich Waterfalls.

Having left at 9am, I was home by 4pm having walked 23km with 1375m ascent.

A little footsore now, but looking forward to tomorrow and Beinn Cruachan.

We’ve been wanting to do this one since we moved in, but it is a bit awkward because it is really too far (9 miles each way) to easily walk out and back, and because the buses don’t run at weekends, it has had to wait for R to be on holiday.

Anyway, it is mostly a nice walk, starting on a very quiet road, and moving on to forestry roads. Very gradually the route rises to about 350m, by which point unfortunately, it has left the good path and hit a mixture of bog and marsh grass. We’ve not had much rain of late, but it was still extremely boggy, to the extent that I wonder if it would be passible after a period of heavy rain. The path runs beside a small lochan (Cura Lochain) situated between Beinn Bheula and Beinn Lochain (how confusing is it that within 10 miles there are two ‘Lochains’ – Beinn Lochain and Beinn an Lochain) and today it was boggy, the clouds were low and it was rainy and cold. So not very inviting and I was glad R was there because the lochan looked like just the sort of place where a each-uisig (gaelic lake monster) might jump out and get you.

We pushed on back down the hill to the forestry path and an hour later were home, rather cold and wet. I really think the Cowal Way needs some serious work – there is not much point in a long distance ‘footpath’ if it is just a general indication of where you might want to walk rather than a track which has actually been properly marked and improved in places.

Tomorrow we are going to Bute.

The picture shows a typical stretch of the ‘path’ near Beinn Bheula.

It was not a bad day (by which I mean it wasn’t raining) although cold and rather overcast. The first part of the route is along a tarmacked road which leads to a hotel that seems to be owned by the ‘Lochs and Glens’ tour group – an impressive building and a lovely location by the side of Loch Long. From there the road turns into a Forestry track and turns upwards into woodland. After a while there are some nice views back down the hill.

After a moderately steep ascent, the forestry is left behind, and a style leads out on to the moorland. We were a bit surprised that there were no further signs (not that there had been any signs marking the Cowal Way specifically anyway – but there had been a couple signposted Lochgoilhead), only a few widely separated posts. Also the path had almost totally disappeared, leaving a wet walk up what felt like the bed of a stream up to the top. Although we are well in to spring now – it was pretty bleak up there with snow on the tops of the mountains, and Benn Donich looking tall and grim.

There were also some fantastic views back down to Lochgoilhead.

From there, the path continued almost unmarked, steep and slippy down to whIere it joined our familiar forestry track near the loch.

We had a great walk, but we did find it a bit surprising that apart from a single sign just outside Lochgoilhead itself – we did not see a single marker for the Cowal way. Having done the West Highland way a few times, it seems a shame that this one (Which seems from the small section we did to be just as good) – can’t be have the same type of way markers on it.

Also – I wouldn’t personally do this stage of the way if there had been a lot of recent rain – it had been dry for a few days before we did it, and the path (such as it was) was virtually impassable in places.