ROY WHYTE samples part of a three-cornered network of connecting rural routes that serve the two small principal towns and small villages of the Cowal peninsula and isle of Bute on the Firth of Clyde
The Cowal peninsula in Argyll & Bute on Scotland’s west coast has some of the most spectacular scenery in the country and many
tiny remote communities.
The main town of Dunoon (population 4,500) can be reached in just over 1hr by train from Glasgow Central to Gourock and a 20min Firth of Clyde voyage ‘Doon the Watter’ on the Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) passenger-only vessels The Argyll Flyer or The Ali Cat. Until last summer, these catamarans were operated by subsidiary company Argyll Ferries, but are now part of the CalMac fleet, painted in its distinctive livery.
From 4 August 2008 until 2 March last year, you could also travel direct to Dunoon from Buchanan Bus Station in Glasgow in 2hr on McGill’s Clyde Flyer 907 coach via Greenock and Gourock to McInroy’s Point, a mile or so south-west of Gourock town centre, and then across the Clyde aboard Western Ferries to Hunter’s Quay, just north of Dunoon. It was cross-subsidised by other McGill’s services, which proved in the end to be unsustainable.
If …
