Ardentinny – A Sandy Bay on Loch Long and a Laird's Grave
About 2 miles on foot.
Ardentinny has the longest sandy beach in Cowal, a curve of sand on Loch Long with forest behind it and hills across the water.
The Laird's Trail makes an hour of it, going round the shore of Finart Bay and then up through the trees to an old grave with a view over the loch. Bring a flask and finish on the sand.
- Time
- About an hour: a waymarked loop of 3.3 km (2 miles), graded moderate, with some fairly steep slopes.
- The path
- Wide, firm tarmac and gravel with some loose stones and a slightly uneven section, some fairly steep slopes, two gaps 0.9 metres wide and a stretch along the road. The Riverside Trail, 1.3 km, is firm tarmac and gravel and graded easy.
- Where to start
- The forest car park a mile north of Ardentinny village, just beyond the entrance to Glenfinart Caravan Park, PA23 8TS. £1 for up to an hour, £3 all day, by card or RingGo; free with a Blue Badge.
- When to go
- All year in daylight. A still, clear day shows Loch Long at its best.
- Dogs
- Under close control.
- Children
- An easy hour with a beach at the end of it. Watch children by the water and on the stretch of road.
- Toilets
- At the picnic site by the car park, open all year, with an accessible toilet. Also in Ardentinny village.
- Before you set out
- Loch Long is deep, cold tidal water: watch children at the edge. Part of the trail is along the road.
The walk
The forest car park is a mile north of Ardentinny village, on the right just beyond the entrance to Glenfinart Caravan Park. PA23 8TS is the nearest postcode. Parking is £1 for up to an hour or £3 for the day, by card or RingGo, and free with a Blue Badge. There are public toilets at the picnic site, open all year, with an accessible one. The beach is right beside you.
It's the longest stretch of sand in Cowal, on the west shore of Loch Long, with picnic tables on the grass above it. Forestry and Land Scotland gives the Laird's Trail as a waymarked loop of 3.3 km, or two miles, and allows an hour. It goes round the shore of Finart Bay and then climbs through the forest to the Laird's Grave, the grave of Archibald Douglas, Laird of Ardentinny, which dates from 1860. From up there you look out across Loch Long. In the fields below, the Forestry Commission once ran a nursery that raised seedlings for forests all over Scotland.
The trail is graded moderate. It's wide and firm, on tarmac and gravel, with some loose stones, some fairly steep slopes, a stretch along the road and two gaps 0.9 metres wide. If you'd like more, the Riverside Trail is an easy 1.3 km along the Glenfinart Burn, under monkey puzzles, cypresses and firs and past the old walled garden of Glenfinart House. Back on the beach, watch the loch for seals and porpoises. Keep dogs under close control.
If it rains
The trail is wide and firm, so it goes well enough in a shower, and half of it is under trees. The shore is open to the wind off the loch, and the view from the grave wants clear air.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
For further reading, before you go.