I’ve come to the conclusion that Bute, which lies just off the Firth of Clyde, just a couple of hours from Glasgow, is a much underrated place. Having just come back from a week in Rothesay, Bute’s biggest town, courtesy of a kind offer by a friend of ours to stay at his flat, I can thoroughly recommend it.
As you might expect, Bute has many similarities to neighbouring areas and islands, such as Arran and Kintyre, but on a smaller scale, without the high peaks, but with a similar variety of quiet rolling moors, beautiful coastline, forestry and a few small settlements. It’s not in any sense remote, but despite its proximity to civilisation, it feels like it is, and for much of the walking we did we saw no one else.
Before we arrived, I discovered that the island has its own mini ‘long’ distance walk, the West Island Way (clearly a pun on the hugely popular West Highland Way) but which can be walked quite comfortably in three of four days, unlike the WHW, which generally takes at least a week.
Our first day on Bute took us from the south of the island at Kilchattan Bay, through a wood, past an old airfield to a short stretch of rocky beach, before cutting inland uphill with views across the island and beyond.
The tracks are easy going and well signed, and after a short climb, you descend gradually down to Loch Fad, where there are anglers and a bird hide. Rothesay is only a couple of miles further on. The whole walk was around ten miles and took us about six hours.
For the second day, I was a bit more ambitious, and my wife opted out of this one. Taking the bus this time to the north of the island and the small secondary ferry from Rhubodach, I risked taking the forest route despite some warnings about some felling was possibly taking place there. I reckoned that if the path were closed there would be signs (there were, but not at the junction with the alternative), and more importantly, there would be less walking across vague moorland, and potentially boggy, paths.
True I did encounter some forestry work, but there was, as it turned out, only about ten minutes where I had to be very careful to avoid large logging trucks and getting swallowed up in the rutted, red mud they left behind. But if you do choose this option at present do keep your wits about you, be careful, and give a wide berth to those enormous trucks and trailers!
My day was one of fast changing Scottish weather , with at least five brief but heavy spells of rain, including one just after I’d decided I was getting burned and needed sun cream. Just after I’d put that on, the temperature dropped rapidly from about 20 to 6 or 7 degrees in a matter of minutes, with icy rain coming down, before warming up again a quarter of an hour later.
But anyone who has walked in Scotland is used to this and you just have to be prepared for Scottish weather and for taking waterproofs on and off frequently. Overall , though, I couldn’t complain about that day as 90% of the time it was fine, unlike the weather the day after.
After leaving the forest, there was a short boggy patch, so I was glad I’d opted for this rather than the alternative, which probably would have involved much more bog as well as route finding. Following the moorland there was an easy and very pleasant long walk through Glen More, before a sharp turn took me along the route of an old industrial tramway, shielded by hedges from the road which runs parallel.
The route then approached Port Bannatyne before turning off across good tracks across open land and finally the descent to Rothesay. This time I’d walked about 13 miles and taken together with the previous walk, had walked most of the length of the island. None of it was hard, and for a few short climbs you gained the benefit of some lovely views of the island and beyond.
There are still another two sections of the West Island Way left for another visit maybe: a loop at the southern end of the island from Kilchattan bay, and the alternative route north of Rothesay to Rhubodach. if you are interested there is a dedicated website, and the signage throughout is pretty good, better for instance than that for the nearby Kintyre Way.
Apart from the walking, the stately home and grounds of Mount Stuart on Bute are also well worth a visit. We went there the following day. The house is opulent and extravagant, though in a tasteful sort of way. I honestly don’t think I have never seen so much marble in my life.
The grounds are huge and include a beach, woodland, pinetum and kitchen garden. A past Earl of Bute was a keen botanist- and it shows.
We managed to pack quite a lot into five days on Bute. There’s no need to bring a car, as there are all year round bus routes to the north and south of the island, and the hourly ferry to Rothesay leaves from the grand Wemyss bay train station, reached in under an hour from Glasgow.
And in the summer there’s an open top bus route too, which, unfortunately we managed to just miss on its last day of the summer season.
Across the Alps to the Adriatic 