Cowal Peninsula in Argyll

The Cowal Peninsula is a microcosm of so many different environments and experiences that it is often difficult to know where to begin in describing it. There is no single feature, single landmark, or single set of conditions which make Cowal such a very special place. Rather, it is a unique blend of attractions, covering leisure and sporting facilities, unrivalled scenery, a feast of natural wonders, and not least, a local population that are never less than friendly or hospitable to any visitor.

Its latest accolade is for the Argyll Forest Park, comprising most of the northern part of this magnificent area, to be included in the 'Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park', Scotland's first national park.

The name Cowal is said by some to derive from an ancient norse word meaning 'fork of land' and in truth the Peninsula could well be described in those terms, with Loch Fyne and Loch Long providing its natural extremities, whilst three outstanding prongs of land point south towards - and to either side of - the Isle of Bute.

From Strachur through Otter Ferry to Kilfinan, Portavadie and Kames skirt its western edge. Some thirty miles deep at its furthest outposts, and with a width that varies from ten to twenty miles, the Peninsula has a distinctive and highly invaginated coastline.

Indeed, it is a remarkable fact that Argyll, in which Cowal lies, actually has a longer coastline than the whole of France; such are its twists and turns, its inlets and its lochs. The varied and often exciting coastline of Cowal is very much typical of this.