This was our most westerly visit on the mainland of Scotland to date, to a small village called Crinan; a nice spot and the starting place of the Crinan Canal. Part of Argyll and Bute, the village lies on the West Coast of Scotland.
As well as some residential housing, there are a few holiday homes for rent, a hotel, coffee shop and chandlers…….plus oodles of wildlife, sea life and amazing scenery.
The canal is around 9 miles long and runs from Crinan sea lock on the Sound of Jura to the Ardrishaig sea lock on Loch Gilp nearby to the more populated Lochgilphead and passing through a few small villages en route. Planning work on the canal started in 1771 with work eventually being fully completed in 1817. 600 men worked on the canal during it’s construction and it is a fantastic feat of ingenuity for the era.
The other side of the canal reveals a handful of nice cottages plus a tiny “pier” and a dry-docked vessel called “Saving Grace”.
The surrounding areas have some excellent choices when it comes to seafood with the Tayvallich Inn being a particular favourite from our visit. The Crinan Hotel’s Seafood Bar is worth a try with special mentions worthy to Pedro the excellent Argentinian waiter and Fly, the resident hotel dog. We loved the Smiddy in Lochgilphead too for a cosy atmosphere and some great food and the same can be said for the Argyle Inn with friendly staff offering a fantastic welcome, good food plus a few large TV screens which were great for catching some televised sport.
The locals are exceptionally friendly with varied demographics from those who have lived in the area all their lives to more recent residents from the US.
For families, it is a good place to visit if kids are old enough and fit enough to survive long canal walks either in or out a buggy/pushchair. It’s also a great spot for dog walkers and cyclists looking for an easy route alongside the canal.
We were lucky enough to catch a day of snow showers during our visit which the kids loved albeit it passed quite quickly.
For an area which feels so remote it is only around 2 hours from Glasgow making it extremely accessible for residents of Scotland’s central belt or visitors from further afield coming either via Glasgow airport or the main road network.
The canal side “Seaview Cottage” we stayed at had recently undergone a £75,000 refurbishment and provided a cosy if somewhat basic base for our week. We loved the wood burner and sea views from the small TV room at the back of the house. The provided board games were put to good use and we reconnected as a family with some quality time spent together either walking with Walt our whippet, exploring new places or just lazing around the house.
Although we were unlucky when it came to seeing wildlife, sea eagles, seals, whales, otters and porpoises are regularly seen in the area.
A trial to re-introduce beavers to Scotland as part of the Scottish Beaver Trial was successfully concluded in November 2016 when beavers were formerly approved to remain in Scotland. The trial occurred at the nearby Knapdale Forest and although we did not manage to catch a glimpse of the now resident beavers we would recommend a visit to the area. Apparently dusk and dawn are the best beaver sighting times……perhaps that’s where we went wrong.
A trip to visit friends in nearby Inverary with breath taking views overlooking the famous Loch Fyne capped off a great week.
The area is a great base to visit some of the famous Scottish distilleries and a wide whisky selection is available pretty much everywhere with shops and bars/restaurants well stocked.
The West Coast of Scotland provides some amazing places to visit and we definitely have plans to take in some more places in the coming years.
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