Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
so the CD player is loaded with completely self-indulgent premium Iain-pleasing stuff;
both Led Zeppelin Remasters, OK Computer by Radiohead, Strange Brew, The Very Best
Of Cream, As If To Nothing by Craig Armstrong, and a collection that came with the June
'96 edition of Q magazine called Mmmmm … (these sample CDs are usually extremely
hit-and-miss but this one always struck me as hanging together brilliantly, with not a weak
track on it).
I set off along the M8 at what seems like a really early hour to me, however the roads
are already pretty busy. When I get to the turn-off for the Erskine Bridge near Bishopton
it's 0755 and I've got 25 minutes to get to Gourock for the ferry to Dunoon. I reckon I'm
not going to make it so swing north across the bridge, up the side of Loch Lomond as far
as Tarbet - this is where Rog's mum lives but it's a bit early to drop in for a cup of tea -
then onto the basically brilliant A83, roaring up the Rest and Be Thankful. This is a pass
that marked the summit of a once-steep road which must have been murderous for horses
hauling people and goods and which was pretty demanding of old cars too. Then we go
zapping along through Glen Kinglas. I pass the Cowal peninsula road junction at 0835,
five minutes before the ferry I was aiming for would dock at Dunoon, so coming this way
has definitely been the smart move.
Out of Lochgilphead I pick up a tail; what has to be a local in a modest-looking Rover
driven easily well enough to keep up with the M5 on this twisty stretch of road.
Now, I absolutely don't believe in road racing but we are going fairly briskly - I don't
want to hold the guy up, after all. There's one straight stretch where I could go a lot faster
but don't, to give my new chum a chance to overtake, but he chooses not to, so I guess
we're okay.
It's a bit drizzly and the road is wet from earlier showers; the M5's traction warning
light flickers once or twice on the display, indicating that it's sensed a momentary loss
of grip. The BMW does finally get away from the old Rover for a bit but we're back to-
gether by the time we enter Tarbert, where my shadow pulls in. I always wish there was
some hat-doffing gesture to perform at such points; I have no real doubt that if this guy
had been driving the M5 and I'd been driving the old Rover - even knowing the road -
he'd have lost me in the first couple of miles.
The A83 south of Tarbert, certainly past the Islay ferry port at Kennacraig, is something
of a corker; not ultimately fast - too many wee settlements and too lumpy a surface for
that - but nicely open and pleasantly undulating. It reminds me a lot of a similar west-
facing stretch of seaboard road on the A77 heading from Girvan to Stranraer. It's a clear
day in between the rain showers, and in the distance I can see Ireland, cliffed across the
horizon.
Springbank distillery's entrance lies on the main road into Campbeltown.
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