Argyll - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 51

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of the year, and you might have more chance of avoiding the persistent Scottish midge
(see p.41).

Brief history
The earliest man-made sites preserved in Argyll are the cluster of Celtic and prehistoric
remains near Kilmartin. The region's name, however, means “Boundary of the Gaels”,
and refers to the Irish Celts who settled here in the fifth century AD, and whose
Kingdom of Dalriada embraced much of what is now Argyll. Known to the Romans as
Scotti - hence “Scotland” - it was the Irish Celts who promoted Celtic Christianity,
and whose Gaelic language eventually became the national tongue. After a period of
Norse invasion and settlement, the islands (and the peninsula of Kintyre) fell to the
immensely powerful Somerled, who became King of the Hebrides and Lord of Argyll
in the twelfth century. Somerled's successors, the MacDonalds, established Islay as their
headquarters, but were in turn dislodged by Robert the Bruce. Of Bruce's allies, it was
the Campbells who benefited most from the MacDonalds' demise and eventually, as
the dukes of Argyll, gained control of the entire area - even today, they remain one of
the largest landowners in the region.
In the aftermath of the Jacobite uprisings, Argyll, like the rest of the Highlands, was
devastated by the Clearances , with thousands of crofters evicted from their homes in
order to make room for profitable sheep farming - “the white plague” - and cattle
rearing. More recently forestry plantations have dramatically altered the landscape of
Argyll, while purpose-built marinas have sprouted all around the heavily indented
coastline. Today the traditional industries of fishing and farming are in deep crisis,
leaving the region ever more dependent on tourism and a steady influx of new settlers
to keep things going, while Gaelic, once the language of the majority in Argyll, retains
only a tenuous hold on the outlying islands of Islay, Coll and Tiree.
GETTING AROUND ARGYLL

By train The one main train-line in the region runs from
Glasgow up to Oban, but takes in very few places covered in
this chapter.
By bus Buses serve most major settlements, with fairly
regular services on weekdays, though usually a much
reduced service at weekends. Most of the islands have at
least a handful of daily buses serving the main settlements.
There's a good service from Glasgow down to Campbeltown
via Arrochar, Inverary and Tarbert.
By car If you're planning to take a car across to one of the

islands, it's essential that you book both your outward and
return journeys as early as possible, as the ferries get
booked up early, especially in summer. In the remoter parts
of the region and on the islands, without your own car,
you'll have to rely on a combination of walking, hitching,
bike rental, shared taxis and the postbus.
By ferry CalMac ( T 0800 066 5000, W calmac.co.uk) operate
a comprehensive timetable of ferries between the islands,
though this is reduced during the winter months. Individual
ferry crossings are given in the relevant town accounts.

Cowal
The claw-shaped Cowal peninsula, formed by Loch Fyne and Loch Long, has been a
popular destination since the nineteenth century when rapid steamer connections
brought hordes of Glaswegian holiday-makers to its shores. It's still quickest to reach
Cowal by ferry across the Clyde - by car, it's a long, though exhilarating, drive
through some rich Highland scenery in order to reach the same spot. Beyond the
old-fashioned coastal towns such as Dunoon , the largest settlement in the area, the
Cowal landscape is extremely varied, ranging from the Munros of the north to the
gentle, low-lying coastline of the southwest. One way to explore it is to follow the
47-mile Cowal Way , a waymarked long-distance footpath between Portavadie and
Ardgartan. The western edge of Cowal is marked by the long, narrow Loch Fyne,
famous for both its kippers and oysters.