Argyll - The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands and Islands - page 54

Benmore Botanic Garden
On the A815, seven miles north of Dunoon • Daily: March & Oct 10am-5pm; April-Sept 10am-6pm • £5.50 • T 01369 706261,
W rbge.org.uk
Serenely pitched amid lush mountain scenery at the foot of Loch Eck, Benmore
Botanic Garden is an offshoot of Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden. It's a beautifully
laid-out garden occupying 120 acres of lush hillside, the mild, moist climate allowing
a vast range of unusual plants to grow, with different sections devoted to rainforest
species native to places as exotic as China, Chile and Bhutan. The garden boasts three
hundred species of rhododendron and a memorably striking avenue of great redwoods,
planted in 1863 and now over 150ft high. You can also wander through a Victorian
fernery, as impressive for its architectural features - notably a fine vaulted entrance,
grotto and pool - as for the plants housed within. Look out, too, for “Puck's Hut”,
designed by the prolific Scottish architect Sir Robert Lorimer. Clad in various timbers
and tiled with red cedar, it originally stood in Puck's Glen in the Eachaig Valley,
hence the name.

1

Kyles of Bute
The mellower landscape of southwest Cowal, which stands in complete contrast
to the bustle of Dunoon or the Highland grandeur of the Argyll Forest Park,
becomes immediate as soon as you head into the area. And there are few more
beautiful sights in Argyll than the Kyles of Bute , two slivers of water that separate
Cowal from the bleak bulk of the Isle of Bute and constitute some of the best sailing
territory in Scotland.

Colintraive and Tighnabruaich
Separated from the Isle of Bute by barely more than a couple of hundred yards,
Colintraive , on the eastern Kyles, is not especially noteworthy, but you may well wind
up here as it's where the CalMac car ferry departs to Bute. The most popular spot from
which to appreciate the Kyles, however, is along the A8003 as it rises dramatically
above the sea lochs before descending to the peaceful, lochside village of Tighnabruaich .
Peaceful that is, until the local shinty team, Kyles Athletic, takes to the field; founded
in 1896, they remain one of the sport's most illustrious names, though success has been
hard to come by in recent years. However, their reputation was well and truly restored
in 2012 following victory in the Camanachd Cup, Scotland's most prestigious national
shinty competition.
ARRIVAL AND ACTIVITIES KYLES OF BUTE

Colintraive-Rhubodach, Bute (every 20-30min; 5min).

BY FERRY
Colintraive Ferries to Bute depart from the ferry slip in
the centre of the village.
Portavadie If you're driving to Kintyre, Islay or Jura, you
can avoid the long haul around Loch Fyne - some seventy
miles or so - by using the ferry to Tarbert from Portavadie,
three miles southwest of Kames.
Destinations

BY BUS
Colintraive Buses drop off and pick up by the ferry slipway.
Tighnabruaich Buses stop near the post o ce.
Destinations Colintraive-Dunoon (Mon-Sat 2-3 daily;
1hr); Colintraive-Tighnabruaich (Mon-Sat 2 daily; 35min);
Tighnabruaich- Portavadie (Mon-Sat 3-4 daily; 25min). Portavadie-Tarbert hourly; 25min);

WALKING UP PUCK'S GLEN
It's possible to combine a visit to Benmore Botanic Garden with one of the local forest walks ,
the most popular being a leisurely stroll up the rocky ravine of Puck's Glen , which begins
from the car park a mile south of the gardens. Roughly two miles long, and with a total ascent
of some 170 metres, it's a beautiful little walk up a narrow defile enclosed by rocky walls and
dense trees, and replete with rushing burns, waterfalls and footbridges.