A New Pilgrim Route

Intermittently, I’ve been walking the tranquil and beautiful coastline from Arrochar, at the top end of Loch Long (just west of Loch Lomond), bound for the Isle of Bute. My walk followed forest tracks, single-tracked roads and paths hugging close to the shores of what is known as the Cowal peninsula. The coast weaves a serpentine course around lengthy sub-peninsulas followed by some deep sea inlets. The area feels remote and is very unspoilt given its close proximity to Glasgow, just 30 miles to the east as the crow flies. Its steep hills and extensive forests and sea lochs limits accessibility, and being a peninsula, is not a through way to another destination except by boat.

On a recent visit, I stumbled across the old church at Inverchaolain on the coast down a single tracked road that was leading to a dead end in a landscape sparse of human habitation and thick in forest and rhododendron. So why a church in so obscure a place? The sea is the clue. The seaway of the Firth of Clyde was a highway to this region from Ireland as evidenced by the arrival of Irish saints from the 6th century onwards, who brought Christianity to Scotland. The Inverchaolain church bears a plaque detailing the links across the Cowal peninsula with the early Irish saints as illuminated by a Church of Scotland project: www.faithincowal.org This great initiative highlights 15 different sites of pilgrimage, linked by a network of off-road pilgrim trails. The project has whet the appetite for further exploration and the possibility of a new Roaming Scotland tour or pilgrimage on foot.

Thanks to Faith in Cowal for the use of their photographs.