Walking and Cycling Routes 

Cairnbaan Cottage is ideally situated for walking & cycling along the Crinan Canal towpath and the many woodland paths and tracks. This page will give you links to routes recorded via a Garmin GPS device.

The link takes you to a Garmin site with a Google map window which shows the route, the map can be zoomed in to get a better idea of how to follow the route. Please use the OS map from the Cottage to help find your way along the routes. We aim to add more routes to this page as we walk/cycle them ourselves but if you are staying at Cairnbaan Cottage, please contact us if you would like more suggestions.

3 mile Walking Route

This route is a gentle 3 mile route that begins by following to canal towpath towards Crinan for about half a mile, you then turn off on to a woodland path which leads to a forest track and finally a steepish downhill woodland path which takes you out at the Cairnbaan Hotel. Here you may be tempted to have a drink or coffee and afterwards, you just follow the canal towpath back to the cottage.

4 mile walking route to Dunadry Trig/View Point

This route is a more hilly route and again starts by following the canal towpath for about half a mile towards Crinan, you then cross the Canal at Lock 9 and walk a short distance on the road back towards Cairnbaan, then turning right on to the Dunardry Forest track and following the track up the hill until you come to a 'T' junction. Here you turn left, continuing uphill until you see the path on your left that leads further uphill to the Trig/View point where you get great views. After returning down the path from the Trig/View point, you turn left onto the forest track and follow the track which becomes a tar road and takes you down the hill and back to the Canal (Opposite Cairnbaan Cottage) where you turn right and walk along to Lock 8, cross the Canal and walk back to the Cottage.

4.6 mile Walking/Cycling Route

22.2 mile Cycle Route to Tayvallich

There are two basic adult mountain bikes available for use at the Cottage but if you need more, you can easily hire them at Crinan Cycles in Lochgilphead.

A good route is to cycle or walk along the Crinan Canal tow path from Cairnbaan to Crinan (about 4.5 miles), here you will see the yachts entering and leaving the Canal. At Crinan, there is also a lovely Coffee shop (closed during winter) and the Crinan Hotel.

The Forestry Commission website is also worth a look and is a good source of information on what walks and cycle routes are in the area of Cairnbaan.