Rosneath Peninsula

by Fiona | Sep 30, 2025 | Tour Ideas

An excursion around the “saintly peninsula”

First, an explanation of the name – Rosneath derives from the Gaelic Ros Neimhidh, meaning “headland of the sanctuary” or my translation, the saintly peninsula. According to F. Marian McNeill in The Silver Bough:

After the introduction of Christianity, the sacred lands of the Druids with the lands adjoining them were taken over as Church lands. The Gaelic name for Church lands, sanctuary or sacred grove is neimheadh, the name anciently given to a Druidical grove in which there was a stone shrine, a magic tree or well, or a fairy mound.

On a sunny August Monday morning, I made a last minute decision to head over to Kilcregan on the Rosneath Peninsula to do a 20 mile route I’d mapped out in OS Maps. Lance decided to join me. The Rosneath Peninsula can be seen from Dunoon, the next peninsula after Strone and separated from the Cowal Peninsula by Loch Long. So close, but so far, you can almost reach out and touch it. But if driving from Sandbank to Kilcreggan, having to circumnavigate the mountains and lochs, it takes about an hour and a half. It’s actually faster by bicycle by taking the ferry from Dunoon to Gourock and then the ferry from Gourock to Kilcreggan.

Leg 1: Dunoon to Gourock ferry

We have two choices of ferry from Dunoon to Gourock – the Western Ferries car ferry from Hunter’s Quay (Dunoon) to McInroy’s Point (Gourock) or the CalMac passenger ferry. The CalMac ferry terminal in Gourock also serves the Kilcreggan ferry so if the times match up, it’s worth taking the CalMac ferry so that you can hop on the Kilcreggan ferry at the same pier.

On this trip we chose the Western Ferries because we had missed the once-an-hour CalMac ferry (we should be back to twice an hour once the second ferry has been repaired), and Hunter’s Quay is closer to Sandbank. So it was a 5 minute cycle from Sandbank to Hunter’s Quay, a 20 minute ferry to McInroy’s Point in Gourock, and then a 5 minute cycle to the CalMac ferry port to catch the next ferry.

On all ferries, the bicycles go for free so you only need to pay as a foot passenger.

Leg 2: Gourock to Kilcreggan ferry

We jumped on The Chieftain, the small CalMac passenger ferry for the Rosneath Peninsula. We weren’t the only ones with bikes – clearly this route is known as a fun way to spend the day when the sun is out.

Leg 3: Kilcreggan to Coulport

We chose to do the loop I had mapped out in a clockwise direction. Not really any thought behind this choice and we saw plenty of other cyclists doing it in the other direction.

Heading out of Kilcreggan towards Coulport, this part of the peninsula is lined with Victorian mansions and villas, the ghosts of the past, when wealthy Glaswegians kept summer homes on the Clyde serviced by steamers. Views across Loch Long to Blairmore and Ardentinny are breathtaking. I really enjoy seeing the Cowal peninsula from a different viewpoint, whether it’s looking back at Toward from Bute or seeing Ardentinny from Cove. It’s all about perspectives, I guess.

We stopped at a beach just before Coulport to take photos and enjoy the views.

Book Now

This tour is now available to book.

Book online now!

Leg 4: Coulport to Garelochhead

Coulport is a military facility and the road goes from single lane to single carriageway for the added traffic. This is also the first climb of the ride. The roads are in good condition, and the climb is steady for about 2.5 miles. There’s not a ton to see as the forest is maintained to keep eyes off the military facility, but coming over the top of the climb, you can see the mountains towards Loch Lomond.

Peaks of 700m+ like Beinn a’ Mhanaich and Beinn Chaorach loom large, but you’ll have to keep your eyes on the road as we’re descending down toward the Gare Loch and Garelochhead.

Leg 5: Garelochhead to Rosneath

As we descended towards Garelochhead, there was a sharp right turn to go to Rosneath and stay on the peninsula. This is worth noting as Lance ahead of me missed the turn and continued straight, while I had to hit the brakes hard to come to a stop and wait for him to realise I wasn’t behind him.

Shortly after making that turn, there is a prominent point where you can pull off and enjoy the vista over Gare Loch and spotting submarines entering and leaving Faslane naval base

Upon leaving this stop, the descent continued until we were once again on a flat shore road. The east coast of the Rosneath peninsula is more built up than the west coast, passing towns and settlements along the way. There are also buses to and from Helensburgh on this side of the peninsula. The views across the Gare Loch are interesting, mostly of the naval base and the urban centre of Helensburgh. This continues all the way to the town of Rosneath.

Final leg: Rosneath to Kilcreggan

The final leg out of Rosneath back to Kilcreggan includes the final climb of the day. This is short and steep at 0.6 miles at 6%, but the views of the green fields and knowing there’s a stop at the pub at the end makes it worth it.

The descent is fast into Kilcreggan, and at this point the sun was shining bright.

It took us about an hour and a half to do the loop. Conveniently, we rolled into Kilcreggan having missed the noon ferry with the next one at 2pm (they run once an hour otherwise). This gave us time to enjoy a pub lunch and a couple of pints at The Creggans Bar, watching the boats and a submarine go by on the Clyde.

Back to Gourock on the 2pm ferry, which met up exactly with the CalMac ferry to Dunoon, although we took Western Ferries again since we had bought return tickets.

This was a fun day out, and one that I think our guests would like if they’d like to explore something different. What do you think?

← Three Ferries and an Island

Three Ferries and an Island

Tour Ideas

Touring the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll, Scotland is a delight, and we’re really enjoying exploring new routes from Dunoon with an eye on developing tour options for Lochs, Bens & Glens bike tours. On 11 June 2025 I set out on a route that included three ferries and...