If you are travelling from Ireland to Scotland, this route is ideal. But even if you choose a different route through Scotland, you should not simply rush past the south-west coast…
Intro and travel report
To be honest, we didn’t have any particular expectations of south-west Scotland. We actually wanted to drive through it quickly so we could start our actual holiday at Loch Lomond.
In our case, we came from Ireland, where we have our second home. We took the ferry from Larne in Northern Ireland to Cairnryan in south-west Scotland. By the way, this is a highly recommended ferry connection!
We drove through here once before, by car. And I also passed through here on my motorbike trips. Back then, I spent a night on the coast, which we really enjoyed. But I didn’t think about it any further.
This time, we were travelling in our somewhat oversized motorhome. Its sheer size slowed us down on the often narrow roads of the islands, but after a while we acquired the necessary ‘trucker mentality’ to enjoy the slow pace of driving.
And so we chugged slowly along the coast. We weren’t in any hurry and deliberately looked for opportunities to get out and stretch our legs – ours and our dog’s.
His daily highlight is playing ball on the beach, or elsewhere if necessary. And no, four times a day is not enough (what a strange idea…).
We made a very nice stop at Turnberry Lighthouse. From the beautiful A77 coastal road, you turn off towards the village of Maidens and drive a good distance along Turnberry Golf Club.
This is complemented by a powerful and chic hotel. The impressive complex (almost not ostentatious at all…) is obviously one of several similar complexes owned by an American billionaire – and yes, he is also the President of the United States again.
A little further on, there is a small car park, and from there a path leads to Turnberry Lighthouse. It takes about 10 minutes to walk past golf tees and greens to the lighthouse.
And what a beauty this lighthouse is! It stands in excellent condition on a few rocks at the edge of the golf course. It’s simply wonderful here!
The A78 coastal road to the north passes through several charming coastal towns: Ayr, Irvine, Ardrossan, Largs, and a few other smaller towns. It is worth stopping off at one or two of them to stroll around and enjoy the harbours and beach promenades.
The coastal road continues around the hilly landscape of Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park, taking a wide detour around the mouth of the River Clyde rather than heading directly to Glasgow.
We don’t want to go to Glasgow today, as we already saw it on a previous visit, but instead take the large Clyde Bridge on the M8 and continue north.
A short detour takes us along the north bank of the Clyde estuary to Helensburgh. Google Maps cannot tell me whether it is located on the Clyde estuary or on Gare Loch, a neighbouring bay, but I don’t really care.
More importantly, Helensburgh is a pleasant and lively little town with a wonderful beach promenade where we enjoy ourselves immensely. People stroll along the promenade, sailboats glide past the shore, and our dog pulls us along – yes, it is definitely time for a game of ball again!
The A818 takes us out of Helensburgh again. Not continuing along the shore, but up the mountain, over beautiful hills, past heathland and forest, and down the other side again.
Even from a distance, dark blue glimmers through the trees: this is Loch Lomond, where we will be spending the night at a campsite on its shores.
After a quick shopping stop at a farmers’ market, we park our (somewhat oversized) motorhome for the night and stroll along the lake shore to a restaurant for a cosy dinner.
Loch Lomond, together with its neighbouring low mountain range, is part of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, the largest national park in Great Britain! It is a popular holiday destination for outdoor enthusiasts, hikers, cyclists and boaters.
As we walk back to the campsite, dusk descends over the huge lake. Boats bob gently on the water and the trees on the shore rustle softly in the light breeze. A beautiful evening descends over the large, still water and we sink, pardon, sink, exhausted and content, into our beds.
Conclusion
If you take a little time to experience the beautiful south-west coast of Scotland, you will be richly rewarded with wonderful impressions: beautiful coastlines, charming harbour towns, great drives through the hilly countryside and highlights such as Turnberry Lighthouse and Culzean Castle.
We didn’t visit the latter, but according to my research, the magnificent castle is definitely worth a visit – maybe next time, because we’ll definitely be back!
I can also highly recommend Scotland’s southernmost point, the Mull of Galloway, with its beautiful Mull of Galloway Lighthouse.
And nearby is the super pretty harbour town of Portpatrick. Both are not far from the Cairnryan ferry terminal. The port and fishing town of Stranraer cannot compete with Portpatrick, but it also has a few nice spots to discover.
I have linked my other articles on this topic here…
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Image credit cover photo: Turnberry Lighthouse, (photo: Ulrich Knüppel-Gertberg)
