West Island Way Section 1 Section 2 Section 3

Section 2: Kilchattan Bay—Airfield—Golf Course—Stravannan Bay—Langalbuinoch

The second section of the West Island Way is a flat and easy walk. Click the thumbnail map to the right in order to see a larger map of the route. The small thumbnail photos on the rest of the page are also clickable to see full size photographs of the scenes.

The second section of the walk begins at the foot of the island in the village of Kilchattan Bay. If you're continuing the walk from section 1 then simply turn left when you arrive down the hill at the track behind the houses in Kilchattan Bay. If you're doing this section separately then you can start at the very begining of the village. The first corner when you arrive by road has the waymark post.

Walk up the short road and turn right. You'll see the first gate across the path. The half-mile walk to the Plan Road is a very pleasant woodland walk and the first half has photogenic views over the 'Wee Bay' at lower Kingarth. It's a popular short walk to the airfield and the Kingarth stones in the good weather, and is much loved by dog-owners and their dogs in all weathers. The top of the woodland section has the Blackpark plantation on the right. When you reach the Plan Road the way lies straight ahead, across the road and through the gate, but you might want to take a very short detour by turning right and walking a hundred yards or so to the other end of the Blackpark plantation where you can see the Kingarth stone circle. Return the way you came and then go through the kissing gate and take the path down the edge of the field. As you walk down side of the field keep an eye open southward (to the left) for the 3 standing stones in the field. They can be hard to spot if there is a high crop in the field. (There is a track further south on the Plan Road which gives access to these stones.) At the bottom of the field a gate gives you access to the lower end of the airfield. The little bench is Bute's terminal building, used by walkers as well as aircrew and passengers! The airfield can be surprisingly busy when the weather is fine. On the day when most of these photos were taken, no fewer than 5 aircraft came in to land within an hour. Most of them are single-engined planes but small twin-engined planes can also land. Microlights are often seen. Keep folowing the fence and then through the gate at the bottom of the airfield. A short distance further on is the gate and little bridge into the Kingarth Golf Course. The club is known as the Bute Golf Club. Once past the heavily protected storage shed, the way lies down the wall on the left which runs down to the shore. The views of Arran over the golf course are amazing, this is a good stretch to take slowly and just enjoy. The golf course is unusual in that the greens are protected by little fences so that the sheep can't graze there! The sheep maintain the fairways and the rough! The clubhouse is worth a visit in its own right but you should approach it from the main road rather than trying to cut across the course from the West Island Way route. Not far from the clubhouse is an underground Royal Observer Corps post. It's firmly locked but worth seeing anyway. At the bottom of the wall, when you reach the shore, there is a stile over to the shore (and gates too). You turn right (northwards) and the shore quickly turns to a beautiful, sandy beach. It's a popular place to camp during the summer although it's open and windy at times. A few hundred yards along the beach you turn inland to take the farm track from the shore to Langalbuinoch Farm. On the left (north) you'll see a cave at Gallachan. The coast is pitted with caves all the way south to Garroch Head. As you go up the farm track, keep looking behind you for the wonderful open vista of Arran and Kintyre. When you reach the road turn left if you are continuing with the West Island Way, or turn right to walk back to the Kingarth Hotel, just under a mile, where you can catch the bus back to Rothesay or just have something cool to drink.