Ayrshire Coastal Path

Firth o Clyde Rotary Trail

This new Trail will comprise the Mull of Galloway Trail, the Ayrshire Coastal Path and the Clyde Coastal Path creating a long distance route for walkers from the Mull of Galloway to Milngavie and the start of the West Highland Way.

Progress Report

Mull of Galloway Trail

In 2009 the Rotary Club of Stranraer surveyed and constructed the Loch Ryan Coastal Path. This fine and well-used 12-mile path from Stranraer to Glenapp now connects the ACP to both town and the Southern Upland Way.
Fired with enthusiasm and ambition, the Rotary Club of Stranraer has recently received major funding to expand - and create - a Long Distance Route from Mull of Galloway, which will link up with and incorporate the Loch Ryan Coastal Path to form the 58km (34 miles) Mull of Galloway Trail.
Starting at the Mull lighthouse, with fine prospects of the Isle of Man and the Mountains of Mourne, the new Mull of Galloway Trail will travel up the sheltered eastern shore of the Rhinns, with great views over Luce Bay to the Machars and the distant Galloway Hills. Crossing the Southern Upland Way near Stranraer, it will then follow the existing Coastal Path along Loch Ryan, with its fascinating WW2 and rich ancient history, before rising up on to high moorland with superb views of loch, sea, and hills.

Now well established, the ACP was launched by the Rotary Club of Ayr in 2008, when it won the Rotary Environmental Award. In 2010 it was chosen by Scottish Natural Heritage and Visit Scotland to be branded and promoted as one of Scotland’s Great Trails; and also received an invitation from Canada, from the International Appalachian Trail, to be come a vital link in their newly launched IAT Europe.

Clyde Coastal Path

Over the past 18 months, the Rotary Clubs of Gourock, Erskine, Clydebank, and Allander have applied themselves to surveying both a low level and high level route of 45km (27 miles) from the top of the ACP at Skelmorlie, over the Erskine Bridge, to Milngavie, and the start of the West Highland Way. Most of the route has been decided, and management teams are now engaged in the practicalities of securing funding, erecting waymarkers and signage, and setting up a website, leaflets, and Guide Book.
The Low Road will provide easy walking from Wemyss Bay along Ardgowan shore and round the proms and quaysides of Gourock, Greenock and Port Glasgow, while serious walkers will take the High Road over the Kelly and Greenock Cuts to experience magnificent views of the Tail o the Bank and the Cowal Hills, before rejoining the Low Road east of Greenock. Once over the Erskine Bridge, the route will traverses part of the Antonine Wall before rising over the Kilpatrick Hills and Douglas Muir to descend to Milngavie and the start of the West Highland Way.