On a bright sunny Saturday afternoon in Rothesay, 24 members of Biggar Ramblers set out on the first of a series of weekend walks. Starting from their hotel, the Glenburn, the group headed down to the waterfront which they followed to the pier head. Here they first inspected the 1920’s Art Nouveau Winter Garden before moving on to look in at the architectural marvel of the Victorian male toilets, quite a tourist attraction on the island! Moving away from the pier head, the party now reached Rothesay Castle. Still protected by a moat and accessed by a drawbridge, the castle dates back to 1200.

The group now headed up the Serpentine, a challenging climb of 1.6km and a 106 meter ascent with an average gradient of 7% - as would be expected, there were plenty of breaks to stop and admire the views that were opening up!

The route now took the walkers into more open countryside, first agricultural land with views across to Arran, and then round the edge of the lovely Rothesay golf course and on to Canada Hill where there were views down to the Firth of Clyde and the two Cumbrae islands. Canada Hill is so named as historically families rushed to this point to watch the boats carrying their departing relatives to new lives overseas.

The final section of the walk took the group back down to the waterfront and back to the hotel, now with marvelous views across to the Cowal Peninsula and Toward Point. This proved an excellent introduction to the island of Bute and the walks planned for the following two days.