DRAFT — awaiting Kevin's confirm-notes below before publish. Part of the Argyll & the Kyles hub.

Scotland · Argyll & Bute · Crinan Canal

A flat towpath ride along one of Scotland's most scenic canals — ridden both directions on the same day.

Ridden 12 June 2024, along the Crinan Canal towpath between Crinan and Ardrishaig — the 9-mile canal that lets boats cut across the Kintyre peninsula rather than sail all the way round the Mull. Kevin rode it in both directions the same day: Crinan to Ardrishaig in the morning, back again after. Genuinely flat, genuinely scenic, and by Kevin's own account one of the best short rides on the whole site.

Argyll & the Kyles Argyll hub Kames to Tighnabruaich UK Home Turf British Isles hub Lancashire Canal
Route data (from Strava): 13.9km one way, 23m of climbing — as flat as anything on Gravel Health, ridden both directions the same day.

Kevin's own notes from the ride log: "What a beautiful cycle ride. Coffee & cake at Crinan, sun & sea. What more do you need." — and on the way back, "Take a look at the stunning scenery...."

The route, from Kevin's own GPS track

Real GPS route map showing the Crinan Canal towpath from Crinan to Ardrishaig
The actual recorded route, plotted from Kevin's own Strava GPX/FIT data onto a real OpenStreetMap base.

What it actually looks like

The Crinan Canal with lock gates and a bridge, seen from the towpath
The canal at Crinan, where it opens out into the sea loch.
A row of cottages beside the Crinan Canal basin, with boats moored alongside
The canal-side cottages at Crinan basin.
An ivy-covered passage beside the canal at Crinan village
One of Crinan's ivy-covered lanes, just back from the water.

📝 Kevin — needs your input

  • Name of the coffee & cake stop at Crinan, if worth crediting directly?
  • Confirm whether this was the same trip as Kames/Tighnabruaich, two days apart — worth a shared "Argyll trip" framing across both pages?

Source: Kevin's Strava export (12 June 2024, both directions), real GPS track, plus 3 real photos from the "Crinan Canal" folder in the Google Photos archive.