A CalMac ferry approaches a wooden pier where two people and a bicycle wait to board, with steep island mountains rising across the water behind it

Regional library

Argyll, Cowal & the Southern Hebrides Library

Explore the published walking routes of Argyll and the Southern Hebrides, from Ben Cruachan to Jura and Islay, with guides to Loch Awe, hill lists, wildlife and Scottish mountain names.

19guides currently selected7library sections

Hiking Route Guides

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4 guides

Route Guide1 GPX download

Beinn Bheigier from Claggain Bay: Islay Route Guide

Climb Islay’s highest hill from Claggain Bay, following the river track before a rough pathless ascent onto Beinn Bheigier’s southeast ridge.

26 Aug 2026Read Guide
Route Guide1 GPX download

Beinn Shiantaidh from Three Arch Bridge: Jura Route Guide

Cross Jura’s boggy interior to climb the steep quartzite slopes of Beinn Shiantaidh, returning from the eastern Pap by the same wild approach.

20 Aug 2026Read Guide
Route Guide1 GPX download

Beinn an Òir from Three Arch Bridge: Jura Route Guide

Make the long, wild approach to Beinn an Òir from Three Arch Bridge, climbing Jura’s highest summit by its eastern ramp and returning the same way.

15 Aug 2026Read Guide
Route Guide1 GPX download

Beinn a' Chaolais from Three Arch Bridge: Jura Route Guide

Cross Jura’s wild, boggy moorland to climb the steep quartzite slopes of Beinn a’ Chaolais on this challenging out-and-back from Three Arch Bridge.

12 Aug 2026Read Guide

More Hiking Route Guides

1 guide

Route Guide1 GPX download

Ben Cruachan via Falls of Cruachan

A demanding out-and-back from Falls of Cruachan via Cruachan Dam and Meall Cuanail to Ben Cruachan.

13 Aug 2026Read Guide

Hill Lists and People

Guide

The Dodds: When Three Regional Lists Became One Metric Classification

Between 500 and 600 metres sits a collection of hills that used to be split across Deweys, Donald Deweys and Highland Fives—until the idea emerged in 2014 to unify them under a single name that works across Britain.

02 Nov 2026Read
Guide

Simms: the hill category that tidied up the lists

If you've ever wondered why British hill lists seem unnecessarily complicated, Simms offer a rare moment of clarity. Introduced by Alan Dawson in 2010, a Simm is any summit over 600 metres with at least 30 metres of drop all round – a definition that consolidated several older, overlapping lists like Murdos, Corbett Tops, Graham Tops and Hewitts into something more coherent.

28 Sept 2026Read
Guide

Marilyns: Why a 150-Metre Drop is the Real Test of a Hill

Think altitude is everything? See why a 150-metre drop identifies Britain’s 1,550 Marilyns, and how the list changed in 2025.

24 Aug 2026Read
Guide

The HuMPs: The Geography of Independence

Forget the highest peaks and look at the hills that stand on their own—this is the fascinating, mathematical world of the HuMPs.

24 Aug 2026Read
Guide

The Corbetts: Scotland’s 500-Foot Hill Climbing Obsession

While the Munros get the headlines, the 222 Corbetts offer a quieter route into the Scottish hills, each meeting a clear height and 500ft drop rule.

24 Aug 2026Read

Lochs and Water

1 guide

Guide

Loch Awe: Scotland's Longest Loch Goes Its Own Way

Scotland's longest freshwater loch stretches 41km on an unusual southwest-northeast axis, cutting across the landscape in its own direction.

08 Oct 2026Read

Wildlife and Working Landscapes

2 guides

Guide

How to Tell If That Large Bird Is Actually an Eagle

The silhouette overhead is wrong somehow. Here's what you're actually looking at, where to find golden eagles in Britain, and why it's worth getting the identification right.

28 Oct 2026Read
Guide

When midges attack: the case for repellent and a head net

If you've ever been swarmed by midges in the Scottish Highlands and wondered whether insect repellent or a head net might actually be worth the bother, here's a practical look at what works, what doesn't, and why sometimes looking slightly ridiculous is preferable to being eaten alive.

15 Oct 2026Read

Landscape and Place Names

Guide

Why Scotland's Mountains Are Full of Mòrs and Beags

Once you know that "mòr" means big and "beag" means small in Scottish Gaelic, you'll spot this wonderfully pragmatic naming system all over Highland maps—because when you've got two similar lumps of rock next to each other, calling one the big version and one the wee version does the job without requiring ancient warrior legends or any particular imagination.

24 Oct 2026Read
Guide

Why Scottish mountains are called sgòr, sgùrr and stob

Ever wondered why Scottish mountains are called sgòr, sgùrr and stob? They're not random—they're Gaelic descriptions of what the peak actually looks like from below.

07 Oct 2026Read
Guide

The Language of Water

A guide to the Norse and regional water terms found across the British uplands—and what they can, and cannot, tell you about the terrain.

16 Jul 2026Read
Guide

The Thousand-Year Misunderstanding

How centuries of Cumbric, Norse, Gaelic and English place-naming gave our best-known peaks debated meanings, layered names and a few accidental jokes.

16 Jul 2026Read
Guide

Is it a hill, is it a fell, is it a mountain?

The UK’s names for high places—hills, fells, mountains and tors—reflect language and local custom, while the familiar 2,000-foot line is a hill-list convention rather than an official OS rule.

15 Jul 2026Read

Access and Mountain Safety

1 guide

Guide

The Wild Camping Grey Area: Where You Can, Where You Can't, and Why Scotland's Different

Britain's wild camping laws are a proper muddle: you generally need permission in England and Wales, Dartmoor's commons offer a genuine legal right to pitch, and Scotland grants access across most land under its own statute. The confusion comes from assuming that permission to walk somewhere includes permission to sleep there, which it usually doesn't, and the legal ground shifts beneath your boots without so much as a signpost to warn you.

16 Aug 2026Read

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