Dumfries & Galloway, E Dunbartonshire, Inverclyde, N Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, S Ayrshire, W Dunbartonshire
259 km / 161 miles
As Scotland's network of trails grows, path promoters are developing themes to link them and so increase their attraction to walkers. One such initiative is the Firth o Clyde Rotary Trail, an umbrella name for three long-distance coastal routes from Mull of Galloway along the Ayrshire coast and Upper Clyde to Milngavie, developed by the Rotary Clubs of Stranraer (2012), Ayr (2008), and Gourock and Allander (2015). The three routes are the Mull of Galloway Trail, the Ayrshire Coastal Path and the Clyde Coastal Path, with the latter, the most recently opened, covered in August 2016 Strider.
From the Mull of Galloway to the Tail o the Bank, the name given to the anchorage in the upper Firth of Clyde immediately north of Greenock and Gourock, runs one of the most beautiful panoramic coastlines anywhere in the British Isles. The promoters have looked more widely too and linked the route to an international trail. Way back in geological history, some 250 million years ago, the British Isles was joined to the east coast of what is now North America in the super-continent Pangea. The aim of the International Appalachian Trail organisation is to establish a network of walking trails that extends beyond borders to all geographic regions once connected by this Appalachian-Caledonian orogen.
Information about the IATS is online at www.iat-sia.org/index.php?page=scotland.
The Firth o Clyde Rotary Trail forms the first part of the International Appalachian Trail (Scotland) - IATS, which continues north on the West Highland Way, and Cape Wrath Trail, to Cape Wrath. Currently, the Mull of Galloway Trail and the Ayrshire Coastal Path are part of Scotland's Great Trail (SGT) network. The Firth o Clyde Rotary Trail promoter's aim is that the Clyde Coastal Path will also become one of Scotland's Great Trails and so the full route of the Firth o Clyde Rotary Trail will be within the SGT network. To the North, the West Highland Way is already one of the SGTs and the walker can continue along the Great Glen Way and Cape Wrath Trail to the north coast.
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