Length: 3.5 miles
Duration: Around 1.5hrs
Difficulty: Easy
This is a lovely and varied walk which you can do as a loop (like we did), or continue back to Blackwaterfoot.
Starting at the Kings Cave Carpark on the road between Torbeg and Machrie, we followed the woodland path west and did the loop anticlockwise although either way would be lovely. Make sure you check out Arran Geoparks sign that explains the geology behind Ard Bheinn before setting off!
You then follow the tree line along the top of some fields with a beautiful view over Machrie Bay.
There were sheep in these fields and although the path is separated from the field, we would recommend you keep your dogs on leads for this short portion of path.
The path continues and gives you fantastic views over towards the Mull of Kintyre, before starting to descend down towards sea level. You will come to a gate which takes you onto the shore, where the path continues along the grass above the high tide line.
We saw lots of Oystercatchers along this portion of beach, and as it is a shingle/rocky beach please be mindful that seabirds will be nesting on the beach from early spring to mid-summer so be very careful where you step and keep dogs on leads if visiting during nesting season.
Kings Cave is identified by the large gate across the entrance, and the gate is usually open so you can go inside for some exploring. There are some nice big stones on the beach which make a good spot for a picnic if you were organised enough to bring one (Unlike us!)
We then continued south along the beach before following the path back up from the shore. You’ll then see a sign, and we followed the path left and up the hill signposted “car park”. If you wish to continue back to Blackwaterfoot then follow the path straight on. Please note: if you head back towards Blackwaterfoot, there are portions of the path that take you through livestock fields and also across the golf course, so dogs would need to be on the lead for these parts.
The path from the shore back to the car park is uphill, but it is a relatively short portion before flattening back out and heading back towards the wood. Keep your eyes peeled as we saw a pair of buzzards soaring as we headed back towards the wood. The woodland portion is lovely as it provides shade on a hot day or shelter on the not such nice days!!
The walk took us just under 1hr and 30 minutes, and we didn’t stop for long in the caves. There is no official bus stop for Kings Caves but buses will stop here if you ask the drivers nicely 😊
Once we got back to the car, we drove northbound for about 10 minutes to Café Thyme at The Byre for some much needed refreshments.
You can sit on the benches out the front of Café Thyme with your dogs, and children can play in the incredible playpark! While you wait for food, we always head for a browse round the shop and the Shoe Bothy and lust after some of the beautiful goodies Lorna and the team have found! Food wise we would 100% recommend the Pides (a sort of Turkish pizza) They were so good that we didn’t remember we were supposed to take a photograph of them until we had finished, so you’ll just have to go and try them for yourselves!
Terrain:
An easy walk on good footpaths and only some short steep portions.
Wildlife:
There can be livestock in the adjacent fields and there are seabirds on the shore.
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