Tarbet to Helensburgh

This route took over six months from inception to actually doing and what a joy this one is to do. So this is the first route we have documented from railway station to railway station making this one of the more accessible routes. Both stations featured in the picture section, Helensburgh Upper and Tarbet, are on the West Highland line which connects Glasgow Queen Street with Oban and Fort William and beyond. We took the 06:01 from Helensburgh Upper to Tarbet - that train leaves Glasgow at 05:20 with the next one at 08:23. Even on this early part of the classic rail journey the views are wonderful.

At 06:31 and onto the deserted platform of Tarbet station to be joined by the early morning midges and the sound of silence. Brilliant. Out of the station and down to the left to join the main road pavement for few hundred metres. The 3 lochs way is signposted and is initially a small tarred road heading uphill on your left. This meets a gate at the top on the left and from here you are onto a long section of forest road and trail.

You are soon above Loch Long and you follow this path south as it crosses Glen Douglas before reaching the hill above Faslane. The route during this part is very undulating and you never know when coming round a corner if you will be going up or down. However, lots of lovely views. There is a short section of about after Glen Douglas where the route goes from forest road to trail. Nothing too technical but parts are a little difficult. This section ends when you cross the small burn, Allt Derigan, that goes under the railway bridge. Worth noting that the foot bridge at the time of writing has been removed and you have to go under the railway bridge before crossing the burn which can involve a bit of stone jumping. We have been here several times and dry feet every time so far. March 24 update - A new bridge has been installed so no need to worry about wet feet for this part of the run.

Shortly after passing the Finnart terminal on the loch below the route becomes a single tarred road and you are running alongisde the military zone on your right. The road runs alongside the start of the zone so keeping on the road will keep you safe. There are lots of warning signs and red flags flying but you can sometimes hear rifle fire. All a bit unusual - the road is a right of way so the restrictions apply to north and south of the road. The tarred section changes on the hill above Faslane submarine base where you cross the main road and enter Glen Fruin and take the B road heading left and downhill . Although you can stay on this road we have choosen the trail route which does involve wet feet crossing the small Fruin water. The B road and the trail route do meet up again. The trail and farm road section brings you out at the cattle grid, after climbing over the locked gate, and short distance away from the good quality path over the hill towards Helensburgh. This is the last climb of the route which seems harder after about of mainly down. Loch Lomond can be spotted in the distance, but you are soon over the hill and looking out over Helenburgh and the Clyde.

The downhill part of this trail was overhauled in summer 2021 making it an easy run where before it was rather technical. The trail meets the Highland man's way where you take a left and exit after about at the famous Hill house. For this route we end the journey at Helensburgh Upper station a few street blocks downhill from Hill House. Trains back to Glasgow from this station are not too frequent, however if you keep on downhill into Helensburgh itself you will find Helensburgh Central on the left where the Edinburgh train via Glasgow Queen Street low level, departs every half hour.

So overall a great adventure of a run without having to take a car.