Travel isn’t always exciting, especially when it’s largely car-based. And so our first day proved.

An uneventful run up the M6 was followed by a very wet run through the borders up to Glasgow. We then headed west along the south side of the River Clyde to Gourock, our ferry port for the short hop to Dunoon.

A combination of heavy rain, urban landscapes and a lack of views made it something of a slog.

Once on the ferry, the weather brightened somewhat and the mountains of the Cowal Peninsula appeared ahead of us, semi-shrouded in cloud.

A quick supermarket stop in Dunoon allowed us some early impressions of the town.

A 20 minute drive along the coast road north took us to our AirBnb in the shoreside village of Blairmore.