An attractive small reservoir right beside the road between Largs and Loch Thom. You can park on…read morethe roadside or in the adjacent car park (just north of the reservoir). There is also a picnic area, and some moorland trails you can follow on foot. I'm told it's a good spot for birdwatching too but I only stopped to photograph the reservoir itself. You can only get here by car unless you are a very good walker. (The reservoir isn't shown on the Google map, unfortunately, but the arrow is in the right place because I put it there!)

I'm not the best person to review this as a place to fish (so hopefully someone else will) but I…read morehave visited the cafe there and found it to be a very pleasant and nice place to have a lovely cup of tea and hot snack! It's also friendlier than the nearby Cornalees cafe (at least, it was on the one occasion I was there). Fishing apart, this is a great place to start a walk around one of the reservoirs in the area or along the Greenock Cut.

Been Fishing Ardgowan for sometime now and would say its my favourite loch. I feel the fishing is…read moregreat with the fish in the loch being so healthy and put up a great fight. I feel its great for the money you pay and thats what everybody wants. The cafe is a very welcoming atmoshpere and you also have a variety of foods and drinks for great prices too. WELL DONE ROBERT , Keep the good work up

Well it's easy for me to give this loch 5 stars because it is one of my very favourite places to…read morevisit! I've walked the paths and roads around here over many years and I learnt to drive on some of them too. This is the largest of a group of reservoirs in this area and named after the engineer Robert Thom (1774 - 1847). He designed the scheme to create this reservoir which has provided Greenock with water since 1827. A wonderful place to take a walk - you won't meet many people either. There are two nearby cafes and a large free car park. Video link: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AGNIjq-60ns

I am jealous. I am jealous that there are people in this world who can get up every morning and go…read morehere, even if just for a quick morning walk. We visited Loch Lomond on New Year's Day and can I just say it made for the most magical start to a new year for me. I'm floored by its beauty and tranquility and if its the start of the Highlands, holy cow - or rather coo! My tour group couldn't get over how stunning the light, filtered through clouds touched upon the hillsides. The park was clean and everyone did their part to keep it that way. No one was too noisey either. Would love to come back and explore more!

Truly, a magnificent park and one a few untouched by development in Scotland. Jagged peaks and…read moresteep mountain tops punctuate the sky and mark some of the most prestige wilderness areas in the world. I wholeheartedly loved this park and my time exploring it. Going back, I would spend a weekend and camp here to really immerse myself (guess I have a good excuse).

It might be a mystery but Castle Semple does not really have a castle. So don't be disappointed if…read morea visible castle is not apparent. If you walk about a mile north on the shared path, you will come to the Collegiate Church that is worth seeing. Close by are "The Cascades". Still don't know why that is their name but it is a really interesting diversion. Then back through Parkhill Woods with the Totem Pole and a wee bit of deviation, the rhododendron maze. A wonderful day out. Just, please, don't ride bikes over the pedestrian pathways. They just churn the pathways to mud and kills accessibility for those in wheelchairs or those who find walking on loose surfaces difficult. Thank you for your attention.

Great for walking along the side of the loch from the visitor centre; very attractive with the loch…read moreon one side and fields full of cows on the other. The visitor centre is large, overlooking the water, and you can buy some gifts there. There are many snacks available in the cafe - we would wish for a bit more choice; I'm sure if they offered a full menu (including some vegetarian choices) they would get the custom. It always seems to be popular and quite busy (when we've gone there anyway).

Beautiful park. Very nature friendly…read more Love spending time here especially at the waterfalls and pond area. Very kid friendly and even has an outdoor free gym! Plenty history to be found in the visitors centre and even got a coffee shop just at the car park at the garden centre.

This beautiful park is a huge favourite with director Danny Boyle with scenes from "Shallow Grave"…read moreand "Trainspotting" filmed here. For me, Rouken Glen is also very special, it's where I used to feed the ducks when I was little, I learned how to ride my Bluebird bike here, I enjoyed eating ice-creams here with my family in summer and making a wish by throwing pennies into the waterfall with my dad. Rouken Glen is a beautiful park and there is so much to do here, especially if you have a young family. If you're a nature lover then it's great to come here for a walk and listen to the birds tweeting. When I came here last summer I was glad to see that it's still as popular as ever, we even took the paddle boats out and I enjoyed being captain for the day as G-Bot is useless at rowing. I also took a lot of flyers from the park rangers office, that encouraged people to be more environmental and bring out the hippie in you. This year I plan to take part in some of the activities in these flyers, such as going on an ancient tree hunt, joining the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, taking part in National Insect Week by going on a bug hunt, who knows I might even find Bugtropolis. What better place to do all of these things than at Rouken Glen? If all that nature tires you out then there's a little cafe beside the pond to sit and recharge your batteries.

A hidden gem which your Julia Donaldson loving little ones will love to visit!…read moreWe call this Gruffalo Wood because of the Gruffalo-themed carvings dotted near the entrance of the Loch. The Loch itself is fairly small, taking only 15-20 mins to walk around. There is lots of nature and wildlife to explore here from toadstools to frogs to wild raspberries to dragonflies... We met a particularly large, and bold, swan today whilst feeding the ducks! On our last visit we stumbled across hundreds and hundreds of baby frogs migrating across the pathway to the Loch. This has become a regular location for us to visit with our little Julia Donaldson fan. There is a play park at the far end of the Loch from the little car park off Kilmardinny Avenue and if you need something to eat or liquid refreshments after your walk there is a recently opened Waitrose with a lovely cafe minutes away by car or foot!

We visited here after discovering Gruffalo Wood through Ali's review :)…read more My friend was visiting with her 6 and 3yr old girls and we took A in his pram. We really enjoyed walking round the loch in the sunshine, the path is pretty easy going for littles and the pram alike, and there are a few places to stop along the way and see the ducks or discover the awesome carvings. We couldn't find the play park, perhaps a little sign would help, but we asked someone and soon found the little path leading up to it. There were some different play areas to explore including an awesome rope swing that the adults enjoyed too! We had a great, free day out and it worked well to tire out the kids. Would highly recommend.

Loch Lomond Shores is a small shopping complex mainly aimed at tourists so you will find an…read moreoverload of tartan and shortbread on offer here. There's a few stores including; -Jenners -Catherine Kinloch -Misty Glen -Edinburgh Woollen Mill -Thorntons -Julien Graves ...So it's not the kind of place you could go on a shopping spree but it caters for tourists and is a pleasant place to browse. In addition to the shopping centre there's also a Sea Life Centre and if you're looking for some activities then you can hop on the loch for a spot of canoeing or paddle boating. Like Gavin, I find it a little odd that there's a complete lack of place to eat apart from a small cafe attached onto Jenners and a restaurant with the worst looking menu I've ever seen.

Ugh, I clearly made an error in planning to launch my exploration of Loch Lomond from this site…read more It's a tourist-choked amusement park. Besides restaurants and an aquarium (to which I'll give a pass), they have paddleboats and a "retail crescent." They do offer some legitimate services for exploring the park, such as kayak and mountain-bike rentals. On the upside, the park service has a large visitor center here which serves as a gateway to Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. What I really wanted to do was hike around the vicinity above the lake, since I didn't have time enough in my day to climb Ben Lomond. I got plenty of pamphlets and then got the hell out to drive up the west side of the lake towards Luss.

16 miles south of Oban, this remote and beautiful sea loch is well worth a visit…read more It's a wonderful place for hill walking and cycling. There are peaceful beaches to stroll along too and a few restaurants, hotels and pubs not far away. This is an area of stunning natural beauty, teeming with wildlife sometimes you'll see otters, seals and porpoises swimming in the loch. Perfect for birdwatching too. There are wonderful views from the top of the surrounding hills over the Sound of Jura and many small islands. Highly recommended! From Oban you'll need the A816 south to Kilmelford. Then turn right to Degnish for nearly 2 miles. there are signs for Melfort Pier and Harbour.