Loch Ruel

Eilean Dearg is a small island in Loch Ruel (or Loch Riddon) in Argyll, Scotland. The island was once home to a castle, which was destroyed by naval action in Argyll's Rising in 1685. No visible remains of the castle are to be found, but archaeologists excavated the site between 1964 and 1967, finding the castle's hall, chapel, a tower and the foundations of the wall, along with a gate. The excavations also found vitrified rock, possibly indicating the island was once occupied by a vitrified fort.

This particular Eilean Dubh (Scottish Gaelic: Black Island) is sometimes known as Glen Caladh Island and lies just off the Cowal peninsula in the Kyles of Bute. The island is around 0.3 kilometres at its longest length and rises to a height of 19 metres above sea level. It is almost entirely covered by woodland. Although Eilean Dubh is uninhabited, the island's owners, the Ingham Clarks, have their family graveyard here. There is a light to aid navigation at the northern tip of the island. The island forms the idyllic "An Caladh/An Cala" (Scottish Gaelic for "harbour") on the Cowal coast line that was used as a location in BBC television's dramatisation of the Para Handy tales. Eilean Dearg lies to the north and the Burnt Islands lie just to the east.

The Kyles of Bute (Scottish Gaelic: Na Caoil Bhòdach) form a narrow sea channel that separates the northern end of the Isle of Bute from the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll and Bute, on the Scottish mainland. The surrounding hillsides are roughly wooded, and overlooked by rocky tops and areas of moorland. The Kyles are split into the East and West Kyles. The East Kyle (Scottish Gaelic: An Caol an Ear) runs from Rothesay Bay north west up to the entrance to Loch Riddon. Here at the northern end of the East Kyle are the Burnt Islands and the island of Eilean Dubh. The West Kyle (Scottish Gaelic: An Caol an Iar/An Caol Ceathrach) runs from here southwest, past the village of Tighnabruaich out to the Sound of Bute. The area is a designated National Scenic Area. The Kyles are reflected in the name of Tighnabruaich-based Shinty team Kyles Athletic.

The Burnt Islands (Scottish Gaelic: Na h-Eileanan Loisgte) are three small islands that lie in the Kyles of Bute, on the Cowal Peninsula, Argyll and Bute, on the West coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands are located at grid reference NS017752. Individually the Islands are known by their Gaelic names. From the largest to the smallest they are Eilean Mòr (Large Island), Eilean Fraoich (Heather Island) and Eilean Buidhe (Yellow Island). Oddly only the smallest of these tiny islets, Eilean Buidhe, shows any sign of ever having been permanently inhabited having the remains of a vitrified fort on it. Eilean Mòr, huge in comparison, supports only a stunted woodland at its northern end. All water going traffic that travels through the kyles has to negotiate either the narrow sound that separates Eilean Buidhe from Eilean Mòr and Eilean Fraoich or pass south of the islands, via the Wood Farm buoy. The narrows, which are the principal route for commercial traffic, are marked by four light buoys, two on each side. A little to the west Eilean Dubh (Black Island) lies at the entrance to Loch Riddon and to the north Eilean Dearg lies within the loch.

Auchenbreck Castle (also spelt Auchinbreck) is located in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Its remains are situated in Kilmodan parish, near the south of Glendaruel, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north of Tighnabruaich on the Cowal peninsula. Little remains of the castle, other than a flat rectangular platform, around 35 by 18 metres (115 by 59 ft), between Auchenbreck farmhouse and the Auchenbreck Burn. This is partially bounded by a revetment wall up to 2.2 metres (7 ft 3 in) high. The castle was held by the Campbells of Auchinbreck, a branch of the Clan Campbell descended from Duncan, a younger son of Duncan Campbell, 1st Lord Campbell. He was granted lands near Dunoon in 1435, and further lands in Glassary. By the 16th century, the family were known as "of Auchinbreck". The castle appears on Timothy Pont's map of the late 16th century. Dugald Campbell of Auchenbreck was killed in a fire at the castle in 1641. Around 1703 the castle was purchased by John Fullarton, former minister of Kilmodan, and later Bishop of Edinburgh. Fullarton renamed the estate Greenhall, and was the last person to live in the castle. When the estate was sold in 1728, after Fullarton's death, it included a mansion which may have been built from the stones of the castle. The castle itself was in its current ruined state by 1870.

Rhubodach is a small settlement on the north-eastern shore of the Isle of Bute, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The name rhubodach may come from the Gaelic rubha a' bhodaich which translates as old man's point or promontory or alternatively may be from An Rubha Bhòdaich meaning the Bute headland. Rhubodach lies at the north of Bute on the A886 road. From here a small ro-ro ferry sails the short distance over the Kyles of Bute to Colintraive in Argyll, where the A886 road continues to Strachur. The route, operated by Caledonian MacBrayne's MV Loch Dunvegan, is reputed to be one of the shortest in Scotland still in operation. The issue of whether the ferry should be replaced by a bridge is one which reappears in various discussions about Bute's economy; however, opposition stems from the resulting loss of Bute's "island status". Film actor and director Richard Attenborough owned Rhubodach estate for a number of years. In August 2009, he placed the 2,000-acre (800-hectare) estate up for sale. A referendum carried out on 12 February 2010 showed 93% of islanders supported a plan to buy the land for the community. In January 2011, he sold the estate, which included a forest, for the reduced fee of £1.48 million.

Colintraive (Scottish Gaelic: Caol an t-Snàimh) is a village on the Cowal Peninsula, in Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. Once the site where cattle were swum across the narrows to the Isle of Bute, the MV Loch Dunvegan — a ferry operated by Caledonian MacBrayne — now provides a link to the island.

The Colintraive Hotel (also known as The Colintraive) is a hotel and pub in Colintraive, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It was formerly a hunting lodge for John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute. It stands a few yards from the eastern shores of the Kyles of Bute and the ferry crossing of the 400-yard gap to Rhubodach on Bute, currently provided by the MV Loch Dunvegan. Jazz guitarist Ken Sykora owned the hotel for around five years during the 1970s. In the 1880s, the hotel was owned by Andrew Turner. In the 1890s, it was owned by a Mrs Turner.

Tighnabruaich Lifeboat Station is located at the harbour at Tighnabruaich, a village on the Cowal peninsula, on the Kyles of Bute, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. A lifeboat was first stationed hare by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in 1967. The station currently operates a B-class (Atlantic 85) Inshore lifeboat (ILB), the James and Helen Mason (B-862), on station since 2012.

Tighnabruaich; ( ; Scottish Gaelic: Taigh na Bruaich) is a village on the Cowal Peninsula, on the western arm of the Kyles of Bute in Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. In 2011 the population was 660. It is west of Glasgow and north of the Isle of Arran. Tighnabruaich is now part of a continuous coastal strip of housing that joins onto Kames.