Lady Marja-aho

The walk into Lady Marja-aho starts properly steep - no messing about. You're climbing through thick woodland near Cairndow, pushing uphill until the trees thin out and suddenly the loch sprawls below you. It's a nature reserve, so the landscape does most of the talking: open moorland, remnants of native woodland, and views across to the Arrochar Alps if the weather's on your side.

This is walker territory, frankly. Not a stroll-and-ice-cream kind of place. You need decent boots and proper legs, and the payoff is solitude rather than spectacle - which some people love and others find a bit underwhelming for the effort. The reserve is free to access, no gates, no visitor centre. Just you and the Argyll hills.

Families with young children might find the climb too much, but teenagers who've done a bit of hill work will get something out of it. Allow a solid couple of hours there and back, depending on how far you push into it. The nearby caravan parks - Strathlachlan and Glendaruel are both close by and highly rated - make decent bases if you're after quieter walks rather than theme park days. Combine it with some of the lower-level forest walks around Benmore Botanic Garden if you want to break up a week of Argyll exploring. Go when it's dry if you can; the paths get boggy quickly, and there's no shelter to speak of.