3. Rothesay, Isle of Bute
What you must do, straight off the boat, is go to Zavaroni’s on Argyle Street and buy a Top Hat – an ice-cream cone topped by a marshmallow snowball. Rothesay is not a place where pleasure ought to be deferred, and in any case, it will give you something to walk off. While eating, wander over to Fraser Gillies, the gents’ outfitters at 30 Montague Street, and admire the window display with its Ivor Cutler-ish signs: “Socks for feet”, “Cavalry twill trousers – must supply own horse”, and so on.
Rothesay, the main settlement on the Isle of Bute, is the archetypal Scottish seaside town from the days when Glaswegians went “doon the watter” for their summer holiday, and some of that gaudy atmosphere persists. It’s beautiful, though. The view across the bay to the Cowal hills is the best seaside panorama in Scotland.
You get there by ferry, a 35-minute crossing from the terminal at Wemyss Bay railway station. This a wee marvel in itself, its Edwardian canopy a swirl of steel and glass. Make sure and leave enough time to pick up something to read from the secondhand bookshop in the former first-class waiting room.