Dounie

Access to Dounie can be gained on foot from the road, then track which leads North from Carsaig, and on to Crinan. There are some wonderful views to be had from this Forestry Commission track, and even a bench at the viewpoint Cnoc Na Faire to rest on.

The view above is of a secluded bay just to the South of Dounie House.

Dounie itself is a house with a long history. In older times, the Lord of the Isles held his court there. It is said that once, when a certain illdoer had been captured and convicted, he escaped and ran off. One of the Lord’s men went after him and recaptured him and brought him back for execution, and as a reward for this deed was given the lands around Dounie for his own.

Here Thomas Campbell the poet lived for a time as tutor to the children of General Napier. One of his pupils was the future Sir William Napier of Milliken who was then about eight years old and was living at Dounie with his mother while his father was away in India.

Until fairly recently the route to Dounie and Crinan from Carsaig was little more that a footpath, and it is said that the owners of Dounie House had to get to Crinan or Carsaig by boat. Some two miles from Carsaig there is a parking area just before a locked gate. Thereafter the road to Dounie is not open to motor vehicles, but is suitable for mountain bikes or walking in stout footwear.