Cycling Bute — an island loop you can ride between ferries.

The classic circuit is about 30 miles (48km) and links almost everything worth seeing. From Rothesay head south along the shore past Craigmore and Ascog to Mount Stuart, on to Kingarth and the spur down to Kilchattan Bay, then cut west and north up the A844 past Scalpsie Bay, Straad and Ettrick Bay before rolling back through Port Bannatyne to the pier.

Expect roughly 400-500 metres of climbing, none of it brutal but plenty of it steady: the pull out of Kilchattan Bay and the rises above Scalpsie are the ones you will remember. Allow four to six hours with a beach stop, a tea room and time at the seal viewpoint.

Ride it clockwise (south first) if you want a tailwind home on a typical south-westerly, and to save the Ettrick Bay tea room for the final third when you will genuinely want it.

CalMac carries bicycles on both routes — Wemyss Bay to Rothesay and Colintraive to Rhubodach — for a small charge, with no vehicle reservation needed. You wheel on with the foot passengers, which makes a car-free cycling weekend genuinely easy: train to Wemyss Bay, ferry across, ride.

Hire is available in Rothesay a short walk from the pier, usually including hybrids, e-bikes, kids' bikes and trailers. E-bikes are worth it if the group has mixed legs; book ahead in July and August.

There is no bike shop stocking every spare on the island, so bring tubes, a pump and a multi-tool. Mobile signal is patchy on the west coast and across the moor.