Lady Kathrin Ortner

The Lady Kathrin Ortner sits in Argyll like a piece of maritime history that nobody quite expected to find there. She's a cargo ship - or what's left of one - that ran aground and was abandoned, now serving as an oddly compelling landmark for anyone curious enough to seek her out near Cairndow.

This isn't a polished visitor attraction with a gift shop and a café. It's raw, weathered, and genuinely interesting if you're into industrial archaeology or just fancy something different from the usual loch-side stroll. The ship herself tells a story - built in 1914, she had a proper working life before ending up where she did. Walking around the remains, you get a sense of scale and decay that photographs don't quite capture.

Walkers and history enthusiasts will find it worth the detour, though it's not the sort of place you'll spend hours. Twenty minutes to half an hour, taking a few photos and poking about, covers it. Families with older kids might enjoy the novelty, but younger ones could find it a bit dull - there's not much to do except look.

It works well as a stop-off if you're based at one of the nearby caravan parks like Strathlachlan or Glendaruel, both excellent for a wider Argyll holiday. Neither is far from here, and it adds a bit of quirk to what's otherwise a fairly traditional loch and mountain landscape. Free to visit, obviously - there's no infrastructure here at all, which is half the charm.