When you think of industrial heritage Argyll isn't the first place to spring to mind, but the slate quarries at Easdale and surrounding islands and the iron smelter at Bonawe on Loch Etive led the way two hundred years ago.
This is one of the flooded slate quarries on Easdale, and everywhere you walk there is debris of dressing chips from the millions of slates exported all over world.
Easdale has found new fame as the host of the World Stone Skimming Championships, held every September, using the endless supply of perfect skimming stones.
On a trip up to the spectacular head of Loch Etive, it's well worth calling in at the Bonawe Iron Furnace, the well-preserved but not over restored charcoal smelting site, which worked from 1753 to 1876.
