Gare Loch

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The Gare Loch should not be confused with the Loch Gairloch or the village of Gairloch.

Gare Loch or Gareloch is an inlet on the west coast of the Argyll and Bute region of Scotland.

Image:Scotland Map (Firth of Clyde Detail) Gare Loch.png

A sea loch aligned north-south, it is 10 kilometers long with an average width of 1.5 kilometers, opening onto the Firth of Clyde at its southern end across Rhu narrows with the village of Rosneath on the western shore just north of Rosneath point which gives the name the Rosneath Peninsula; the whole body of land separating the Gare Loch from Loch Long to the west. On the eastern shore a promenade in the town of Helensburgh gives attractive views across to Rosneath point.

To the north of Helensburgh, Rhu features a yacht marina, and further north the eastern shore is dominated by the Faslane Naval Base, the home of the United Kingdom's fleet of Trident nuclear submarines. The loch was the site of a major naval base during World War II and was used to store decommissioned naval vessels in the 1950s. A shipbreakers yard ceased trading around the 1980s and has been absorbed into the expansion of the naval base.

At the north end of the loch the substantial village of Garelochhead includes adventure holiday facilities and has a railway station on the main line north.

Gare Loch offers good conditions for sight seeing, sailing and sea angling.Template:Argyll-geo-stub