Actually it was the plan to do my first hike in Scotland in the Cairngorms National Park. But once again the weather had something against it. Thanks to a tip-off, I escaped the predicted snow and below zero temperatures and headed south towards the Isle of Arran. Arran is also called Little Scotland as it has everything to offer from mountains to countryside, to coastline and beaches. Not surprisingly there were also many different hikes to do and just by researching them online I was fire and flames for that island. :) As this time I had my tent with me, I decided to mix different hikes together and camp in the wild whenever possible. As the days I spent on Arran turned out to be quite entertaining I hope you don't mind another day by day review. :)
Day 1: Snow and below zero temperatures :)
Heading out of Glasgow in the early morning, I took the first possible ferry from Ardrossan to Brodick. In Brodick I missed my bus, as I had to stock up on food and therefore decided to walk to my starting point. This took a bit longer than expected and arriving at noon at the Glen Rosa campsite I didn't miss a beat and started my hike right away. In the beginning I followed a little stream and not much later the first mountains came into view.
If all would go well I would stand on three different summits today, but at the moment I couldn't really figure out on which one. So I carried on and passing a bridge, I turned left onto a steep rocky path. With all my camping gear, food and water in the backpack, the ascent was rather slow. Once on top, I passed a gate and was greeted by a moorland plateau. As the official trail was already quite wet and muddy, I followed some other trails just next to it, always avoiding to stand in the mud and get wet feet. The forecast for today said clear sky, but since I started there were big clouds around and while taking a break on the mud path, the first rain started to fall. Or was it snow? Whatever it was, it was over in a couple minutes. When I finally left the moorland behind me, another ascending slope waited for me. Somewhere in the middle of the ascent I took my lunch break and enjoyed a good view towards Brodick and the sea.
A bit further on, a peak came into view that I noticed before and it dawned on me that this would be the first one to tackle. It still seemed kinda far away and all that I could see in between were more ascending slopes. Well, no turning back now. :) The higher I got, the better was the view. Mountains wherever I looked. When I came onto a saddle just before the final ascent, there were views for the first time towards the southern part of Arran. That was nothing though against the 360° panoramic view of Beinn Nuis, the first summit, which I reached about 15 minutes later. What a view, what a place! I even forgot that I could see the air when I was breathing, it was that cold already. From here I also was able to see the summit of Beinn Tarsuinn, which was the next on my list.
The trail led down into a gap and then ascended again more or less up to the same height as before. Beinn Tarsuinn had twin summits, but the view of the second one was somewhat better, so I took my break there. Goatfell and North Goatfell were prominent right in front of me, both of which I intended to scale tomorrow. Now the going got a bit rougher as the descent from Beinn Tarsuinn was not an easy one. Many rocks were in the way and some scrambling inevitable. Once down in the gap I had to turn left as the direct way across the next ridge was for climbers only. Battling with the cold, the wind and my heavy backpack, I followed the trail underneath the ridge until it went back up again, once the climbing section was behind me. Now the highlight of today's hike awaited me: the summit of Cir Mohr. Cir Mohr is the most spectacular mountain in the area, because of its pyramidal shape and its views from the tiny summit. Luckily the ascent was not difficult, just steep and when I arrived on the top, views in all valleys and to all sides unfolded before me. And the sun and the clouds staged a play that couldn't have been better. Wow, truly stunning!
About half an hour my eyes feasted on the view, then it was time to decide how much further I want to walk. As it was a long day already and I was kinda tired I decided to set up my tent on a nice spot just five minutes below the summit. This was my first time ever to camp wild in the mountains and I had no idea if I made a good choice or not. :) At least the view and the sunset were magnificent and already worth putting up the tent at this particular spot.
Nevertheless, when I crawled fully clothed into my sleeping bag at 9 o'clock, I prepared myself for a rough night. About ten minutes later I heard a dripping noise outside. Rain? Nope! A mixture between hail and snow was falling on my tent. Great.. So much for escaping snow and below zero temperatures.
Day 2: Getting the best of Little Scotland
Whereas the snow stopped falling quickly, the wind kept on going all night. While it was not too bad during the night, I woke up at about 4 o'clock to a relentless tugging at my tent. So far I felt safe as my tent should withstand such conditions, but when the wind came even stronger about an hour later, it was time to pack up. Putting all my clothes on that I could find, it was 5.30 in the morning, somewhere below zero and really windy, but surprisingly I had not cold at all. :) Once the tent was stowed away I climbed up to the summit of Cir Mohr again and enjoyed the clear sky and the beautiful morning sun. After that I took a short breakfast and then started the descent into the Glen Rosa valley. I made good way and when I finally came out of the shadow it was time to peel of some clothes. :) Closeby was a tiny stream as well and I filled up my water and brushed my teeth. Refreshed I carried on and reached the turnoff I was looking for about half an hour later. This path ascended to a saddle between Cir Mohr and North Goatfell. Back in the shade with a cold wind in my face, it was a tough walk up there. When I reached the saddle it almost blew me away. Such a strong wind! Here I turned right and started the ascent up to North Goatfell. The tiny path led upwards between rocks and it was scrambling time again. :) Like the whole other day, there were no marks on the trail at all, so sometimes it was hard to figure out which way I had to go exactly. To such a point I came below a ridge that led the way to the summit. Straight ahead looked like a path but impassable further up. To my right looked like a path as well, so I took this one as it seemed to be the right one. Well, it was not. :) A bit later I faced a steep ascent with rocks and loose scree in between. Not sure if I really should go up there, I thought about it for a while. In the end I decided to attempt it and made it up to the ridge without any harm. The adrenalin was rushing though as this was one of the most intense scramble I ever did. From the ridge it was not far anymore to the summit. Once there I took a long break, enjoying the clear sky, marveling at the stunning scenery and tracing my route from yesterday.
Today's hike wouldn't have been complete without a visit on the peak of Goatfell, the bigger brother of North Goatfell. It looked pretty close but with a bit more scrambling to do in between I reached the summit only about 40 minutes later. Goatfell is the highest peak of Arran and is reached pretty easily from Brodick. Therefore there were quite a few people on the top on a sunny day like this. As the summit was big enough to share I found a secluded spot and had my lunch. The view of the other mountains, of Brodick and the sea were simply superb.
An hour later I started the descent which first led me back towards North Goatfell. Bypassing the summit this time I carried on to another ridge and followed that one for the best part of an hour. Then I reached a point where I was able to look at the rest of my descent. To my left a steep and narrow ridge with a huge drop at the end. To my right a more or less gentle slope that led down to the bottom. The official path was the left one, but hell no, not with my backpack and not after all the scrambling I already did today. So I turned right and in the beginning there was even some sort of path. Soon enough the path was gone and I went down the slope freestyle. :) Looking at the other ridge to my left I was super glad I didn't had to go down there.
Further down I found another random path and crossing some more moorland I was finally back on the official trail. It led me right into the tiny settlement of Sannox and to a pint of beer. At least that's what I thought. But sure enough the hotel with the bar was closed. Why was I not surprised? :) Well I didn't want to stay in Sannox anyway. It was time to join the Arran Coastal Way. This is a long distance hike of 7 days around the island. It was not the plan to do it all, but a couple days on it would be nice. So I crossed the beach of Sannox and picked up the way at the end of it.
As I was pretty tired and the evening came closer I kept my eyes open for a camping spot. For once it was easy enough. After 30 minutes I reached a picnic area right at the sea. It had some parking spots and a big lawn to camp on, and all of this for free. Not as wild as yesterday, but this would do for tonight. :) While pitching my tent I started to chat with a Scottish fellow that was on holiday on Arran and camped at this site as well. When he heard what I had done the last two days he offered me a beer. Nice! The perfect ending to another big day. :) Crashing into my sleeping bag at 9 o'clock, I was in the land of dreams within a moment.
Day 3: On the Arran Coastal Way
When I woke up at 7, I could officially say that this was the best sleep I ever had in a tent. 10 hours in a coma. :) But now I really needed a toilet. It was that urgent that I walked back to Sannox and used the public toilet there. :) Back at the campsite, I packed my stuff together and was on my way. The trail obviously followed the coast and in the beginning was a big and well maintained path. This changed soon and I was back on a good old dirt track. :) The scenery along the way was nice. A couple stony beaches, some impressive rocks and a view of the hills up ahead.
Only the weather could have been a bit better. There were many clouds and a rain shower had passed by a bit earlier. Nevertheless, the walk was really enjoyable. After some time I arrived at a cottage with a turnoff leading over the hills. It would have been a shortcut, but I had enough mountains the last two days, so I decided to keep walking along the coast. And that was a good decision as the trail only got better and better. The coastline became more rugged and it was quite some fun to hop over all those rocks and roots while enjoying the still superb scenery.
During a particular rocky section I found a nice spot to have some lunch. Luckily the weather had cleared up a bit and it was no problem to rest for half an hour and get my lungs full of sea air. :) From here it didn't took long anymore and Lochranza came into view. And what a nice village that was! Hills all around, beautiful houses lining the bay and a castle ruin that looked like it was floating on the water.
To get to the other side of the bay, I kept on walking along the shore and therefore came up close with the whole village. Well, almost the whole. Somehow I missed the Arran distillery, probably because my focus was on something else. I really needed some Wifi and tried to find a place where I could sit down and do some online stuff, but I just couldn't find any. Right when I was ready to give up, I got a signal from the ferry station. As it was an unmanned one, I sat down in the waiting hall, charged my smartphone and used the free Wifi. :) Once I was done with everything I joined the Coastal Way again, which now was a stretch of tarmac of about 10 kilometer to the next bigger village. Walking already for 10 minutes, I remembered suddenly that there should have been, at least for the first part, another way. So back to Lochranza I went and yes, there it was. It was a tiny dirt path that led along the hill side. Much of it was in the trees but towards the end, there were some nice views of the ocean and of Catacol where I planned to set up camp for the night.
From far away I could already see a nice spot for my tent. Even though it was close to the main road, it was surely the best place to camp tonight. Some bushes hid me from sight and not a single other person was around, so I was in for another quiet night.
Day 4 + 5: Back into the mountains
Getting up early once more I had my breakfast, packed my things together and left my campsite for another big day ahead. First I had to make my way along the Arran Coastal Way to the village of Pirnmill. I spare you the details of this two hours as it was, apart from one short section on the shore, all along the main road.
In Pirnmill supposed to be a shop and as I was low on food I prayed for it to be open. Today was a bank holiday and I was not sure if in such a tiny town the local shop would be open. But for once I was lucky. Right there it was time to say the Coastal Way goodbye and head back into the mountains again. The start was just next to the shop and once I stocked up on food I was on my way. It went upwards from the start and passing a birch tree forest, two creeks and a lovely waterfall, I was on a plateau with all the mountains in front of me.
While the forecast for today said clear sky, it was full of clouds again and some rain had already washed over me. As I had the feeling that it wasn't the last time today I packed my rain gear on top of my backpack to have it ready just in case. My first goal was the summit of Mullach Buidhe and there were two ways to get there. A ridge to my left which was pretty steep and with some scrambling along the way, or a ridge to my right with not as steep slopes and with no scrambling involved. Because of my still heavy backpack, the not so good weather and to go easy with my knees I decided to take the right ridge. This resulted in a detour through a patch of moorland as I was already halfway to the left ridge. :) On my way across the moor I turned around and saw a massive front of rain coming towards the mountains. Oh boy. When I reached the ridge I just had time to take a picture of the beautiful view and put on my rain gear before it started. What was coming down was not really rain, it was rather sleet. With the downfall, the wind came as well and therefore the sleet almost fell horizontal. This was to my benefit as I hid behind a rock, decided spontaneously to have my lunch and watched the front go by almost unscathed. When the wind slowed down it was time to move again. The biggest enemy in the mountains of Scotland is poor visibility. When the clouds come down it can be hard to navigate as the paths are not always apparent. In my case I could still see the peak I intended to go, I had GPS tracking, an offline and even a paper map, so I saw no reason to turn around even though the weather was still pretty bad. In any case, I hoped that it would clear again later on. Ascending the gentle slope I almost was at the top when the clouds moved away and opened a view towards the Cir Mohr and Goatfell range. Wow, what a surprise and what a view! Even the sun peeked out behind the clouds and once more the whole "struggle" was completely worth it.
Now I also could see the peak of Mullach Buidhe, it was not too far anymore. Descending into a gap and ascending onto the peak I arrived there with a still pretty good view and some sunshine. Well, the good view was only to one side. On the other, another front was about to move in. Surprisingly I met two other hikers on the top and all that I told them was: "Now that's a real Scottish day!" :) They carried on before the front came in, while I decided to stay until it was here so that I might get some views on the next summit. This time it was almost hail that came down but that too was no problem and I actually enjoyed being exposed to the elements. :)
After a while I moved on and descended into another gap, moved up another ridge and reached the next summit. Unfortunately my plan didn't really worked out and as the clouds were still around there almost was no view. So I carried on right away and hoped to have more luck on the last peak of today. This time the descent was a bit steeper and the ascent rather short, but the views were superb. It had opened up a bit and I could see the whole range that I walked along today.
I could also see the sea and far at the horizon the Isles of Jura and Islay. Rain fronts were also still moving around, but above me was clear and it all together made for a spectacular scenery.
Too soon it was time to carry on. Just about 5 minutes later I already could see the Coire Fhionn Lochan where I intended to camp. And what a beauty that was! Descending to the lake I was looking for a decent camping spot. Most of it was moorland though and not suitable for camping at all, until I found a dry spot just at the beach of the lake where my tent fitted perfectly.
The Loch is a pretty popular spot to visit, but I didn't see anybody when I was there and therefore enjoyed the silence and the scenery thoroughly. It was the perfect end to an amazing day. The sleep though was not that good and I woke up pretty early. Luckily it was not raining too much during the night so my tent was not too wet when I packed up my stuff. Taking a last look at the Loch I started the descent back to the main road. It was the last part of my hiking here on Arran and my thoughts during the descent were mainly with the past spectacular days. Arriving back at the main road I headed back to Pirnmill and because I missed the bus back to Brodick it was time for a beer to celebrate the last days. Even though it was a bit early, it tasted phenomenal. :) Then it was time to go back to Brodick and from there directly onwards to Glasgow. So I enjoyed my time outdoors very much, but now I also looked forward to take a shower and sleep in a proper bed. :)
Highlight of the hike: just about everything
This hike is for you if:
- you want it all, from mountains to valleys, from coastline to beaches
- you want to get a taste of the Arran Coastal Trail
- you don't mind unpredictable weather conditions
- you know how to be self-sufficient
This hike is not for you if:
- you don't have any experience in mountain hiking or in wild camping
- you can't carry a heavy backpack over a couple days
- you mind a lot of scrambling
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