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We had a booked the second week of the Easter school holidays on the Isle of Arran. We had a stunning week of weather, with most days cloudless.
On the Monday, I took the family up Goat fell, the highest mountain on arran at 874m. My oldest son had been up before around 3 years ago, but it was cloudy, so no view which is spectacular on a clear day.
We all had a few aches and pains from Goat fell, so the plan was to attempt the three Beinns walk, which I had read about on WH towards the end of the week. The weather on Friday was forecast to be perfect and for once, they were actually spot on!
The Three Beinn's horse shoe involves 3 corbetts, (Beinn Nuis 2598 ft, Beinn Tarsuinn 2709 ft and Beinn a' Chliabhain 2214 ft).
We started off at Glen Rosa campsite, with Beinn Nuis in the background, which was to be the first climb of the day.
We walked through Glen Rosa for around a mile, before reaching the first footbridge and turned sharp left. A steep climb up a rocky path for 0.5 miles until we reached the wide expanse of Coire a'Bhradain.
Although the weather had been dry and the grass was like straw, it was very boggy under foot and we found ourselves looking for dry footholds for the next mile until we reached the foot of Beinn Nuis.
We stopped for lunch, then began the climb to the summit, which took around an hour. The views east to goatfell and brodick were spectacular.
We had a great view on the way up of Beinn Nuis (left) and the range were to walk along.
Just before the summit on the western approach, we saw the remains of a plane that had crashed in 1943.
Superb views from the top.
We made a short decent, before we started the climb up to Beinn Tarsuinn. Looking back at Beinn Nuis.
We kept a look out for the Old man of Tarsuinn, which is noticeable just before the summit. This was the hightlight of the walk for me!
Once, we reached the summit (we stopped for a rest and admired more views!) of Goat Fell and the paps of jura to the west!
I knew the decent from Beinn Tarsuinn would be the trickiest part of the walk with three youngish children, but we took our time and managed to get down the path leading to Beinn a' Chliabhain via an 'interesting route' through the boulders!
It was another 30 mins or so until we reached Beinn a' Chliabhain.
Although still over 2000 feet, it felt as though we were almost back at ground level as we could see our previous climbs to the west. It was now 1700 and the sun was just beginning to drop in the April sky.
We then made the long walk down the south side, across the boggy expanse of Coire a'Bhradain and back down to Glen Rosa, before making the mile or so walk back to the car. We arrived there around 1900.
Spectacular walk and really recommended, but as I had the wife kids with me, only to be attempted in good weather. We couldn't ask for better! Its a long walk for an nine year old, but I am really proud that they all completed it. It did cost me three ice creams on the way back to the cottage though!
