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Black Cave, Arran.

Black Cave, Arran.


Postby CraigGraham84 » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:43 pm

Hi guys, just looking for a wee bit of help.
My wife and I are heading to Arran in a couple of weeks I've been busy planning all the places we would like to visit. I've got almost everything sorted, circled on my road map and added to google maps but I'm struggling to find any info online on how to get to the Black Cave. Like best place to park and how long the walk would take to get there etc.
I've seen it mentioned in a couple of longer distance routes but as we are only visiting for a couple of days we would just like to head straight to the cave without the 1 hour plus walking if possible? Would also like to hang about there for a bit to hopefully see some otters.
I'm aware it's only possible at low tide but I'll sort that out closer to the time.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
Craig
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Re: Black Cave, Arran.

Postby DarrenJeffrey » Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:04 am

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Re: Black Cave, Arran.

Postby Caberfeidh » Wed Feb 21, 2018 10:14 am

A quick look at the Canmore site shows near Kildonan seems to be the closest parking area. How long it takes to walk there is up to you really. I believe that area is good for spotting otters and seals. https://canmore.org.uk/site/search/result?NUMLINK=39664&view=map , check the tides (Campbeltown seems to be closest) on this site: http://www.ukho.gov.uk/Easytide/easytide/SelectPort.aspx
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Re: Black Cave, Arran.

Postby Mal Grey » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:50 am

There appears to be a signposted track/path leaving the road at GR009215, between Levencorroch and Auchenhew. (Using combination of OS map and Google Streetview) From here, its about a mile and a half to the cave, assuming low enough tide. Not sure how good the path marked is when it descends the cliff...

Trouble is, I can't spot any parking at all nearby along the road. Therefore the extra half mile or so from the minor road at Auchenhew seems better.


There's also a track via Hawthorn Cottage to an obvious path down at GR981204, but with no signposts, you may or may not be welcome to walk down this way. The fact the track down the cliff is quite obvious on google satellite bodes well, I guess, but you'd possibly need to ask permission.
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Re: Black Cave, Arran.

Postby Paul Webster » Sat Mar 03, 2018 5:11 pm

There's a detailed description of walking along the coast passing the cave as part of our Arran Coastal Way guide:
https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/arran/lagg-whiting-bay.shtml

Maybe shorter to do that backwards, but that makes the tidal section worse.

The path mentioned by Mal via Hawthorn Cottage is used as the ACP inland variant (avoiding the cave).
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