Under the Sun on Arran

[weaselmaster]

Last week I was under the weather - this week I was under the effects of the sun...I don't do heat very well and this recent hot few days have not been great for me. Spending a day in full sun, not a particle of shade on the granite ridges and without a whisper of breeze either really wasn't much fun...

2022-08-12_0812 Raw.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

Anyway, this was to be a truncated weekend as Allison had a wedding reception to attend on Saturday night. Arran seemed a good compromise - I needed a couple of the Corbetts there and we could easily get there on Thursday night and back by lunchtime on Saturday. We headed down in the heat of the afternoon, braving the closure of the A78 with an interesting diversion around West Kilbride - lots of memories of Lockdown Walks coming back Ferry was quite busy, not surprisingly, but the crossing was calm - we sat on deck and ate sandwiches washed down with a beer. At the terminal we hopped onto the North Island bus, me using my old person's card. Plan was to alight at North Sannox bridge, find somewhere to camp and head up the hills the following morning. I misread the geography outside the window and got off the bus too early - Allison muttered it was the wrong place, but it gave us a chance to stretch our legs a wee bit and low for camp spots -of which there really weren't any around. We arrived at the car park at North Sannox in a cloud of midges and found a suitable spot nearby. The sun was just going down behind the hills meaning the existing midges would be reinforced.

8C91BA40-F905-48DD-A85A-98233D221DAF by Al, on Flickr

A hot night, fairly quiet given the proximity of the road. Midge hell in the morning, but we left them behind as we walked along the Sannox Burn, coming out of the trees into the heat of the morning. We missed the turn off across the burn and went a bit further into to coire - though that rewarded us with great views of the Witches' Step. Retraced a little, slippy slabs in the burn which nearly saw me take a tumble, then the slow climb up Sail an Im ("The heel of butter"?). We passed a group of folk who'd been camping between Carn Mor and Caisteal Abhail. Some stunning views from here - especially of Cir Mhor which did look like something out of The Land that Time Forgot with a touch of swirling vapour lending authenticity. To see a pterodactyl come flying round the corner wouldn't have been surprising.

8E382C5A-FF86-48E4-B6D9-91118E94BD54_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

0904C922-81D6-4345-94F0-C8B334DCFDDA_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

7B6F6897-4FEE-4263-8B2C-65F409F592D6_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

BA95CAC4-C615-457F-B7B8-4DC0B3F60B8A_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

8773D2CC-7E71-4AB8-8981-2404C284BDF8_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

BE5B29B3-060B-4F65-B7D8-F578449ACAA6_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

390A6AD8-8CA6-46AF-AFA9-3BE5BE919411_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

0306A332-9394-423A-BDFA-2B0EF60F9A55 by Al, on Flickr

We summited Abhail and set off down towards the bealach with Cir Mhor. There's a little spring (heard more easily than spotted) and only about 3m in length, coming out of the mountain and going back in, which is marked with a cairn - this provided lovely cold clear water, a real boon on a day like today. We paused for a bit of lunch before heading up Cir Mhor. Watched a small raptor glide around Coire na h-Uaimh, I think a female Merlin. On the way up Cir Mhor I'm looking across at A' Chir wondering if we can reach the summit by going up the east ridge - just before we get to the top of Cir Mhor we met a climbery-looking girl whom we spoke with - she'd been up A'Chir and said yeah, it would be a bit of a slog up the east ridge, there were still some slightly awkward bits attaining the top and the summit block was difficult to get onto. Having experienced similar issues with not being able to get on top of a granite block on Caisteal Abhail's East Top, we decided not to bother...

6F6EC7F5-0F1D-4E85-A375-68BC238D003C by Al, on Flickr

80B1E71B-6BBC-4402-A1ED-69076BB43305_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

DE3BAAEB-33B2-421B-A16B-FD4578946EF0_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

115CC14E-DBEF-46AB-9052-9410D9B49346_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

5CE9197E-A08E-4311-B09E-C0F396433867_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

2D8C434E-E787-4234-9A4F-331D86D3216B_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

The top of Cir Mhor was busy, with people and with flying ants. We didn't stop long. By this time I was really suffering in the heat and was slow as treacle on a cold day...Allison did find a small stream coming off the slabs of A'Chir as we went around underneath it, which allowed me to cool off a little, but I felt drained. We didn't have an awful lot more to do today, mind you - up Tarsuinn which Allison wanted, then camp somewhere on the Simm of Beinn a'Chliabhain. We left our packs by Consolation Tor and headed to the top of Tarsuinn, unburdened, passing through the natural arch-type thing. It was cool in there, a brief bit of shade. At the summit we came across a guy in his tent and had a blether. He'd camped on Caisteal Abhail the night before and was hoping for another fine sunset. Midges (and flying ants) were keeping him inside for now.

7BB7226E-C23E-403B-A728-2B9265CB3201_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

339DCD0B-941D-4576-9685-E3991889ED39 by Al, on Flickr

938ECC98-63B2-4134-86C3-D6BC8D1BA498_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

We could see the path clearly going along to Beinn a'Chliabhain and thought we would get pitched somewhere beside that. In the end we headed up almost to the summit, searching for a bit of breeze to offer a little coolness and to diminish the midges. I just wanted to shut my eyes and sleep, never mind the sunset. Typically, despite wanting sleep more than anything, being comfortable and outside being quiet, sleep was not forthcoming until after 3.30am - and as we needed to get up around 6.30 to get back to the ferry, there was no option to have a long lie. I chose not to venture out to take pics of what I'm sure would have been a lovely dawn with an inversion over the sea and struggled to get together when we did pack up. There was a tantalising inversion on the lower slopes of the hill as we descended - we longed to enter its coolness, but as we descended towards it, the sun burned more and more of it away Typical.

CC526EE4-B51A-4569-9FA7-77F28066BD95_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

B55DBA75-D28D-446E-8B92-F939F9FB9EB6_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

Granite Pig
584787A9-3EEB-4B30-AE8A-50245C1A5419_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

76994E08-F02B-458B-B88A-E1FE7AE4F616_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

5A583A22-73B8-4691-9C2C-BEADD19174D9_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

CBBC3536-D61C-4BB5-8513-7291183359F0_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

F3737050-79EB-41FC-B98F-72EC2A3452DC_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

C57EC2EA-38A3-49A2-A5D0-98EDBE7222F3_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

D7A0C7DB-4673-4E8C-8619-5EA3D2620A4F_1_201_a by Al, on Flickr

We made Brodick with plenty time to spare but I didn't feel like doing much. The ferry was very busy and was a bit held up getting away, though it didn't really matter. Again we sat on deck and had a cooler breeze than on the way over - delicious. I was glad not to be out on the hills the rest of the weekend given this heat.