After three days of glorious sunshine, I woke to find I couldn't see Goat Fell from our cottage. From most cottages this wouldn't be any change, but we were staying above Lamlash Bay, with views across to Holy Island (now shrouded in low cloud) and North to the summit of Goat Fell. Keith and I were still forbidden to bag the Arran Corbetts, whilst the others finished their geology trip, so we decided to bag Tighvein, as it was our local hill and it seemed to me to be suitably perverse to choose a low moorland hill as my second hill on Arran. The others were over at Blackwaterfoot, in the South West of the island, so we agreed to join them afterwards at the Machrie Moor stone circles.
Our route up Tighvein was a straightforward ascent from the forest car park at the foot of Monamore Glen, just round the corner from our cottage.
071 Bridge by car park by prwild, on Flickr
We followed the signs to Urie Loch.
072 Path junction by prwild, on Flickr
Emerging from the forest there was a short steep climb onto the high ground above Urie Loch.
073 Urie Loch Panorama by prwild, on Flickr
Tighvein could be seen ahead (the cloud having lifted), and we circled round to the right of the loch to reach it.
074 Urie Loch reedbed by prwild, on Flickr
After a quick bash through heather we were at the summit. The sun now came out.
075 Tighvein summit by prwild, on Flickr
The cairn seemed higher than the trig point - though when we were at the cairn it looked the other way round.
076 Phil on Tighvein summit by prwild, on Flickr
A red grouse strutted by.
077 Red Grouse by prwild, on Flickr
We returned around the Eastern end of the loch.
078 East end of Urie Loch by prwild, on Flickr
The weather was steadily improving, and Holy Island could be seen free of cloud from the descent.
079 View to Holy Island by prwild, on Flickr
080 Lamlash Bay by prwild, on Flickr
We saw some more wildlife as we re-entered the woods. The barn owl was too quick to photograph, but I managed to photograph a butterfly (a male Green Veined White, as later identified by Andy).
081 Butterfly by prwild, on Flickr
Returning to the car, we drove over The Ross to Blackwaterfoot and met up with the others to see the Machrie Moor stone circles. There are 6 circles in all, plus some outliers on the way in, with glorious views back to the sea and across to the Arran Hills. No words are necessary...
082 Stones and sea mist by prwild, on Flickr
083 Fingals Cauldron by prwild, on Flickr
084 Machrie Moor 4 by prwild, on Flickr
085 Machrie Moor 1 by prwild, on Flickr
086 Machrie Moor 11 by prwild, on Flickr
087 Machrie Moor 3 by prwild, on Flickr
088 Machrie Moor 2 by prwild, on Flickr
I experimented a bit with the settings on my new camera...
089 Machrie Moor black & white by prwild, on Flickr
090 Machrie Moor super vivid by prwild, on Flickr
...and tried some shots with the moon.
091 Machrie Moor stone & moon by prwild, on Flickr
092 Machrie Moor 2 stones & moon by prwild, on Flickr
We were fortunate that the weather had cleared and the sun come out, but this was a wonderful place, well worth a visit on a trip to Arran.
