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I fancied a solo trip to Arran so looked for a new walk and came across this one. It looked like a beast of a walk and climb but I was happy to go for the first part up Cioch na h-Oighe to Goatfell and back down again in time for an early boat home. Trying to prepare for a walk while caught up in the excitement of the Scotland Ireland game was a bit difficult. In doing so I ended up leaving without a map and sufficient food for the day. I grabbed some grub in town before catching the train to Ardrossan and using Scotrail`s free wifi I saved some maps and walk info to my phone from Walkhighlands. Sorted. I knew the rain would be staying off and the winds were weak so it was just a matter of keeping my fingers crossed that the clouds would stay high.
- on the way over
The whole island had a low cloud hung over it on approach, but it wasn`t too bad when you got there, although Goatfell summit could still not be seen , but otherwise it was a decent day for november. The cheery bus driver dropped me off right at the start of the walk and i was off. You follow the path around past a graveyard, then towards some old beech trees on the right of the path and past the sign off to the right for Glen Sannox.
- Caisteal Abhail ahead
- Cioch na h-Oighe & Devil`s punchbowl
I could see the tops of Caisteal Abhail and the ridge that i was climbing up to, but I knew that it could be very changeable. I reached a burn which i crossed over before remembering that the path led off here somewhere. I check the walk description and realised the path runs up the left side of the burn and retreated to find a vague path amongst the dieing bracken.
- take the path here
As I had wore my winter, lined trousers and was already roastin, I decided against wearing my gaiters and marched through the grass growing over the path. It wasn`t too wet anyway and the path wasn`t too muddy. I found a suitable place to cross the burn, which at times as you gain height forms a deep ravine. It was probably a little too early, but i walked up alongside it a bit more before finding another faint path off to my right, which i followed towards the bottom of the hill. As i walked towards it I thought to myself , how the hell am i going to get up that ? Some deer crossed ahead of me, but got out of sight quickly , they must have smelled me. It was quite boggy and I jumped from rock to rock , mound to mound as i neared the hill. The trick now was to find the path. I had quickly read a couple of people`s experience of the climb which they described as quite an easy scramble but not much else about the start other than there was a huge slab section at the start which was marked with an arrow pointing up on it. I could n`t find it and made my way along another very faint path through the heather. probably more likely a deer path. I knew to make my way towards the ridge overlooking Glen Sannox. I passed a few plausible starts to going up but i carried on going around until i decided enough was enough. I tested out some slabs that i passed for grip. The ones that were completely dry and moss free were fine to walk on , but any sign of moss meant they were really slippy and not to be taken lightly.
- Up there ? .. No
I looked at this way up , but didn`t fancy the crag it was heading to.
- caisteal abhail
I picked out some rocks to head to and waded through the heather, ocasionally having to get down low and taking a firm grip to hoist myself up. This was to be the position i was in for much of the way until i eventually found the path. Carefully going up the sides of some rocks always looking ahead to find a safe route. There was no exposure here and at the most i would only have fallen down a few feet into the heather, but it was all about getting up higher not falling down.
- what much of the route looked like
- looking along glen sannox to the sea
It was quite difficult in my heavy trousers and my winter boots but i was enjoying the workout, I could do with losing the love handles and the beer belly.
I was hauling myself up onto rocks, carefully walking along ridges in the rock and finding handgrips and footholds more easily as my confidence grew. Then I found a path. Yes. I was able to breathe easier now and i jogged along when the terrain would allow. I came to a point where a cairn marked a central part of two adjoining paths, I had come from the right, so i followed left to find it went nowhere safe. So it only meant one thing , the cairn was saying "climb up over that big slab, son" . I sat here for a bit resting in the rocks and looking out to the sea and across to the mainland which was beginning to disappear under a blanket of grey cloud. Aw naw, no rain ? I sat for about five minutes. I made my mind up that if it did rain i was going to head back down the path. There was a hell of alot more rock to be scrambled over and I didn`t fancy it in the wet. As it was, the cloud didn`t come off the water and i dusted myself down and decided to carry on.
- looking over to Suidhe Fhearghas (the seat of Fergus?)
I tried to find the best grip, changing my body shape to fit. But once that first hold is in and you hoist yourself up your away again. Easy peasy.
- find the path
i was loving it now and the path became more frequent between scrambles and i opened up viewranger to check my gps position. I was near the top and on the right path. As i got closer to Cioch na h-Oihge it was getting cloudier and i could only see just around me. I was now on a narrow ridge and it was great. There were a few pinnacles to walk/scramble over and the summit was reached easily and it was now about getting up onto the north goatfell ridge and back down again.
- pinnacle
- ridge
There were another couple of tricky climbs to negotiate before getting onto Mullach Buidhe( yellow crest) and look down the gully into the Devil`s Punchbowl.
- Devil`s punchbowl
i had hoped to reach the summit of goatfell but because of the claggy conditions i decided to head down asap. I contented myself with making funny shapes out of the rocks and tors that appeared out of the grey. I love the Arran hills for the rocks and boulders , they`re strewn all over the place and come in all shapes and sizes. As i looked for the marker cairn to take me down into Coire Lan to take me down to Corrie, i met 3 guys on the way up. They told me the marker cairn was just meters away and i found it , checked my compass for direction and headed down. It was a long walk out and my knees were feeling the strain of the descent, my hands were roughed up a bit and my shoulders were beginning to seize up after all the scrambling . But you know I loved it.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
- low cloud in coire
- alt