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This year's trip to Scotland I decided to visit new places instead of going straight up above Fort Williams into Wester Ross or Assynt. So I a made a little detour using CalMac Hopscotch n°16 & 18 (Ardrossan-Arran-Kintyre-Islay-Colonsay-Oban) with a quick detour to Jura. Thanks to the weather I got to taste the different view you can have of timing/planning when ferries get cancelled
Don't get me wrong, it's not a criticism whatsoever, I loved it & I don't like planning anyway!
That said, on my first day on Arran I went to King's cave, Machrie Standing stones, Goatfell & a did quick walk through the North Sannox forest. My intent the following day was only to walk Glen Sannox as I hadn't prepared for Cir Mhor. I had just read that it wasn't the easiest walk and the previous day of walking would surely have the better of me!
So I set off into the glen at around 7:30am, the weather a bit cloudy but no rain:
Some sheeps posing:
And others just walking around:
Then Cir Mhor came into view with a crown of clouds:
Getting closer:
Seeing that the path was fairly clear if potentially a bit scrambly and my legs were keeping up I decided to keep going. So that's across this ford and onward to the summit of Cir Mhor...hopefully:
A steep climb but as usual a steep climb tends to give good views very quickly:
Steeper still, I started to use my hands to make my way up:
I eventually arrived at the Saddle where you get good views into both Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa. Goatfell is also well in view ... if you don't get too many clouds!
As usual the wildlife makes it look easy!
After the Saddle there's still quite a bit of walking to do (took me 1h as my legs started to struggle!). Initially I was just in the clouds not even sure of being at the top. On occasions some holes in the clouds gave me glimpses of how far up I was and clearly I needed to watch my step. After 15-20min I got a fairly clear window and the views were really very nice. Due to the lack of space at the top you really feel on top of the world!
Glen Rosa from the summit of Cir Mhor
And Glen Sannox:
And the panorama:
The walk back to the car through Glen Sannox was lovely and this is only at the very end that I met a few walkers. In this regard this walk was a welcome break from the motorway that Goatfell was the day before!
A quick video I made of this trip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OL4FmsKNro