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So, okay. Never had I planned on writing a tripreport on this walk (two days and a wildcamp for just Beinn Tarsuinn, am I taking the pish?). But I'm stuck here at home, mainland Europe, in a voluntary lockdown with headache, sore throat and painful chest. While not two weeks ago I thought I would by now be organising my gear now for my upcoming holiday,
It is true, some comments I've read in the forum keep us aware that when not being able to go out, reading about going out, and seeing photos of the outdoors is a poor but very necessary substitute. And I've seen some nice reports, I've read about the joy, the fear, the glory, the cold, the hot, the pain and the rewards of hillwalking and mountaineering, and I want to make my small contribution.
In my report on Slioch, and after that my report on Beinn Fhada, I mentioned that during my last holiday, in between those hills I drove south and visited Arran, where I was going to meet a friend. Let's call him G. G is a Scotsman living in NL but he was visiting family in Glasgow, so Arran would be a nice place to meet. In retrospect, the drive from Kinlochewe to Arran and from Arran back to Morvich for just one Corbett was too long, over the top, unnecessary and unwanted. But hey, I have seen Arran now, it had already been on my wishlist, and I have not been disappointed.
I arrived the day before we would meet, which would give me a chance to explore the island and Brodick a bit. It also meant I would spend the night, an activity for which I choose Glen Rosa campsite. The well kept lawn and idyllic setting could however not make up for the absolute midge infested experience it gave me.
The next day, I woke up quite early but lingered around for a bit, trying to dry out my tent. I was however chased by the midges, so I drove off to Brodick, went for a coffee and a full vegetarian Scottish breakfast in a small hotel. The breakfast was excellent, the coffee was very UK style: I like mine a bit, no very very much, stronger.
Back to the car, dry out tent and gear while waiting for G.
The waiting for G lasted and lasted though, forcing me to again have a bite somewhere, visit some shops from which I needed nothing, and I never thought I'd ever say this about being in Scotland, but I got a little bit bored. It wasn't before the end of the afternoon, I think 5'ish before his ferry arrived and we could drive to the same midge infested carpark that I had left early that morning.
Not knowing how far we'd get or how far we'd like to go, and keeping in mind it was late afternoon already, we decided to bring my tent and make it a wildcamp. Triangle marks the spot.
The walk in to Glen Rosa is on a 4x4 track, not very exiting, but the views towards Glen Rosa are beautiful and very promising. The corbetts are impressing, craggy and sharp.
As soon as we'd crossed the little bridge, we headed left, up the slopes and towards Beinn Nuis. the going was slow though, very slow. G had lost a lot of his previous hillfitness, as this was his first time after several years, the ground was boggy and the wind was quite strong.
The ridge from Beinn Nuis towards Beinn Tarsuinn looks quite daunting from this low perspective, and the weather seemed to be really closing in on us. So instead of going up the ridge, in the evening in this weather, we found a less than proper pitch for our tent.
The skies over Goatfell were wonderfull though, so after a chilly evening of enjoying them we headed for a very bumpy, uneven, back ruining, painful bed.
Next morning, all pain had been forgotten. The tent survived the strong winds at night, breakfast tasted pretty good, skies were clear and spirits high.
So off we go, photos that go without explanation.
As you can see from the map, we didn't take in Cir Mhor, nor Goatfell, but the returnroute over Beinn a Chliabhain sure provides some nice panoramas.
So there it is. Not the most adventurous walk (although it took us 2 days
), nor an epic tale of an epic expedition, but as I said: since we're all convined to our houses, I hope this brings back good Arran memories for some, and an "must-go-to-Arran-itch" for others. See you all in better times.
Jacob
