Arran't We Having A Good Time...

[shelbyandamonkey]

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At the end of May Mike and I managed the previously unheard of trip away in decent weather The weather mannie promised a heatwave, and he wisnae wrong!
We headed for 5 days on Arran, our first time there, and the English boy's first tri[p to the West Coast since becoming Scottish (aye).

After some lower level walking around Glen Rosa and up to Beinn Nuis, and sampling local points of interest (brewery, smokehouse and cheesery - yes we're piggies) we decided on the 3rd day to head up Goatfell to try and work of some of the previously mentioned excesses

We were staying in Brodick (Rowanbank Cottage, thoroughly recommended - they even kindly stuck a bottle of local malt and some balloons in for the boys birthday) so headed off over to Cladach to the start of the Goatfell path, both of us cursing the Brewery as we passed, regretting the amount of Arran Blondes consumed the night before.
The well made path at first passes through a pretty wooded bit eventually leading to wee bridge and some distant views of the Goat. We were already pouring with sweat at this point despite it only being about 10am! Pure roastin'!

It gradually becomes rougher and eventually the path is pretty much all big slabs surounded by moorland, with fantastic views back over Brodick Bay, the Firth of Clyde and to the left Beinn Nuis and Beinn Tarsuinn


The slabby path leads to a ridge, and it's a fun stretch clambering in and out, and round about big boulders, with some peeks of rocky summits looming over the side and above. Here, the paths fairly easy to follow, but we did have a chat with a couple from the Lakes who lost it on the way up but didn't have any difficulties.

Then...all of a sudden you're at the top...and what a top it is! The views are incredible down into sparkling Glen Rosa and over to the inpenetrable looking Cir Mhor, with the curving ridge up to Caisteil Abhail, the Witches Step and over to the A'Chir ridge. Honestly folks who only bag Munros don't know what they are missing!!!

We spent about half an hour at the summit as the sun was shining and had a wee chat with two other couples who came up, who were also boiling after the effort! After a wee ham piece we headed of down the path towards North Goatfell...and then the fun really began!
Our experience of scrambling is minimal, a wee bit on The Cobbler ( if thats even scrambling - the grading malarky confuddles me!) so getting down onto the Stacach Ridge was great fun, and at one point Mike got his belly stuck going through a wee horizontal chimney type thing...hilarity ensued We decided to have a go at going over the Tors rather than using the bypath path, and I'm really glad we did...it was like a big adventure playground. The rock was dead easy to get up, really 'grippy' and going down the other sides was ok too. I was on a complete high!

We soon reached the top of North Goatfell, and more awesome views down into Glen Sannox and to the western side of Arran. Just below the summit we talked to a guy who had come up from Sannox Bridge and warned us about a steep descent down to The Saddle. This got me a wee bit worried
We followed the obvious path, and soon found out what he meant...the path is very steep in parts, and lots of rotten granite pebble sections need a bit of care, but overall we didn't feel out of our depth, and managed it fairly easily, grinning for ear to ear all the way

Close up over to The Witches Step

Eventually we reached the Saddle and sat for a wee bit trying in vain to see the route up Cir Mhor, we considered it for about 10 seconds then decided the heat had gubbed us! We trotted down Glen Rosa for the bonny walk out, and by this time the heat was oppressive to say the least. At the first stream crossing off came the boots and T-shirt and a wee dook was required. Bliss! A wee stop off at the Glen Rosa campsite for an Arran Dairies Ice Cream didn't hurt either

Will definately be back to Arran, would love to head up Cir Mhor from Beinn Tarsuinn....might not get weather like that again though....

[celt12345]

nice report,great pics.done goatfell late april,took the brodick path up and down will try your route later in the summer,looks great.

[Johnny Corbett]

Can't believe this post had only one reply. The Arran Corbetts are superb, a match for the top Munros i'd say. This report brings back memories of the four days i spent on Arran with my mate Dave in the exactly the kind of weather you guys got. Cheers

[Meatball]

Dunno how I missed this!
It is on my to do...
The hills and a cycle round the island, again.

[shelbyandamonkey]

Thanks guys, it was just an awesome place, so much fun! We did a bit of cycling also, geat views:

...just be sure your bike has breaks that work before heading down the MASSIVE steep hill into Lamlash ....that was fun...

[Meatball]

There is a faster hill on the other side of the mountain!