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Glorious Goat Fell

Glorious Goat Fell


Postby PeteR » Thu Jul 26, 2012 9:40 pm

Route description: Goatfell, from Brodick Castle

Corbetts included on this walk: Goat Fell

Date walked: 07/07/2012

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Since achieving the landmark of less than 100 Munros to compleation on Mayer and Driesh I seem to have hit a bit of a hill walking “wall” in recent weeks. The “big” hills have been replaced with a couple of walks on some “little” hills :D :D

The first walk on the “little” hills was Goat Fell a few weeks back. If was the day of the office trip to Arran, so while MrsR took a bus trip round the island, gate crashed a wedding and visited the Lochcranza distillery I was off with a small group of colleagues to enjoy the expansive views from Goat Fell :? :lol:

The start of the day didn’t bode well. Boarding the ferry at Ardrossan and it seemed to me that someone had vaporised Arran :shock: No sign of it at all. Seems though it was hiding behind a nice thick veil of clag :lol:

And so the scene was set as we all arrived at Brodick. Low cloud, rain and clag pretty much for the entirety of the walk. On a clear day I’m reliably informed you can see for miles. When I was there I could see for..........feet :lol: :lol:

One of my fellow companions, Stuart, had been with me on my recent Nevis night hike and like me might be described as “a man of a certain age” :lol: :lol: Our walking companions were both young, energetic young women – and with our reputation :shifty: But seriously, it was a good little group to be out enjoying the rain with :D As we headed out from Brodick Stuart and I were somewhat shocked though with the suggestion from the girls that we would be up and down the Fell in no more than 3 hours. 3 HOURS :shock: :shock: :shock: We were hoping for a relaxed able up and down in about 4 :thumbup:
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Damn, didn't think about bringing the car with me!

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Nice path at the start of the walk

Well, the girls led the way and us “men of a certain age“ did our damndest to keep up :lol: I’m a slow plodder myself, so it wasn’t long until I was in need of an oxygen cylinder before my body was in a state of physical collapse (ok I exaggerate a bit, but boy did the girls set off at a fair old pace :shock: A shock to my system that’s for sure).
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The" view" back to Brodick

Despite the paucity of views on the day I used my camera as an excuse at regular intervals to catch my breath :lol: The water coming down off the hills was certainly a sight to see and its noise was our soundtrack for much of the trip.
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Water coming down off the hills

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Another view back to Brodick

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Nice, rain drenched path

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The rocks and the water

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Oi, wait up! My companions disappearing into the mist

Overall, despite the weather, this is good easy walking until perhaps the final section to the summit. The path is excellent and I tend to find the rocks scattered around on walks like this provide a good bit of interest, even when the weather isn’t that great :D

One negative for me – and this certainly isn’t a reflection on the hill, but I have never been on a walk and met such a large number of miserable s*ds who would do anything to avoid eye contact and acknowledge fellow walkers :thumbdown: In the end Stuart made it his personal campaign to force other walkers to acknowledge us :lol: Thankfully, as the day went on things definitely improved, as later walkers seemed to be in much better spirits :thumbup:

Just short of the final steep push one of the girls (apologies to anyone thinking me sexist by the use of such a term, but compared to me any female in her 20s is still a girl in my book :lol:) decided she wasn’t for walking any further in the clag and rain. So they both decided to head back down early. This left Stuart and myself to make a claim for age and experience over youthful exuberance and black Lycra shorts as we headed off toward the summit :lol: :lol: (well, Stuart told me there were black Lycra shorts about, but to tell the truth I was just focussed on breathing and staying alive given the girls had set quite a pace for us to that point :lol:)

Hitting the final steep climb to the top and the rain seemed to intensify a bit. Unusually I felt the cold get to me this time, which slowed me down a bit. Stopping to take a photo of the rocks near the top (I know, I’m a strange chap :lol:) and Stuart disappeared into the mist. That was the last we saw each other until I eventually ht the summit myself.
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The plod up the final section to the summit begins

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All by myself....in the clag

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Another "rocks and path" view

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Almost at the summit

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The summit cairn

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Close up view of the cairn

And oh, the views :lol: :? Use of the imagination was called for at this point, as we couldn’t see a thing :( It wasn’t so great on the top, so we were soon headed back down.
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All what we couldn't see :(

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See? We couldn't see it!

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Summit trig pillar

The trip down was pretty uneventful and the weather seemed to improve as we headed back.
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Improving view to Brodick #1

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Brodick view #2

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Water coming down off the hills repeated

All was well until almost at the bottom, where Stuart decided to ‘almost’ fall. Luckily he stopped himself short of a full tumble, but still managed a bit of a twist to his knee :shock: while letting rip with a few sweary words just as a couple came walking round the corner :lol: The good news was that there’s a cafe at the bottom of the walk, so we could stop there for a quick coffee. I then took advantage of a bit of space in my rucksack, visiting the brewery shop next door and doing my bit for the local economy :thumbup: :thumbup:

The day was then finished off meeting up with MrsR and the rest of the group on the island for a meal in a local hotel before heading back to the ferry and the trip back to the mainland :D :D
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PeteR
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby ChrisW » Thu Jul 26, 2012 10:27 pm

Great report Pete, shame about the miserable weather which curtailed the photo opportunities a little :roll: This looks a nice wander (in better weather) though you did get the benefit of the waterfall which looked great. The summit cairn is a bit of a let down :lol: Great read mate, good to see you outlasting the 'whipper snappers' :lol:
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby PeteR » Thu Jul 26, 2012 11:10 pm

ChrisW wrote:Great report Pete, shame about the miserable weather which curtailed the photo opportunities a little :roll: This looks a nice wander (in better weather) though you did get the benefit of the waterfall which looked great. The summit cairn is a bit of a let down :lol: Great read mate, good to see you outlasting the 'whipper snappers' :lol:


Cheers Chris. Not quite Canadian weather I know, but you're right - this is a good little walk this one. The brewery shop at the bottom makes sure of that :lol:

The water coming down off the hills was quite outstanding, although the pictures don't really capture it. I'm a big fan of water features. Just wish it'd stop falling out the sky when I'm out walking :lol:
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby SusieThePensioner » Fri Jul 27, 2012 9:28 am

I really enjoyed your report, Pete; thats somewhere my husband hopes to do next year when we go to
Arran :D
I loved the photos as that just shows what wretched weather you had :crazy:
Well done on determination to get to the summit and not giving up like the "youngsters" :lol: :lol:
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby Mountainlove » Fri Jul 27, 2012 11:19 am

Great report, have been up Goatfell quite a few times myself and enjoyed it each time :D
The bus journey around the island is also a great thing to do....specially if you get some of those mad Arran drivers :lol: :lol: been airlifted off my seat, by a busdriver doing 100 miles per hour over potholes quite a few times :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby chickadee » Sat Jul 28, 2012 2:39 pm

Oh I'm desperate to go back to Arran and really keen to climb Goatfell. The weather has been so unpredictable lately... or rather too predictable? Shame about the rain but you now have a good excuse to go back.

@Mountainlove: I've experienced a couple of those bus drivers! I did cling on a bit, pretty scary!
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby MacAoidh » Sat Jul 28, 2012 6:10 pm

Such a shame you didn’t get any views from the summit as the are absolutely awesome. Here is a link to one on my YouTube videos with the views that you missed :

You will have to pay a return visit sometime on a better day.
I recently did a wild camp at The Saddle and returned to Brodick by North Goatfell and Goatfell. On my decent I spotted this little creation on the path, which made me smile.


Image
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby tomyboy73 » Sun Jul 29, 2012 7:12 pm

nice one Pete, had a good giggle there. black lycra shorts :lol: :lol: whoever invented them needs a medal :lol: was wanting to do this yesterday. camped at glen rosa with my 10 year old son but the weather was a bit poo and i think he had been away from the telly for too long, did see a couple of goldies though :D
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby robertphillips » Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:28 pm

Good report just love arran. 8)
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby old danensian » Tue Jul 31, 2012 9:41 am

Thanks for the entertainment in the report.

Having just moved to Ayrshire, Goat Fell (or its absence on the horizon) is now a daily part of life as I drive down into Troon. Your report is yet another prompt for me to get over there and enjoy it.

OD
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby leefly » Fri Jun 28, 2013 10:45 pm

Did goatfell on the 25th of june and I have to say was so chuffed I did it but really didnt realise how steep it was and how scary at some points but enjoyed it however 4 days later feet and legs are still reminding me how hard it was lol :?
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Re: Glorious Goat Fell

Postby rockhopper » Tue Jul 02, 2013 11:25 pm

:lol: glorious ? :eh: :problem: :wtf: :lol: - have only been up Goatfell once and that was with my work colleagues in the mid '80s - had the same weather as you, saw nothing but the pub at the end of the day was great - cheers :)
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