Our daughter Louise visited Arran in 2015 and came back with "Mum, Dad you've just got to go, it's brilliant" Well, what more encouragement would we need? so it was decided, Louise found the accommodation (a fantastic cottage above Lamlash), and booked it for June 2017. It seemed an age to arrive, 11 month to be exact, but now it was here, the waiting was over.
Our main reasons for a visit was two fold, the mountains and everything else.
The weather was going to be mixed, Sunday's was mostly good
, with showers arriving later in the day, our first venture into the mountains as an introduction was going to be Goatfell using the tourist route from Cladach and once on the summit we'd decide what else to do, this is what we did on our first day in the Arran mountains. Louise offered her services as taxi driver
and dropped us off near the brewery , she's not the mountainy type but likes exploring so she was happy to pick us up where ever we decided to come down so that gave us the green flag to do a bit of exploring, not wanting to do too much for starters I decided to end in Corrie.The walk from Cladach starts in woodland and being early June the aroma in the trees was typically early summer, fresh and fragrant.
The path is well made, very easy to follow and on a pleasant gradient, we just took it steady, watching the views unfold as we went.
Looking back you can see Brodick bay,
and forward, slowly but surely, revealed Goatfell
and Beinn Tarsuinn,
A bit further we could see the whole route up Goatfell and it looked ideal as a route to get the legs loosened for a longer day out midweek.
There's a sharp pull up to the summit which, although short, is in contrast to the walk so far, once at the trig point the views make up for that bit of extra effort and they certainly have a lot of "Wow!" factor, absolutly stunning.
Summit.
Views.
North Gf
The weather up to this point had been pretty good, we could see a shower coming over from the west, it was sitting over Beinn Tarsuinn
Apart from a bit of cloud hugging the top of Caisteal Abhail it didn't look at all threatening so we decided to carry on to North Goatfell and Mullach Buidhe.
Coming off the summit of Goatfell is over large boulders, they're a bit tricky to negotiate but cause no problems.
Just below the summit we stopped to take in the views.
Looking back.
Cir Mhor etc
Beinn Tarsuinn
North Goatfell and Mullach Buidhe.
Not being sure what the crest of the ridge was like on the way over to North Goatfell we decided to take the bypass path, we went to the left, down a loose gully, there was a path of sorts, I think I might have got this wrong because looking back once on North Goatfell I could see a better path which would have been on the right.
Again the views are fantastic from the summit, Cir Mhor looks really imposing, Caisteal Abhail and the Witches Step looks good and the Three Beinns look inviting.
Three Beinns.
Mullach Buidhe.
Looking back to Goatfell.
Path up from Corrie from North Goatfell.
In the bealach between North Goatfell and Mullach Buidhe where the path from Corrie comes up we had lunch, we just had to because the view to Cir Mhor is probably one of the best I've seen, it really is fantastic, a group of lads arrived while we were eating, judging by their reaction to the view, they appreciated it too.
I offered to take a group photo for them with their camera and they did a couple for us with mine, thanks guys, it's a great view.
Views from the bealach.
Mullach Buidhe.
That view!!!!!!!
Us, enjoying it!!
After lunch we set off for Mullach Buidhe, the weather had changed a bit, the wind had got up and one of those showers had arrived making it feel quite cold and a wee bit uncomfortable, so it was on with the gloves and jackets, poles out and off we went. On the summit the clouds were covering all the summits so no photos, we didn't stay still for long and soon set off back to the bealach.
From here the way down to Corrie is on an easy, well constructed path all the way. About 20 minutes along this path the sun came out again, we dried out quickly and soon stopped to shed layers.
Layer shedding views.
Further down when we could see Corrie we stopped to have a rest and another snack, it was warm now so we sat for a while before setting off again.
Corrie in the distance.
Zoomed.
Last look at Goatfell.
We arrived in Corrie and phoned Louise to pick us up, 20 mins later she arrived, just in time as well because it started raining just as we got the bags in the car, it well and truly threw it down so luck as on our side there.
No taxi yet!
We had a great day for our first trip out in the Arran mountains, I really don't know why it's taken us so long.
