A couple of years ago, we took three days to bike around the island of Arran, off the west coast of Scotland. We returned in August for a family gathering. Add that post to this and you’d have a very detailed guide to the island.
The ferry across the Firth of Clyde departs Troon and Ardrossan, as well as a seasonal route on the north end of the island. Arran’s main port, Brodick, is not the largest town by population but is the best stocked in stores, pubs and places to stay. The co-op near the pier is the largest grocery store on the island. There is also a pharmacy nearby. Hotels, boutique shops, and restaurants overlook Main Street. A favorite stop is Wooley’s Bakery for pastries both sweet and savory.
We rented a charming house a couple of blocks from town, far enough to not hear the traffic but close enough to walk. Out our windows, the highest mountain on the island, Goat Fell, called to us. The forecast for late August had been for a week of scattered showers, with highs of something like 62. We had packed appropriately, with rain gear, layers, hats and so on. We should’ve taken more t-shirts and, surprisingly, perhaps even bathing suits. There were occasional frigid winds and spitting rain, so expect a little of everything regardless of what the meteorologists say.
There are a few hikes out of Brodick. “Fisherman’s Walk” starts at the beach, crossing a marshy inlet via a wooden walkway and skirting the golf course to arrive at Cladach Beach House. The little shack claims to be the only beachfront bar on Arran. They serve up a variety of excellent beers and ciders, as well as non-alcoholic drinks and some rather creative cocktails. On our first visit, I opted for a bourbon, ginger and Iron Bru concoction – an odd but drinkable concoction.
Just across the street sits The Wineport Restaurant, Arran Brewery, a garden center, the entrance to Brodick Castle and Gardens, as well as a couple of options for hiking up Goat Fell. A block away is the Arran Ice Cream shop, a fantastic cheese shop, gift shop and a bakery all in the same series of buildings.
We had our first meal on the island at the Ormidale Hotel Pub, coincidentally across from our B&B. The place is cozy, with a former greenhouse as one of the dining rooms, and the food pretty good. We would return a couple of times, once to be serenaded by a couple of lads from the local music school playing bagpipes and drums. They have karaoke and live music other nights. The place attracts both locals and tourists and I’d definitely return if I had a night in the town. Unfortunately, I think the only photo I took was of our likely-last-place finish at pub trivia.
We had a pocket guide of Arran hikes and over the course of the week we’d hit many of them. We kicked off with North Sannox, a hike through seaside woods with flowers, dramatic cliffs, burbling brooks, and occasional views of the rocky shore.
The berries were everywhere.
Two other hikes leave the same parking lot. One leads uphill through a pretty glen and some old mine works, so if you do two or three of these hikes it’s probably worth making a day of it. However, the island has many trails and, believe it or not, these aren’t the most spectacular.
In the morning, we packed light lunches and set off. You can summit Goat Fell from several directions but unless you’re in dire need of a punishing leg day at the gym, start on the Brodick side. There is a the trailhead next to the Arran Brewery. The Brodick Castle gardens has a trail not far from this that soon meets the same approach. There is a route from Corrie that is shorter but much steeper with countless tall steps. Goat Fell is 2,874 feet (874 meters) high, and you’re climbing all but the bottom few meters. The gentler approach from Brodick is considerably easier, passing through a bit of very pretty forest.
In late August, you may be plagued by midges in many parts of Scotland. They’re not bothersome on the shore, but they haunt some inland places, particularly near fresh water. They deliver tiny bites, just painful enough to be annoying, and threaten to fly into your eyes constantly. There is bug repellent that keeps them off, but we’d neglected to buy any. Once we got some distance up the mountain, the breeze kept them at bay.
The weather was mostly sunny when we reached “the saddle,” a place where the paths from Broddick and Corrie meet before the ascent gets a bit steeper for the final half mile. We had our lunch while eying the views (click the link to view a panorama. You might have to zoom in and scroll around.) Much of the clan opted to turn down, leaving only two of us to take the challenge.
Various books and web sites describe this last bit as a “scramble” but there are well-formed steps for the tricky bits. I think I only used my hands once or twice. It’s intimidating to look at, but we didn’t find it as difficult as we’d feared. In the half hour it took to reach the summit, a bank of clouds rolled over, obscuring everything. We waited, catching the occasional break for one view or another.
Eventually, we gave up on the weather and headed down. By the time we reached the saddle again, the clouds parted, of course.
We had arranged to descend via Corrie, just to have a different route, but I wouldn’t recommend it. My legs were still feeling those stairs days later. The views aren’t any better than the easier route. However, you do get to see a pretty stream with falls and slides. It joins another trail leading up from Corrie into a rocky valley between Goat Fell and North Goat Fell, another peak in the same ridge.
We hit The Corrie Hotel and its restaurant with a fantastic cliff-top outdoor dining area where we enjoyed some well-earned beverages. Later, we’d return to Corrie to eat at Mara, one of our favorite restaurants anywhere. Reservations are highly recommended. They have about 3 tables. Also, it’s BYOB. The winning dish of our first visit was a sole in a light, creamy sauce.
A few days later, we’d return for their “barbecue,” what we Americans would call a grill out, and had the best scallops I have ever eaten.
Corrie also sports a wee book shop covering mostly Arran and wildlife. There’s not much more to the tiny village.
Back at the ranch, we grilled up some surf and turf and crashed early, knackered from the hike.
The Waverly is the only ocean-going paddle steamer still sailing. It tours various places over the summer and happened to be visiting Arran the week we were there. Fortunately, She Who Will Not Be Named’s father had purchased tickets in advance. A dozen or so people hoping to board were denied. The Waverly hosts a bar, a restaurant serving decent fish and chips, and a gift shop – all worth going to simply because you get to walk past the open engine room to reach.
The steamer took us south along the shore, past Holy Isle, a smaller island just east of Arran and home to a Buddhist group, down the Firth of Clyde to circle around Ailsa Craig, a rocky island that is a bird sanctuary. Tens of thousands of gannets whirled about, nesting on the high cliffs. The island also provides the rock for almost all curling stones.
I reported on the standing stones at Machrie Moor last time. A few in our group hadn’t seen them, so we took the whole clan. A very easy hike through a wide, picturesque valley. Definitely worth it.
On the drive, we spotted a dozen seals sunning themselves on the rocks. They reminded us of chubby versions of our dog – big eyes, short snouts, sleek gray fur.
Then it was round to Lochranza, a village where we’d stayed on the previous visit. The Sandwich Station, directly across from the ferry terminal, offers some fantastic food, including smoked mackerel with Arran mustard and horseradish mayo; sumac spiced cauliflower with baba ganoush and crispy shallots. I’m getting hungry just thinking about the place. They have a few picnic tables, but we had to eat down by the shore so the breeze would carry away the midges.
We trekked around the ruins of Lochranza Castle, and then half the clan drove on while the rest of us took a hike.
Just east of Lochranza is Hutton’s Unconformity, a geological formation of some importance. Follow the road toward that row of houses you see in the photo above. It ends at a seaside path, but a better route is to take the dirt side road that leads up and around the ridge. It’s a gentle slope, though our legs complained after climbing Goat Fell the day before. The upper path provides gorgeous views both of the bay of Lochranza, turning around the peninsula for views of the Firth and the shores opposite.
The trail turns down the hill to the shore at Fairy Glen, a wooded spot surrounding a stream, then you can circle back to Lochranza. The route was paved with wildflowers on a previous June visit, but by late August there were slightly fewer blooms.
We hit Brodick Castle and its lovely gardens in the morning. They call it a “castle” but it’s really just an aristocrat’s former house done up in Baronial style. Somehow, I managed to not get a photo of the front. Here’s the side.
If you dig paintings of horse racing, and hate deer, this is your place.
Most in our group reported the kitchen as their favorite room. The family used to have a lot of famous art, but one of the Dukes of Hamilton that owned the place ran into financial trouble, spending it on horses and betting. However, there is still a lot of interesting furniture and bric-a-brac. We found the gardens to be more interesting.
The gardens feature a variety of trails, including the aforementioned one up Goat Fell. There is also a playground, a stone age house recreation, and some gorgeous “Bavarian summer home” gazebos.
We cruised south to Lamlash, the largest town on the island, to hit a few cute shops, then on to Whiting Bay to spot some whales.
Arran Art Gallery has some really lovely paintings and other works. My favorite were these mosaics made from slate.
A path leads north out of Whiting, just beyond the football fields. It passes a shipping container pop-up seafood restaurant that looked great, judging from their menu board, but requires advance ordering. Next time! Beyond, it hits the beach where you probably shouldn’t try to carry off every interesting rock you find.
After a short trek through some woods and a field, the trail ends at the remains of a Viking fort, just a few big lumpy stone walls on a promontory looking across to Holy Isle. It features a nice panoramic view (click the link to view. You might have to zoom in and scroll around.)
Further south, we parked in Kildonan and hiked out the shore in search of “Dinosaur footprints.” En route, we spied a few “showman’s wagons,” trailers once used for things like circuses. One was crumbling, but another had had been restored and was possibly in use as something – B&B? She shed? A search turned up a thread on facebook about the guy that sold it to the person on Arran but no further details.
Down on the beach, we walked back and forth in search of the dinosaur footprints. Fortunately, a man who rents one of the neighboring houses walked down to point them out. Chirotherium was a Triassic critter, not technically in the “dinosaur” family. It looked like a crocodile with long legs. Smithsonian has an interesting article about the struggle to identify the creature who made left the tracks. Do an image search and you’ll get some wildly different interpretations of the beasts.
For our last evening, we walked into town in search of ice cream. Alas, the freezer in the ice cream/pizza parlor had died, so we were denied one last scoop.
We spent another night in Ayr, enjoying beach hikes and a museum. (Back in 20212, we did a pretty lengthy review of that town.) Then back to Edinburgh where we hit the modern museum with its impressive collection of Diane Arbus photos. After a delicious Nepalese dinner, we intended on catching a show during the final night of Fringe Fest. However, we hadn’t booked anything and time and effort waned. Instead, we got a nightcap at the sort of tiki, mostly postmodern Paradise Palms while listening to a group of students at the next table. “What even is the difference between socialism and communism? I’m going to look it up.” The early bedtime was probably for the best, as we had an early flight back. Delta flies direct to Edinburgh during the summer, so if you have a hankerin’ for haggis, hit the sky!
