4 June Arran - The Western Hills

We left home in the middle of the night, at least that’s what it felt like to the scribe. The cause of this semi-nocturnal stirring was an appointment with the seven o’clock ferry from Ardrossan to Brodick for we were for Arran today. Not only were we for the island, the four of us, but we were for the hills on the far side of it so an early start was felt necessary. It was Davie’s walk and this was his feeling. So by car, boat and bus, we found ourselves at Thunderguy at nine o’clock in the morning. The morning was clear and sunny and it looked set to stay that way for the day though the Met Office hinted at rain in the afternoon.
Rex had already spotted the black guillemot at Brodick harbour and red deer had been seen from the bus near Sannox but more spectacular sights were to be seen as we climbed the hill. We climbed almost immediately for the track came up through the houses of the clachan and continued to a high style on a deer fence above there. The open hill was found on the other side of the fence but the path was well constructed and the walking was easy. It was Davie who spotted the bird hawking over the heather and Jimmy, the only one with binoculars today, identified it as a merlin. He was also to identify the bigger bird seen further up the hill, the one being mobbed by a raven only a quarter of its size. It was a golden eagle, one bird from the six pairs on the island. Senses were now alert for other sightings of the island wildlife.
Then the path steepened and attention was turned to the climb. But we stopped occasionally to ease the effort and to look at the view over Kilbrennan Sound to Kintyre and beyond. The Paps of Jura showed faintly in the distance and, higher still, Rex pointed out Ghia lying low in the water beyond Knapdale. Eventually the slope eased and we found ourselves at Corrie Fhionn Lochan. It was now ten o’clock but elevenses were taken on a granite sand beach for body clocks told us it was now around mid-day. As we sat looking into the face of the corrie Davie pointed out the high level route we would take along its lip.
The slope onto this lip was steep, steeper than anything we had encountered so far today, and took us up through stunted heather, granite boulders and weird weather sculpted granite outcrops to a high pass and into the wind. The view opened out for us then. It was not significantly better in the west for the haze still hung in that direction, but in the east it was spectacular for we looked directly into the high, rugged eastern peaks and ridges that make Arran famous. The higher we climbed the more spectacular the view became as more and more peaks came into view. And we did climb, steeply yet, on to the lip of the Corrie Fhionn to look down on its lochan. Davie was persuaded to pose for the photo shoot (he didn’t take too much persuasion) and cameras clicked while Paul and Jimmy debated whether the lochan was glacial or volcanic in origin. The conclusion is pending. Then we continued the climb to top out on a sward of short heather and mountain grasses on the summit of Meall Donn.
Early lunch was taken on Meall Donn, not so much for the sake of eating but to take in the view of the high peaks beyond Loch Tanna. The horizon was formed by Goat Fell and its ridge, Stachach, running on to North Goat Fell. The nearer line consisted of the granite tors of An Casteil, the jagged peak of Cir Mhor, the ridge of A’Chir, the higher Ben Tarsuin and the end-stop of Ben Nuis. With all of this above the defile of Glen Iorsa and Loch Tanna lying beneath us, a magnificent backdrop to our peece stop was had. It was a long, lingering lunch that was taken this day for there was a reluctance to move on.
When the thrall of the surroundings was broken and we did move on, the route was downward for a bit but still retained the height of the ridge above the loch. Then began a less steep climb than before through the scattered boulders on the shoulder of Ben Bhreac. When this summit was gained another break was called for this was a day for many and long breaks. (Other members of the Ooters please note.) There was time enough for Jimmy and Paul to name the cloud formations now beginning to gather but their conclusion was that they were harmless cumulus and stratus. Davie and Rex feigned interest. There was also time for Rex and Paul to compare GPS’s and talk technicalities and for Jimmy and Davie to talk birds. There was plenty of time for talking about things this day.
We came off Ben Bhreac in a south-westerly direction heading for Beinn Bharrain. The strength of the breeze on the tops masked the strength of the sun so precautions had been taken to protect exposed skin. It has probably been noted that some of us have more exposed skin than others though all of us are beginning to grow solar panels of varying sizes. Rex was sensible and kept his cap on for most of the outing. He would have kept it on for the whole outing had a gust of the aforementioned breeze not taken a liking to it. Off from his head it was plucked, over the sward it was blown, over the edge of a boulder it dropped to be last seen by Jimmy as it fell into a crevice in an outcrop. Despite a comprehensive search, from top and bottom, the cap remains there and Rex has to go bare-headed. At least his solar panel is not fully developed - yet!
We made the final descent of the day off the south top of Bheinn Bharrain. At first we followed a path of sorts but this petered out after a while and we had to make our own way down through the heather. Davie said we should make for the path on the far side of the burn. This entailed crossing a flattish area of moss. Here we had occasion to be grateful fro the recent dry weather for the sphaggy bog and open peat hags might have been soggy and wet. Today, however, it was dry and crisp and gave a slight crunch underfoot as we crossed it to the burn. The path was found on the other side of the burn just as Davie said, and we followed it down the side of a deep and interesting gorge to the fenced off fields above Pirnmill.
This was Davie’s walk but it would not be a true Davie walk without getting lost. He did not let us down. There came a new-built style over the deer fence but the path appeared to go straight on. We went straight on. We came into a grove of trees. The path degenerated amongst the bracken. We went straight on. The path disappeared altogether. We were lost but we went straight on. We found a bridge and crossed the burn and went straight on. Then came another burn without a bridge. We crossed this and clambered up the far bank. There was a gate at the top which gave access to a field sloping down towards the road. We sloped down with it only to find a field of tatties between us and the road. We finished the walk by coming through a tattie field, finding the road and walking back to the Pirnmill tea-room.

We had to take the bus back to Brodick before we could replace fluids. This was done in Mac’s Bar.

This was a superb day, one which ranks among the best two or three of the Early Ooters outings. There is no doubt that, weatherwise, we had the best of the day for, as the ferry pulled away from Brodick pier, the cloud was down over the high tops. The correct decision was made to take the early ferry to the island. Despite the complaints of having to rise in the middle of the night, we will probably do it again.