Walking on Arran

The best low level walks and challenging mountain routes, including the Arran Coastal Way

By Paddy Dillon

ISBN

9781786311351

Availability

Published

6 Jun 2023

Edition

Fourth

Pages

288

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.60cm

Weight

330g

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The 45 walking routes in this Isle of Arran guidebook range from easy 5km (3 miles) nature trails to long arduous mountain routes with scrambles (up to 22km), providing thorough coverage of Arran, including an ascent of Goatfell, and nearby Holy Isle. Also includes the 110km Arran Coastal Way, one of Scotland's Great Trails.

Seasons

Arran is good for walking year-round: be aware that the island's population triples in the peak summer period, and deer stalking takes place mid-August to mid-October.

Centres

Brodick; Lamlash; Lochranza

Difficulty

This guide include a few easy, waymarked forest trails and low-level walks and a dozen or so moderate glen and hill walks. The rest of the routes require more effort, involving higher mountains, sometimes with hands-on scrambling. There are roads and forest tracks, hill tracks and paths, but many routes also cross pathless slopes and traverse rocky mountain ridges.

Must See

Goatfell, Holy Isle, Beinn Nuis, Beinn Tarsuinn, the Sannox Horseshoe, Glen Rosa and the Cock of Arran

ISBN

9781786311351

Availability

Published

6 Jun 2023

Edition

Fourth

Pages

288

Size

17.20 x 11.60 x 1.60cm

Weight

330g

Overview

This guidebook describes 45 walks on the popular and accessible Isle of Arran. The routes are between 3 and 19 miles (5-31km) in length, ranging in difficulty from easy, waymarked forest trails to more arduous mountain walks, exposed ridge routes and scrambles. The book includes both linear and circular walks, and there are opportunities to link routes together and create longer walks across the length and breadth of the island. Also included is a summary of the 110km Arran Coastal Way.

Highlights include Goatfell, Beinn Nuis, Beinn Tarsuinn, the Sannox Horseshoe, Glen Rosa, the Cock of Arran and nearby Holy Isle. All the routes are clearly described and illustrated with OS 1:50,000 mapping, with extra notes revealing the archaeology, history and natural wonders of the island. The guide includes background information on travel to Arran, public transport, and a Gaelic/English glossary.

There's something here to suit walkers of all fitness levels and abilities. Often described as 'Scotland in miniature', Arran boasts a rich variety of landscapes, with mountains, coast, moorland and forest, and the walks have been chosen to showcase this diversity. For an island, travel to and from Arran is remarkably easy: it is not far from Glasgow, from where onward connections are swift and frequent.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Overview map

Map key

Route summary table

Introduction

Getting to Arran

Getting around Arran

Finding your bearings

A geology classroom

A turbulent history

Land ownership and access

Island animals

Island plants

Accommodation

Food and drink

Maps

The walks

Tourist information

Emergency services

The walks

Walk 1 Goatfell and Brodick

Walk 2 Brodick Castle Forest Trails

Walk 3 Brodick and the Clauchland Hills

Walk 4 Sithein and Glen Cloy

Walk 5 Sithein and The Ross

Walk 6 Holy Isle from Lamlash

Walk 7 Tighvein and Monamore Glen

Walk 8 Glenashdale and Urie Loch

Walk 9 Glenashdale Falls and Giants’ Graves

Walk 10 Eas Mòr and Loch Garbad

Walk 11 Kilmory Forest Circuit

Walk 12 The Ross and Cnoc a’ Chapuill

Walk 13 Shiskine and Clauchan Glen

Walk 14 Bridgend and Ard Bheinn

Walk 15 The String and Beinn Bhreac

Walk 16 Machrie Moor Stone Circle

Walk 17 Dougarie and Beinn Nuis

Walk 18 Dougarie and Sail Chalmadale

Walk 19 Imachar and Mullach Buidhe

Walk 20 Pirnmill and Mullach Buidhe

Walk 21 Coire-Fhionn Lochan

Walk 22 Catacol and Meall nan Damh

Walk 23 Catacol and Beinn Bhreac

Walk 24 Catacol and Beinn Tarsuinn

Walk 25 Lochranza and Meall Mòr

Walk 26 Gleann Easan Biorach

Walk 27 Lochranza and Cock of Arran

Walk 28 Lochranza and Sail an Im

Walk 29 North Glen Sannox Horseshoe

Walk 30 Glen Sannox Horseshoe

Walk 31 Glen Sannox to Glen Rosa

Walk 32 Sannox, Goatfell and Corrie

Walk 33 Glen Rosa and Beinn Tarsuinn

Walk 34 Western Glen Rosa

Walk 35 Eastern Glen Rosa

Arran Coastal Way

Walk 36 Brodick to Sannox (forest)

Walk 37 Brodick to Sannox (mountain)

Walk 38 Sannox to Lochranza

Walk 39 Lochranza to Imachar

Walk 40 Imachar to Blackwaterfoot

Walk 41 Blackwaterfoot to Lagg (coastal)

Walk 42 Blackwaterfoot to Lagg (inland)

Walk 43 Lagg to Whiting Bay (coastal)

Walk 44 Lagg to Whiting Bay (inland)

Walk 45 Whiting Bay to Brodick

Appendix A Useful contacts

Appendix B Gaelic/English glossary

Maps

Maps

The maps used throughout this guidebook are extracted from the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger sheet 69, which is perfectly adequate for exploring the whole of the island. The spelling of place names on OS maps occasionally differs from local spellings.

The Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 Explorer sheet 361 also covers the Isle of Arran, offering more detail, especially in complex areas such as forests and farmland, or on rocky ridges in the high mountains. The map is printed on both sides of the sheet, with a generous overlap between the northern and southern halves of the island.

Ordnance Survey maps can be obtained widely from bookshops or ordered through the website www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Digital versions of OS maps are also available for use with GPS-enabled devices.

Harvey Maps produce the 1:25,000 Superwalker XT25 and 1:40,000 Ultramap XT40 maps of Arran. These are tough, light, waterproof and double-sided, with a generous overlap between the eastern and western halves of the island. Fine attention to detail on these maps extends to showing the full extent of boggy ground around the island. (Harvey Maps first surveyed the Isle of Arran in 1980 for the former Karrimor Mountain Marathon. Digital versions are available.) See www.harveymaps.co.uk.

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Paddy Dillon

Paddy Dillon is a prolific walker and guidebook writer, with over 100 guidebooks to his name and contributions to 40 other titles. He has written for several outdoor magazines and other publications and has appeared on radio and television.Paddy uses a tablet computer to write as he walks. His descriptions are therefore precise, having been written at the very point at which the reader uses them.Paddy is an indefatigable long-distance walker who has walked all of Britain's National Trails and several European trails. He has also walked in Nepal, Tibet, Korea and the Rocky Mountains of Canada and the US. Paddy is a member of the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild and President of the Backpackers Club.

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