Walking on Arran

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

By Paddy Dillon

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
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.

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Paddy Dillon Cicerone author DILLON

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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