The Arran Trip.

 

This was the much awaited Arran Trip, where a band of intrepid Moorfoots made their way by car, ferry, bus and foot to the pleasantly situated Lochranza Hostel (Not yet a full ‘Hostelry’ due to the lack of forward planning in the beer department – more on that later!)

Chief planner, Kenny, organised the trip and Alan, Simon, Dorien, Kerry, Ewan and Hamish took up the offer two days of running on the bonnie Isle of Arran.

Day 1 was 13mile, 3000 foot run up Glen Rosa to Caisteal Abhail and down Glean Easan Biorach.

Day 1 Route

Top End of Glen Rosa

The initial run in was fairly steady. A short stop for a snack followed by a stiff climb up around Cir Mhor (Simon did his Alpine Ibex impression here as he bounded up the steep stone staircase)

Top of The Stairway

We then made our way round to Caisteal Abhail. Unfortunately, views were not to be had but you still got the feeling that you were standing aloft and that there were vertical drops on three sides.

Looking back to Cir Mhor

We then picked our way, off-piste and downhill to the scrape in the earth that was billed as a ‘road’ – or was that a ‘path’ Kenny? Certainly in need of the TLC of the National Trust to drag it up to anything approaching runnable. A surprisingly ‘claret free’ descent, by all, took us down to the distillery and the jog in to the Hostel. Food was rustled and lost calories were replaced. We had hoped to replace fluids in a similar fashion but there were a limited amount of beers remaining in the fridge behind reception. Determined that essential fluid replacement should not be neglected, we bought the rest of the beers and enjoyed with our puddings.

 

A 9.30 start on the Sunday morning run saw us heading on a lower level (8 mile/1000ft coastal route)

Sunday Route

The weather stayed dry, and we took in some excellent views of a very still, Sound of Bute. An easy paced run along to Laggan Cottage was punctuated with some rock clambering.

Lunch at Laggan Cottage

 The cottage sits on shore of The Sound and here we had a short snack and then we were off on the climb over the top, passing by Bearradh Tom ‘Muidhe and down by Allt Chailean. A nice descent that seems to run along the top of an old dry stane dyke at some points.

Downhill Off The Top

Back to the hostel and back in clean dry clothes we were back on the bus to Brodick, in good time to catch our ferry. A good feed on the boat and back in the car to Peebles.

Initially, Arran seemed far away but having made the trip, it’s not that difficult to get too and from the chat on the trip – most will return for future visits. It’s a bit of a gem, with countless running possibilities.