In the last eight months or so, I’ve restarted something I used to really enjoy but got out of the habit of doing – running. I say running. Truth be known, it’s more of a shuffle than anything else. My running style has been called many things – Phoebe from Friends, efficient (meaning I don’t pick my feet up too much). But it gets me round the miles faster than I could have walked them, so it’s running.
With its dramatic mountain scenery to the north, and rolling green fields in the south, Arran is said to be Scotland in miniature. The A841 circumnavigates the island in 55 miles and there is lots to look out for along the way, whether you have ten minutes or a couple of hours. Below are some of the many other things we enjoyed whilst out and about on our honeymoon.
Welcome to #AdventureCalling, the linky with an outdoor theme, co hosted by Lauren from The Helpful Hiker, and me, also Lauren, from Exploring the Landscape. I’m really excited to be joining Lauren with this. I’ve been linking up with #AdventureCalling as often as I can for a while now, and have got some really good ideas from reading everybody’s posts, including our honeymoon in Arran last year. But before we move on, all the best to David at Potty Adventures – good luck with your new adventures. Continue reading
Amongst the books we found in our hire cottage on Arran, was one called “Arran for Families”. It was a brilliant little book – fully illustrated with easy to read information about places to visit on the island. On a showery day, we decided to visit two of the destinations we found within its pages – the Giant’s Graves and Glenashdale Falls.
Most of my previous walking has been done in the Lake District. When I open the OS map to plan a walk, it is criss-crossed with green and black dashed lines indicating footpaths and right of ways. This was not the case when I opened a map of Arran. Contours and streams were there, and lots of other symbols, lines and colours that make maps so brilliant to look at – but not too many footpaths. I guess the Scottish Outdoor Access Code means that much of the landscape is one big right of way (within reason). But it came as a bit of a shock when I was trying to plan a day in the hills for us. After consulting my guide book, I decided that Coire Fhionn Lochan would be the walk for us.
One of the great things about Arran is just going for a drive and pulling in to different places to see what is there. I suppose that can be the same anywhere really. After a morning spent at Kildonnan looking for seals, we decided to drive round the island, pulling in wherever we fancied. It was getting late when we drove into a picnic area at North Sannox. It was a gorgeous spot. After messing around for a while at the spot where North Sannox Burn enters the sea, we decided we head back to the cottage for some tea. Before we left, I checked the information board and noticed that we could start a walk to Fallen Rocks from here.
After we’d visited Machrie Moor Stone Circle, there was still plenty of time left for more adventure, so we drove the short distance down the road to Torr Righ Beag, a coniferous forest by the sea. From here, we could walk down to the beach to explore the King’s Cave, but not before the customary check of the information board. Here, we found a circular walk which, for no particular reason, we chose to do clockwise. We made our way to a forest track on the left hand side of the car park.
