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I've visited Arran a few times and have a week booked in at the at the end of August for a spot of camping. One thing I've wondered about is doing a North-South traverse (about 25+ish miles). I've tried looking for a route or if anyone had done it before but can't find anything.
Any suggestions? If not I'll just cobble it together!
Now that is something to look forward to.Quote:
Originally Posted by matthew
I've had some great times on Arran but the "August" word has reminded me of my 2nd worst midge attack, whilst wild bivvying in Glen Rosa. Had to walk out of the glen at 0300hrs and find sanctuary in the breeze on the beach at Brodick.
North end of the island is by far the more mountainous/interesting. You need to be comfortable with some quite exposed scrambling for some of the ridge sections. I did most of them a good few years ago, walking not running. We took our bikes and used them and buses to get to and from our start points. We didn't do Goatfell on that occasion, which might explain why we saw nobody at all on the hills over 3 long days.
I have only been to the northern half of the island. I have vague memories of walking from Lochranza to Brodick by the obvious ridge route (Caisteal Abhail, Cir Mhor, Goatfell). But if you want to go to the south end of the island you would probably be better to turn right at Cir Mhor towards Beinn Tarsuinn.
Looking at the map there is a fair amount of forestry in the southern part of the island, which may not be very pleasant; and the unforested moorland may be rather boggy.
Yeah so I’ve done all the ridges before (minus Witches step) and goatfell numerous times. I think the middle section (dropping off Goatfell towards the road and then picking up the next track is about 10k of moorland. I need to sit with the map and really plan it.
My closest hills are the Cheviots so I’m used to pathless boggy moorland with maneating hags (also found in the Toon). I agree the second half is less beautiful than the northern mountains but I think it would give a real flavour of the 2 distinct island halves. It’ll be a day out rather than fast smooth mountain running. Possibly more akin to a MM than a horseshoe round.