Walks Isle of Arran

Author: Richard Hallewell

Rewalked by: Richard Hallewell & Becky Coope

It is always a pleasure to go walking on Arran: one of the finest walking areas in Scotland, with a good array of walks and all within easy distance of one another. The best-known route on the island is the splendid climb up Goatfell (2867ft/874m), which has some of the finest views of any peak in Scotland, but there are also plenty of coastal, riverside, woodland and even parkland (Brodick Castle) walks on the island.

There have been a lot of changes to the routes since the guide was last rewalked, so it is well-worth getting the new edition if you haven’t been to the island for a while. The biggest addition is an overview of the Arran Coastal Way: a 65 mile/105km waymarked route, on paths, tracks and public roads, which runs right around the island. It is impossible to describe the route in detail, but the best sections are described in other routes in the guide. Elsewhere, there has been a mass of changes to parking (Machrie Stone Circles), route details (the start of the path up Glen Iorsa, the route from Brodick to Dhunan) and signage (the path from Brodick to Brodick Castle, and the paths up Glen Rosa and Goatfell from Brodick Castle). A couple of short routes have become overgrown and have been removed; the descriptions of the walks at Glenashdale Falls and Eas Mòr have been altered.

What hasn’t changed is the quality and variety of the scenery and the walking: past the ruined castle at Lochranza, along the coast from Blackwaterfoot to the King’s Cave, the fern-filled dens at Eas Mòr or the rough path around the Cock of Arran. People will cross to the island for the day to climb Goatfell, but it is well worth going for longer. You won’t exhaust the walking in a week.

For more details or to buy a copy, click here.

Photograph: Coast near King’s Cave