A week's holiday to the Isle of Arran

Saturday, June 29, 2024

After a square sausage roll on the ferry from Ardrossan I patiently waited for it to dock at Ardrossan's modern, yet slow to position new terminal. The buses were waiting - I had some water, walking shoes and a small backpack. Others had poles, rope, meals, litres of water and (potentially) some dynamite. The bus dropped us off outside of the Wineport - a place we would later visit for excellent food - and I followed the signs to Goatfell. Goatfell is the highest point on the Isle of Arran - at 749 metres it's a fair ascent, but falls just short of a Munro. With Goatfell you have to be content with its Corvett designation.

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The round trip to Goatfell via Wineport took just under five hours, during which I was blessed with beautiful Scottish weather. The hardest part of the journey is the descent from the top where the drops onto stone are quite hard on the knees. I would say it's easy to medium difficulty - but there's definitely no need for the extreme climbing equipment some people had. It was worth it for the views from the top and, for most visitors to Arran, a hike to the top of Goatfell is, quite rightly, essential.

Another successful walk was Glenashdale Falls. This circular walk begins and ends in Whiting Bay and is extremely easy, so our seven year didn't complain too much. The sections through the forest are beautiful, but the highlight is the viewing platform that gives a panoramic view of the huge Glenashdale Falls. Just behind is a river with smaller waterfalls - we had some fun jumping across the steppingstones, even if it took some time for wet feet to dry afterwards. As you can see from the photograph below when the sun is setting the views along the Whiting Bay coast are stunning.

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Arran is not short of golf courses, but on this visit we only practiced our short game courtesy of the crazy golf infront of the Little Rock in Brodick and the putting green in Whiting Bay. The crazy golf is really well maintained and enjoyable, with the Forth road bridge modelled hole causing many laughs and lots of frustration. The putting green in Whiting Bay has a honesty box (£2.50 each) and it's a great activity for children before or after a walk along Sandbraes. The putters and balls are provided.

We stayed in Whiting Bay by renting Ach-na-Mara from cottages.com. The house had a great view of the sea and provided an unexpected additional sight on our first night courtesy of a car that had crashed onto the beach. Our only problem was the kitchen did not have any heating - it was completely freezing while preparing food.

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Between Whiting Bay and Brodick is Lamlash. The beach here is also beautiful, with a stunning view out to the Holy Isle. Luckily a couple told us to walk up a bit further along the beach to see the seals. This was great advice - about 5 or 6 of them were lounging about on rocks, making the most of the Scottish sun.

We hired a car from Glasgow Airport for the trip to Arran. There is a bus service, but if you want to do more than explore Brodick and, perhaps, Lamlash and Whiting Bay then a car is essential. Unlike the roads on Mull, the Isle of Arran generally has good quality connections and, while single track roads do exist, they are not as commonplace as on Mull.

What we did

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We were lucky with the Bellevue Farm tour, as my daughter was the only one participating. First she fed a baby lamb with a bottle of milk and then fed the goats penned up behind. There were alpacas to feed opposite the cows and the final tasting session came courtesy of Hettie the highland cow; we had to wait a little while for her to slowly make her way to the gate. Bellevue Farm is a nice place to visit, surrounded by sheep filled fields. My daughter got to take a freshly laid egg away with her - though only after a little wait for the humongous turkey to move away and allow us to collect it. The visit ends in a converted barn, where there are a few games to play, a combined harvester to marvel at and where someone had brought a guinea pig in to cuddle.

More fun with animals came with a visit to Arran Alpacas. First you feed the alpacas, sheep and ducks. For the curious the sheeps tongues don't feel so pleasant, so we used copious amounts of disinfectant afterwards on our hands. The highlight is taking an Alpaca for a walk around the field or, if you've booked it, a longer trek. The alpacas were good natured and well behaved throughout. There's also some alpaca arts and crafts on offer and a games room with table tennis and pool.

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The gentleman taking the £39 fee from us at Brodick Castle said the gardens were "beautiful in bloom". He was not wrong and there are numerous beautiful calming sights in the ample gardens of the aged castle. The highlight inside was the old fashioned horse racing game, where you have to roll balls through holes for your horse to advance. Outside the squirrel hide provided sightings of only two squirrels, but dozens of birds. My daughter enjoyed the adventure playground the best, which had plenty of twists, turns and levels. Brodick castle was a better and larger experience than I expected.

The Auchrannie resort is large. We visited for their swimming pool, which was ok. I wouldn't say it was cheap at £12 a pop; especially as they want another few pound to hire a towel. There are spa treatments and massages on offer as well; during my wife's treatment my daughter and I made our way to the The Playbarn, which is Auchrannie's soft play centre. Inside it's compact, but has everything you'd expect including a slide; there is also an outside area, which thanks to the rain belting down we couldn't make use of.

Arran has plenty of dedicated tourist activities, but the simpler things on the Isle of Arran, like going for a stroll or flying a kite on the beach, are perhaps the most enjoyable.

Food

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Little Rock is normally one of the first or last places visitors to Arran come for a bite to eat. The crazy golf is infront of it. Above you can see my coronation chicken panini and chips. Expect a solid range of cafe classics, with good cakes for dessert. If you're heading for the ferry the deli at the side is a good spot for sandwiches to go - we ate ours while waiting in the queue to board the ferry.

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The Auchrannie resort has a few restaurants - we chose to eat at Brambles. I'd have preferred a solid Scottish beef burger to the Wagyu on offer. That said, the food including the fish and chips, was nothing to complain about and the dining room exuded Scottish style. Normally you will be here for something else like swimming or a spa treatment; while you won't be wowed by the food on offer, you're unlikely to be disappointed either.

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The idea of a little fish shack overlooking the sea at the Mara fish bar and deli in Corrie is great. It looks the part too, with blue walls and nautical references everywhere. The regular changing menu is interesting and we would definitely go back here to see what else was on offer, even if the fish tacos I had were a little dry. The handcut chips were delicious though.

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The Parlour is a nice little cafe in Brodick, which is perfect to get an ice cream before walking along the beach. They also serve pizzas and salads, which seemed popular. We only had eyes for the ice cream though, with the Scottish tablet oozing creaminess and providing a powerful sugar hit.

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The best food we ate on the Isle of Arran was at the Wineport. Everything is wonderfully home-made, with a large gluten free selection. The onion bhajis were simply delicious, bettered only by the warm chocolate brownie and ridiculously good salted caramel ice cream for dessert. Wineport has a good beer selection too alongside extremely friendly staff and a relaxed atmosphere. A brilliant place.

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The Old Pier Cafe in Lamlash is absolutely fantastic. I think the Arran Blue sandwich (a generous slab of cheese with quince and salad inside some wonderful bread) is the best sandwich I have ever eaten. The cakes are simple brilliant too - especially the nutty flavours of the creamy walnut cake I devoured. Another thing the Old Pier Cafe are famous for is their imaginative flavoured sausage rolls - the spiced sweet potato version isn't for everyone, but I liked it.

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There are not many eating options in Whiting Bay, so it's a good job The Shurig is still there. It's a good pub to sit and enjoy a drink in; with its pool table always popular. The specials of prawn thai curry, fish pie and scampi were all nicely done - all satisfyingly washed down with a cold pint of Tennents lager.

I remember the Coffee Pot from a previous visit to the Isle of Arran. Its hot chocolate fudge cake was worth a trip to the island alone. Unfortunately on this visit it was still closed for an extended winter break. Hopefully its chocolate fudge cake is still there and still as good as I remember. Next year we will go to Arran again, so if we do anything different or anything's changed expect another post - and I hope the Coffee Pot is open!