Isle of Arran (Scotland)

...fraction of the price. The Isle of Arran, official named 'Scotland in miniature'.

LOCATION
The Isle of Arran is situated in the Firth of Clyde & Kilbrannan Sound in the south west of Scotland. The east coast of the island is only 14 miles off the Ayrshire mainland, the north coast overlooks the island of Bute & the west coast looks over the Mull of Kintyre. Yes, the same place Paul McCartney made famous in his 1977 song & where ...
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The Isle of Arran is truly outstanding, a really beautiful location with rugged coastline on the west coast, lovely beaches, dramatic mountains & such a varied selection of wildlife. The residents are friendly & helpful & there is a general impression that everything goes at a much gentler pace than on the mainland. It's ideal if you have the car with you but traveling around Arran with a bicycle or on foot is just as pleasurable. ... more

Have you ever fancied a few days on a remote island with the gentle sound of the sea & the beauty of tropical trees & plants? A few days just to relax & completely unwind from the daily stress we all appear to endure. A tropical island in the Pacific Ocean perhaps? Actually no, this is a place not too far from home & at a fraction of the price. The Isle of Arran, official named 'Scotland in miniature'.

LOCATION
The Isle of Arran is situated in the Firth of Clyde & Kilbrannan Sound in the south west of Scotland. The east coast of the island is only 14 miles off the Ayrshire mainland, the north coast overlooks the island of Bute & the west coast looks over the Mull of Kintyre. Yes, the same place Paul McCartney made famous in his 1977 song & where he often retreats to his farm.

HISTORY
Hundreds of years ago Arran originally belonged to Norway & was sold to Scotland. There is a castle in the north at Lochranza originally built by the Vikings but the one you see today was built in the 14th/15th century to keep the Vikings out!! I reckon the Scots must have thought they got a bad deal!!
One of the main attractions in Arran is the King's cave; one famous person who hid in these caves was Robert the Bruce. The famous story of how he watched a spider spinning his web encouraged him to go out to fight & drive the enemies out of Scotland took place in these caves.
Around 200 years ago the Duke of Hamilton who owned most of the land in Arran decided to increase the farmland & introduce more animals & as a result many people were forced to leave the island.
Today, the island has a road that follows almost the complete coast line with only two main roads crossing the island. One of these roads is called the String Road & was built by Thomas Telford. The other is named the Ross road.
At Brodick castle on the east coast, the castle dates back to the Viking period & one famous resident for a short time was Napoleon III.

ARRAN FACTS
You won't find any grey squirrels on the island, only red ones. The island has no foxes, stoats, weasels, moles, traffic lights, traffic wardens, roundabouts, speed cameras or Starbucks! It has very little street lighting & mobile phone reception isn't too good either.
However it does have a population of 4000 humans, 2000 red deer, golden eagles & an abundance of red squirrels.
When the government in Cyprus wanted to introduce potatoes to their country, they chose the Arran varieties. Arran also supplied sand to Saudi Arabia, apparently it is special sand used in their water filters!!
The local newspaper is called the Arran Banner, 98% of local people read it which is why it is listed in the Guinness book or records as no other newspaper in the world has such readership!

THE ISLAND TOUR
Look at the island as a clock face, when arriving from the mainland you'll enter via the ferry terminal at Brodick the principal town (3 o'clock) or via a smaller ferry port at Lochranza (12 o'clock).
The ferry from the mainland leaves from Ardrossan in Ayrshire, the distance is 14 miles & it takes about 55 minutes. You are advised to pre-book as it is a very busy run; a train runs from Glasgow to Ardrossan ferry port if you don't have a car. If you use the other ferry to Lochranza pre booking is not required & the crossing takes 30 minutes.

The complete circumference of the island is around 58 miles with the coast road covering most of it. Starting at Brodick you will enter via the ferry port where a regular bus service is available across from the ferry terminal building. There are no airports on the island although a water/air service from Glasgow is being discussed at present.

At the ferry terminal is a ferry booking office with toilets & across the road an information centre. Brodick has a main street with the sea, rocky & sandy beaches at one side & a row of small shops & restaurants at the other.
The shops include an Arran cheese shop, sheepskin shop selling Arran knitwear, gift shops & a Co-op supermarket at both ends of the town. A petrol station is located at the ferry terminal but be prepared to pay considerably more for fuel than on the mainland. I paid 118p for a liter of unleaded whilst on the mainland it was only 107p.
At one end of the town is the heritage museum showing visitors how life once was on this beautiful little island. There is also a golf course in Brodick.

As you travel south a mere three miles you come to Lamlash (4 o'clock), this was the location of a naval base during world war two when submarine crews were trained here. This little place is home to some really lovely homes many of which are painted white. Against the blue sky & green fields they look rather impressive. Lamlash overlooks Holy Island & a 15 minute ferry trip to the island is available from here. Lamlash also houses the police station, coast guard, small hospital, lifeboat station & fire station. It too has many gift shops, cafes & small restaurants. Before a Sunday morning service the local church will play tunes from its carillon bells.
In Lamlash cemetery behind the village high on the hill is the grave of Rev Colin Campbell who sadly died in 1882. It's next to the other members of his family except for his son Duglad who was the great grandfather of J.K.Rowling.

From Lamlash you head further south to Whiting Bay (5 o'clock), in its day steamers used to birth at Whiting Bay & at the time it had the longest pier in the River Clyde. Where the DIY shop is today used to be the main office at the pier.
This is a great place for walking to Glenashdale Falls, Kings Cross point & Giants Caves. Just like Lamlash it is a very quaint place with small gift shops & ample parking.

From here you travel south to Kildonan (6 o'clock), here's where you are likely to see the small island of Ailsa Craig, its uninhabited except for birds & marks the half way point between Glasgow & Ireland. An unusual continental style house in Kildonan called Drimla Lodge sticks out like a sore thumb, this large house was built in 1901 for the Clark family, famous for the Clark shoes. The same family presented a bell to Kildonan church, when the church closed the bell was transferred to the village hall. The ruins of Kildonan castle are still present but you are advised to keep away from it as the area it is located on is very dangerous.
Kildonan also features a lovely sandy beach, a favourite with many families & one that isn't too crowded in the summer. It's not unusual to see a number of seals on the beach.

From here you travel west to Kilmory (7 o'clock), a lovely little village is located in a sheltered spot & features palm trees & the 200 year old Lagg Hotel (see picture). Arran's famous cheese is made close to here at the Arran creamery.

Travelling north west past Sliddery you eventually come to Blackwaterfoot (8 o'clock). This pleasant little place has a small harbour, hotel, shops & a post office. Walking along the shore line here will take you to the cliffs of Drumadoon. The cliffs are at the end of a lava flow from volcanic times. Here you are likely to see many birds including fulmars, gannets & the odd golfer from the nearby golf course.
A short distance from Blackwaterfoot is Shiskine, the only village in Arran that has no shore line. It's located on the string road which takes you across the island to Brodick.

Travelling north clockwise we then see Machrie (9 o'clock) & the Machrie Moor where stone circles are standing & have stood for around 4000 years. Heading further north past more rugged shoreline takes you to Pirnmill (10 o'clock). It got its name from the wood taken from the birch & beech trees planted locally & used for making pirns (bobbins) in mills outside Glasgow in the 19th century.

Further north you come to Catacol (11 o'clock) & you will see the twelve apostles. This is a row of twelve identical attached cottages with thirteen chimneys, one is a dummy. Only the upstairs windows are different, the story is that these cottages were used by fisherman's families in the 19th century. Whilst they were out fishing if a family member wanted to get a message to their men they would light up a lamp & place it on one of the upstairs windows. The shape of the window would relate to the message, personally I think using a mobile phone would have been easier!!!

From here the biggest attraction in the north of the island is Lochranza (12 o'clock) where the ferry port to the Mull of Kintyre is located. It is nothing unusual to see red deer wandering the streets, gardens & the beach during the day. You'll get pretty close to them for photographs as they are used to humans & barking dogs.
The locals find them a menace as they wander into your garden and will munch their way through your prized flowers & grass. This is why you'll see garden fences all over village.

The ruins of Lochranza castle are in the centre of the village & as you travel east you'll see the one & only distillery left in Arran. During the 19th century most whisky was produced illicitly to avoid paying taxes in Scotland. Arran reputedly made the finest whisky of all but in 1837 production ceased. A new distillery was opened in Lochranza in 1995, on the day in opened two eagles were circling above the mountain tops close to the distillery, this is considered a good omen.

Today you can take a tour, taste the goods & browse through the gift shop & buy the range of products on offer. Arran Gold is a malt whisky liqueur which last year won an international prize as the best whisky liqueur in the world. If you like Baileys you'll love this stuff.

From here you head south west & the road leaves the coast line for a short time. Stop off at the lay-bys & if you have binoculars with you look around & you'll almost guaranteed to see deer wandering around the dramatic mountain sides. Even in mid April snow on the mountain tops was still evident despite a warm sunny day.
I witnessed many deer including stags just wondering round quite close to the road side.

You soon come close to the coast line again as you head south towards Brodick. First village you will come to is Sannox (1 o'clock), there isn't much to see at first but there is a rather nice picnic area overlooking the sea & you will often see gannets diving for fish & even dolphins leaping around. Around here is a 'fallen rocks' trail where a landslide took place over 200 years ago.

A short distance from Sannox heading south is Corrie (2 o'clock), on that road you cannot fail to notice huge granite boulders at the side of the road that were brought down during the glaciers during the ice age.
Corrie has two delightful little harbours & the area features white washed cottages & neat gardens. On the harbour edge you can tie your boat or ship to model sheep but avoid using the black sheep as it is regarding as being bad luck.
The northern harbour is the home to a modern replica of a Viking ship but it wasn't there the week I visited.
I found a full sized model of a seal on one of the rocks on the Corrie shore line & a full sized model of a seagull close to the gift shops close by.

From Corrie you head back to Brodick & just before you enter the village you will see Brodick castle & grounds currently owned by the National Trust. You can visit the castle or just wander around the gardens; you can even take the dog as long as it's on a lead but you won't be able to access the castle with the dog or walled gardens.
If you want to see what the castle looks like (other than the picture attached), have a look at a Scottish £20.00 note as it features on some of them. You can access Goat Fell from here.

All over Arran you are likely to see seals, otters, highland cattle, buzzards, red squirrels, red deer, porpoises, dolphins, basking sharks, eider ducks, cormorants, shags, kittiwakes, harriers, owls (in daylight), heron, eagles, loads of sheep & some humans.

A regular bus service serves the island & you can also use the post bus which can be picked up from the post office in the mornings & early afternoon, contact 01770 302507 for details.

The Isle of Arran is truly outstanding, a really beautiful location with rugged coastline on the west coast, lovely beaches, dramatic mountains & such a varied selection of wildlife. The residents are friendly & helpful & there is a general impression that everything goes at a much gentler pace than on the mainland. It's ideal if you have the car with you but traveling around Arran with a bicycle or on foot is just as pleasurable. The island is ideal should you visit it on a tight budget or if you wish to stay in luxury surroundings. The island features horse & pony trekking, quad bike driving, golf & many other outside activities. No matter if you are young or old you just can't help enjoying the place. The only downside would be the weather, it can be mild & comfortable in the west coast in spring & summer but when its cold…………………………

To summarise, it's a beautiful place where you can really relax & unwind. 

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