Category: Arran
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Stacach, Goatfell
The ridge connecting Goatfell with its subsidary top, North Goatfell. Momentarily cleared in the swirling mists. Goatfell, at 874m, is Arran’s highest peak; North Goatfell is 818m high. The main route up Goatfell is a well-graded trail, and very popular, almost a pilgrimage. The Stacach ridge is a bit more serious. Goatfell has a third…
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Lochranza Castle
Standing on a grassy spit of sand and shingle in the middle of Loch Ranza looking out to sea, the castle is in a pretty ruinious state. The aspect is rather spoilt by ugly industrial fencing intended to keep the unwary out. The original castle was built in the 13th-century by the Lords of Knapdale,…
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Fingal’s Cauldron Seat
Giants do get around a bit. In Yorkshire, Wade performed huge landscaping feats. But Wades attempts were nothing compared to Fionn mac Cumhaill, or Fingal in its anglicized form. He built a causeway bridging Northern Ireland with Scotland only to have it destroyed by a rival giant. He pops on Staffa island where a cave…
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Cock of Arran
The northern tip of the Isle of Arran is called the ‘Cock of Arran‘. Just to the east of the promontory is a sandstone large boulder that is supposed to resemble a cockerel. Or it did until someone knocked its head off. When that happened is lost in history. It was certainly history in 1932…
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Red deer, Loch Ranza
Went for an evening walk along the shore of Loch Ranza on the Isle of Arran, and, on the way back, in the gathering gloom, this remarkably tame fine beast eyed us up but stood his ground. I wonder if he is a descendant of the twenty red deer that were brought onto the island…