Saturday 1 May At long last the planned trip to Arran took
place this weekend, thanks to all who responded for various
pieces of information which all helped greatly. we caught
the 9:40 ferry from Ardrossan Sat morning and walked
straight off the ferry and on to the 322 bus service which
dropped us at Glen Rosa road end for 90p each. A twenty
minute walk took us to the site, ( £3.50 per head but very
basic indeed ). Quickly pitched the tent, dumped all the
heavy gear, and set off up Glen Rosa at 11:40. as there was
not a cloud in the sky we decided to take the longer day
first so took the first track junction up towards Beinn
Nuis. We found the first Adder of the trip sunbathing on the
path, about 24 inches, brown and black, and it just quietly
went off into the long grass when we stopped to have a
closer look at it. the pull up to Beinn Nuis was hard going
in the heat but we were soon on the point looking along the
ridge and picking out our Corbetts for the Day. Beinn
Tarsuinn soon followed and again gives some stunning views
of both the A'Chir ridge and Cir Mhor up ahead. We bypassed
the A'Chir ridge using the traverse path to the west and
soon gained the col before Cir Mhor. What a simply stunning
mountain, like a miniature Matterhorn just begging to be
climbed. The airy summit is superbly narrow with 360 degrees
of the best views anywhere I have been. The witches step
opposite is just a huge gash in the ridge and a fantastic
photo opportunity. We then headed down the ridge towards the
third Corbett of the day, Casteal Abhail. Dumping the sacks
on the col we went up packless ( there was quite a pile of
sacks here by the time we returned later ). Approaching the
second tor there was a path right onto the face so we just
scrambled up about 30 feet of almost vertical huge granite
blocks, just to find the path on the gentle slope on the
other side ! A brilliant spot at the end of a long afternoon
and we sat for about 30 minutes in the sunshine until we had
to move on. We had already planned to return to the campsite
via Glen Rosa so we re-gained the packs, traversed Cir Mhor
and dropped back into the glen for a long plod back to the
tent arriving at 7 pm.
Sunday 2 May Left the tent at 8 am and crossed the burn and
headed due East to pick up the Goatfell track in the woods
behind the castle. We followed the well built tourist track
all the way up and summitted by 10 am. we then took in North
Goatfell and made the long descent down onto the saddle via
the NW ridge. This gave some great scrambling opportunities
and the rock here is very crumbly with the paths full of
gravel. from the saddle it was another walk down Glen Rosa,
two more adders, both green and black this time and one
particularly aggressive which literally attacked my walking
pole and struck at it twice. Back to the tents, picked up
the gear and walked to Brodick for a Guinness and the 4:40
ferry. What a great weekend
Note for Rob Milne: Rob I am sure it has probably been
picked up but the Grid Ref for Goatfell is incorrect in the
Corbett Guide. It is given the letters NS but should be on
NR, the actual grid numbers are correct.
--
Cheers
Graham
284/284 89/219
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