Arran, part three, the distillery & Cock of Arran.

Today started with a lovely haggis breakfast. That REALLY set us up for the day :-)

However, we almost didn't make it, as we (uncharacteristically) overlay until 8:40! We scrambled about and got downstairs as soon as we could, apologising profusely to Kath (who informed us it was ok, as she never started the cooked breakfast until she could; 'see the whites of your eyes' - a good plan).

After hearing that the distillery was open only Wednesday in the week, we decided to pay a visit. It's the youngest distillery in Scotland, and was only opened in 1995. The whisky is no worse off for this though, as it's one of the smoothest and nicest I've tasted. They are having a big celebration on July 3rd, and we really do wish we could get, but there are two things stopping us, the cafe (our business in Bakewell), and the midges!

See http://www.arranwhisky.com/

This is the visitors centre.

The rocks behind hold a pair of nesting Eagles,

which can often be seen soaring on the thermals.

It's been built very tastefully, and looks like it's been there for ever, not just 15 years.

Inside the visitors centre. Barley grows behind a lovely plate glass mural.

There's a man-made waterfall behind me, which adds the soothing sound of tumbling water.

The stills - these are one-offs, the same as a lot of distilleries. After this point, no more photos were allowed.

That guy at the spirit safe is the one we met in the pub last night.

The different sized barrels, and me with the end result.

Arran distillery. Awkward to picture at this time of day, with the sun behind it.

Now, it was time for our walk. We drove to Lochranza, with the plan to walk round to the 'Cock of Arran'.

This is Lochranza castle, read all about it here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochranza_castle

We parked the car at the roadside (there don't seem to be ANY parking charges on Arran - yippee!)

The corner of land you see on the right is where we're headed, then right around it.

On the hillside there was a cottage with this strange 'game' in the yard.

Sue had a go (unsuccessfully), so did I (unsuccessfully).

The guy who owned the place was amazed we knew what it was, until I told him WE had the oldest version in England, at the Old trip to Jerusalem pub - he couldn't believe it!

Here it is - proof - on the 'Ward room' wall in the Trip.

We soon climbed to the crest of the promontory, and set off around the headland.

There is the most charming, secluded and remote cottage nestling in that dip ahead.

This is it - immaculately painted & roofed, we're not sure what it was - holiday cottage, retreat, what?

All we know is, just looking at it made you sigh and relax -

the sea is only about 20 feet away behind me.

This was the overriding sound today - Oyster Catchers, and of course, Curlew.

The easy grassy path turned quite difficult and rocky for a time, and we had to be VERY careful. A twisted ankle, or worse, here would be very dicey!

But it was all worth it. The views across to Kintyre, and beyond, were stunning. Then the 'main event' began, so it was out with the flask, unwrap the Arran cheese,

and just sit back and watch as this beautiful, showy array of light began.

It was quite a cold evening, but we were transfixed to that

bench until the last rays were dying, then it was lickety-split back to the car ASAP before it got dark on us.

This island still held some wonderful views though, as we made our retreat.

We HAD planned to go to a folk night at the Ormidale hotel, but it was cancelled! So, we went to a bar we were advised not to - Macs bar in Brodick! (To be honest, it was more by accident than planning). I must admit, it was a bit 'rough', but we enjoyed it as a bit of a spectacle. There was a ladies darts match on, which had me holding in a laugh as the scoring went some thing like this;

3........7......30........22..........5...........80 (loud cheers).........7

Anyway, after about a week, the game ended, and we made our way back to Arran Barn.

Tomorrow, we were heading south - to see the incredible stone circles and standing stones of Machrie Moor.

Next posting........................

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Arran, Part two, Goat fell (continued).

Now then - where were we? Oh yes, heaven! We were really getting high now (in more ways than one) and the stunning views opening up with every step were just mind-blowing.

We were SO grateful for the good weather and clear views.

After a LOT of hard work, we approached the summit of Goat Fell at 874 metres (2,867ft). Remember, on Arran, you start from sea level!

Here's Sue going for it.

The smile says it all. We took lots of pictures, but never was it more so saying;

'the camera just can't capture it' than now.

These rocks on top were encased in coffins of ice - solid! 

Somehow though, so very beautiful.

This shot has to be my favourite. The way nature can sculpt things always leaves me speechless. This sideways wind-blown icicle left us in awe!

The Saddle ride, on Cir Mhor; on the 'list' for our next visit! It looks a bit serious, especially that 'witches step' but we'll give it a go.

A last look back before we leave.

And a longing glance around. (That's Ailsa Craig in the background, where a lot of the best curling stones come from).

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailsa_Craig

Not much information could be gleaned from this topo' plate today! You'd need a chisel to find anything out :-)

The mainland. How beautiful is this view?

North Goat Fell. Again, we wanted to 'do' this, but it was far too dangerous in these conditions. On 'the list' it goes!

Big sighs as we leave the top of Goat Fell and head down. The going was a LOT easier, as it was one step forward, slide down three feet.

We were back down in no time at all, and returned to the B&B to change.

We went out to our first 'non-happening' of the holiday. With this being out of season, lots of things tended to grind to a halt, and if you believe the 'what's on' in the local paper, the 'Arran Banner', you'll spend a lot on fuel going to non-happenings. "CATACOL HOTEL - FOLK NIGHT - EVERY TUESDAY" On the way to Catacol, which is as far from the B&B as you can go, we saw lots of birds and a seal. This Curlew was posing nicely for me.

One thing we didn't expect to see on a small harbour wall was what looked like sheep! Two white ones, one black one. I stopped the car.

On closer inspection, they were made of concrete. And Milton Keynes thought they had the monopoly on cement animals!

On arrival at the hotel in Catacol, we were two of only three people in the pub. Oh well, we'd also been told the fish & chips were good, so we had some, and they were very good. The only other customer was a distillery worker, and he told us that the distillery was only open on Wednesdays and weekends in the low season. This was valuable information, as we intended to visit it, and put it on the list for tomorrow, this being Tuesday. Every cloud has a silver lining - well, they all seem to have on this holiday!

On the way home, we kept seeing these eerie red eyes in the headlights. I stopped the car again, and this was the culprit. LOTS of deer appear after darkness falls, and we saw many, many more during our stay on Arran.

Tomorrow we are going to buy a bottle of whisky from the newest distillery in Scotland.

Yes - the Arran distillery. Opened in 1995, it nestles in a glen with pure water flowing to it, and eagles soaring above it. PS - it tastes divine as well!

Part three

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Arran, part one, Goat Fell

Well, it all started with this webcam really. We almost booked to go to Madeira again, but that was a very lucky decision not to, as the island has been devastated by the worst flooding in its history.

Anyway, Sue had said she'd always fancied Arran, so I started looking at things (ferries, B&B's etc)......and the webcams!

This is the best webcam on Arran;

http://www.arranproperty.co.uk/arran-webcam/

I decided to let the sat-nav take us to Ardrossen, where the ferry terminal is, and it took us via GLASGOW!!

Sue was chuntering and grumbling for the last third of the journey, as she KNEW she could have done a better job of the navigation. Anyway, when we DID eventually arrive in Brodick (where the web camera is), we just HAD to pose in front of it!

But, before we got to the island, we had a long drive up there. After the six hour drive, we were really excited to see this, our first view of the island.

The weather was great, and the island looked fantastic in its mantle of snow.

We tarried too long though, sighing and 'ahhing' at this wonderful view - and we missed the chance to take an earlier ferry! As we pulled onto the terminal, the ferry was JUST closing the door. ONE MINUTE earlier, said the ticket lady, and we'd have been able to catch it. Oh well, this meant a three hour wait for the one we had booked to go across on, so it gave us chance to eat, do a small tour of Ardrossen (wow - NOT!) and then to come back for a stroll on the beach for more pictures (cue sighing and ahhing again).

We had the most gorgeous sky too.

QUICK - QUICK - RUN SUE - IT'S HERE..........

Erm, I think you ought to shut that door mister - we're going to sea now.

Well, I SAY sea - it was more like the proverbial mill pond!

Dolphins can often be seen in the bow wave of the ferry, but not today.

Holy Island - looking a bit foreboding in this light, I have to say. This small 'islet' just off the coast of Arran, is a haven for meditation and Tibetan monks.

It was on our itinerary to visit it during our stay.

Not to meditate or take the vows - but just for a walk ;-)

But first, we had to find 'Arran Barn', our B&B for the next week. I'd chosen this from the reviews Kath & Phil got on Trip Advisor. Also, after ringing up and talking to Kath, I knew this was the place for us. I wasn't wrong either, it was lovely.

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g551754-d1473384-Reviews-The_Barn_B_B-Brodick_Isle_of_Arran_Scotland.html

This was our breakfast view, but to be honest, we'd expected to see a thick blanket of snow, as it had started coming really heavily the previous night and I had visions of us being snowed in. but as quickly as it started - it stopped!

So - it was sunshine for breakfast. There had been a quite severe frost overnight, but the sun was defrosting everything pretty quickly, including the car.

Sue went to feed the hens in thanks for us eating their lovely eggs with our breakfast.

That's a strange looking one though - that ginger one???

When we looked out of our bedroom window, there was a red squirrel. Phil puts nuts in that box, and the squirrel comes every day to feed.

He has learned to pop up the lid with his head for a free feed.

After fuelling up with a super breakfast, we set off to try and get to the top of Goat fell, the highest point on Arran.

Obviously, it had taken another hit of snow during the night, but we decided to just 'suck it and see'

Sometimes, all was not as it seemed, and we spotted this wood-woodpecker!

A glance to the right as we walked along the B&B lane gave us this view

But soon we had turned towards Goat fell, and started the long climb from sea level up the track.

It wasn't long before we'd reached the snow line,

and heard that familiar creaking sound underfoot as we trod onwards.

Wow! That looks like a LOT of snow!

Although there was a nip in the air, the strong sun was making us warm with our efforts, so off came the fleece, gloves and hat.

Sue too was taking layers off to stay comfortable.

Brodick bay is behind her, with the top of Holy island peeping over the horizon.

(click on any of the pics to see a bigger version,

then click the back arrow to return to the blog)

A look forward saw things getting a bit more serious.

We plodded on, sometimes breaking through the fragile icy crust on the snow, and suddenly sinking up to our knees - to lots of giggling from us both!

There were less and less other tracks now as we climbed ever higher. In fact, we could only see one other set ahead of us. 

Of the four people behind, only one followed us to the top.

As we gained height, we could see more and more of holy island.

Also, the snow was at its deepest on this plateau before the ridge to the top.

How about that for a view?

We were close to the top, and the amazing pics that went with it.

They will follow in the next posting.

NEXT PART

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