After trying to decide for a while where I wanted my first solo camping trip to be, I finally decided on the Isle of Arran at the start of July, not long before my 28th birthday.
I planned out the trip through the rest of the month, before finally setting off on the train up to Glasgow on Sunday 27th, staying overnight before what felt like I'd be setting off into the wilderness the following day.
I took the ferry from Troon on Monday morning, and the weather didn't feel particularly too amazing, but gave some slightly stormy looking pictures on the way towards the island.
After getting off the ferry, I headed straight to get some brunch - my destination was the Little Rock Cafe in Brodick, where I ate an amazing eggs benedict to fuel me up for the hike up Goat Fell. With some great views from Fisherman’s walk and the ever present mountain in front of me, I took off on my journey, firstly towards Brodick castle.
Climbing with a full pack was… difficult, not helped by the little preparation I had with carrying a decently heavy load on my back, setting off from sea level to climb up a 874 meter mountain was a particularly inspired goal.
Over the space of the next few hours I slowly made my way upwards though, determined to see it through to the end, ever hoping that the clouds would subside by the time I made it to the peak.
I finally made it to the peak, and the view was incredible, the clouds were just around the height of Goat Fell, so when they moved out the way I was greeted by some amazing views of the valleys between the mountains - Glen Rosa looking incredible from the peak, and even being able to see across to Bute was particularly cool - as that was going to be where I was heading off to for the couple of days before changing my mind to climb a mountain instead. The flat scenery over there did make me think about what could have been!
After eventually finding my way down the mountain, which was far more painful on my toes than I expected, although my trekking poles came in handy, I setup camp in the Glen Rosa campsite, not many conveniences, but having a toilet block and running water was far nicer than my original plan of wild camping near Corrie, not sure I was ready for that one quite yet.
The next day I spent recovering my poor legs and feet and chilled out in Brodick, having lunch in my new favourite cafe and watched the boats (and ferries!) coming back and forth from the port.
I then decided to continue my plan, which was to make it to Lochranza, albeit this time by bus instead of walking, as definitely needed the break... The bus ride was incredible, seeing all of the hills pass me by, I ought to have taken some photos (or a video), as it was truly surreal seeing the elevations around.
I pitched my tent in Lochranza campsite, just across from the distillery, and had a nice relaxing end to the day with some incredible views from my "door"! I thought after coming all this way it would be a mistake to miss out on visiting the distillery, so managed to grab a cake and coffee, along with a bottle of whisky, before getting some reading in and finally falling asleep.
On my third (and final) full day on Arran, I decided to make up for some lost walking on the previous day, and see what the actual town of Lochranza had to offer. Yet more amazing views to no one's surprise, and also an old castle, which was in a remarkably good state.
I met a very friendly robin whilst getting a sandwich from The Sandwich Station, just across from the Lochranza port which could have taken me to Claonaig if I had been a bit more adventurous (and not left my tent back at the campsite). I decided to play it safe and walk a bit of the coastal path westwards around the top of the island, round to Catacol, a path that was a bit scarier than I expected being higher up than I expected, with some slightly... fun drops around.
After finally making my way back around to the campsite for the evening, I rested up before my long travel back to the West Midlands the following day. Up at 6am to take a bus back to Brodick port at 7am, ferry back to Troon and then Train back to Glasgow and finally down to the Midlands!
All in all a great first trip "out into the wilderness" compared to my usual lifestyle, just think next time I want to climb a mountain to maybe do a few more exercises on the stair master at the gym... and invest in a good pillow!
