ADRC. Glen Catacol to Lochranza, Isle of Arran.October 2012

On the ferry heading to Arran.

The starting point.

Lovely new gates have been installed on the deer fence.

A view looking up Gleann Diomhan.

Alone in her thoughts.

She was keen to climb even further today!!

Looking down Glen Iorsa.

Yes, it was a wee bit muddy today.

What a fine place to end a walk.

Making use of the facilities whilst we waited for the bus.

The local stag is quite used to being photographed.

Quite a large group today.

Always room for a photo of the leader.

Yesterday Saturday October 21st I had the honour of leading a group from ADRC to the lovely Island of Arran off the West coast of Scotland. We took the ferry to Brodick to board the bus to take us to the lovely village of Catacol which is where you will find a row of quaint little houses known as "The 12 Apostles" 23 walkers set off up Glen Catacol following the burn to the the deer fence where the track for Gleann Diomhan begins with its long climb to the summit.Some of todays group found this a wee bit testing due to the soft ground coupled with the slippery rocks but all made it safely to the top. Lunch was taken surrounded by the mountains with several stags spotted on the tops keeping a careful eye on us as this is the height of the rutting season and they are very protective of their hinds.A clip from U tube gives a wonderful account of a day on Arran accompanied by some fine music which is well worth taking the time to enjoy. Today it was a dry partly cloudy day as we took time to look down Glen Iorsa which runs through the centre of the island with its river meandering all the way to the sea. Stopping at Loch Na Davie which is more better described as a large puddle I explained it had two outlets one to the south feeding into Iorsa ,the one to the north went to start the River Ranza. As we descended the paths became very soft and muddy resulting in many slips and falls, I am sure there are a few aching bones in Ayrshire this morning.On the final descent we were treated to a rare sighting of a Golden Eagle as it soared high above us close to the crags of Cnoc Nan Sgrath. Arriving at Lochranza Distillery we were able to make use of their fine visitors facilities before taking our final walk into the village where we saw a sea otter playing at the  waters edge. Also we managed to get fairly close to a stag grazing at the side of the road and was not at all bothered by the walkers taking photographs perhaps he is used to all the tourists who visit this part of Arran . Bus arrived to take us back to Brodick for the ferry to Ardrossan and finally back home to Ayr to end a good day out on the hills of Arran,maybe a wee bit tougher than some of the group had expected.As leader it is difficult to plan these types of walks  to get  ideal conditions as the programme is made up months in advance lets hope it dries out a wee bit before I take you all for 13 miles round the hills of Straiton next month.

I am going to try and add a link here to Dennis Duke's excellent account of our walk set to music.

Dennis Duke Link. .