Cock of Arran

We drove to the north end of Arran to Lochranza to trek from Lochranza around the Cock of Arran. The trail starts off in the village, rises up through the moorland and then drops down to the shore for a walk along the coast to Laggan Cottage and then up the hills over the moorland and back down to Lochranza. The walk goes through a large boulder field along the shore, the area is known as Scriodan.

The majority of walkers take a counterclockwise direction, completing the shore walk at the end. Our walking guidebook suggested going in a clockwise direction so we were the only walkers going that way. We met a couple of walkers near Laggan Cottage, they were European, possibly Belgian because the guy sounded like Kamiel! They thought we were a couple of nutters for going the direction we were going as the guy exclaimed that we would have to walk up 275 meters! Which is not very much, I told them that we need the exercise.

At Laggan Cottage we met a trio of English who had large binoculars strung from their necks, they wanted to know if we had seen any otters, we hadn't. It would have been a bit difficult to spot otters since we had to pay close attention to our footing among the rocks. John and I are trying to break our bad habit of rushing off on our walks and keep having to remind ourselves to stop and look for things, like otters, I suppose.

We decided to get some of the ascent in before lunch so headed up the steep trail to head back to Lochranza. Where the trail levelled off, there was an excellent place to stop and enjoy the view, so we sat on the heather and had our lunch, enjoying a tremendous view of the sea and of the ruins of Cock Farm.

The guide book talked about how Cock Farm is a sad reminder of how well populated the Isle of Arran once was. In the tiny area between Laggan Cottage and Cock Farm, well over 100 people once lived, now there is not one. Malcolm Macmillan, the grandfather of Daniel Macmillan, who founded the Macmillan publishing house grew up on Cock Farm. Cock Farm was abandoned in 1912. I just love looking at the ruins of old farms in Scotland with the walls of the croft houses still standing along with the stone fences. A lot of work was expended building the fences and they are usually straight as arrows. Now it is all empty except for the hill walkers, the only people you see in the land. So much of rural Scotland is like this, some would think the rural Canadian prairie is an empty land but not so in comparison to Scotland.

After lunch we continued up the hill then across the moorland and down to Lochranza. I think the route we took was actually easier because all of our elevation gain came in a short stretch, whereas the other route involved a long ascent.

You can see the Isle of Arran Distillery while descending into Lochranza, we will have to visit the distillery when the rain comes. I was reading in ‘The Arran Banner’ that the distillery has launched a new limited edition of single malt called ‘Westie.’ It is named after a West Highland Terrier called Ruaraidh (no idea how that is pronounced) who is a member of the distillery and a ‘favourite amongst visitors.’

Our walk was about 13km so after we got back to the cottage and had a cup of tea, we walked a couple of miles into Brodick, the main town on Arran, and headed to the coop grocery store to buy some wine and the local newspaper.

Our cottage has a spa tub so that came in handy for soaking our weary legs. We are trying to get into some form of condition to head to a higher elevation in a couple of days. Tomorrow will be our next step in getting our mountain legs, it has been a long time since we hiked the coast mountains of BC, so we are in pretty paltry shape.

Lochranza

Lochranza

Boulders along shore walk

Interesting rocks on shore

Seabirds, have to look these up in the bird book in the cottage

Laggan Cottage, stunning location with an amazing view to the sea

Laggan Cottage is way down there

Ruins of Cock Farm

The view from our lunch spot, the pic does not do the view justice

The trail across the moor

Getting back to Lochranza

The Isle of Arran Distillary