To Sannox and Lochranza June 30+July 01

This is not Everest or even K2, or Mont Blanc, but a view from the B&B of Goatfel, the highest point on Arran, and it needed to be climbed, of course. There is another way to get to Sannox, but more of that later. For now it is enough to know that all energy and concentration were focused on that peak. It was another rare day here, hot and sunny, so a 7:00 a.m. start was not at all overkill because to head up that mountain mid-day, which many people do, is insane. The climb, especially the last third, was challenging enough—think navigating your way through vertical boulder fields—without the added burden of a burning noontime sun.

There are two, no, three reasons to climb this peak: one is to say you did, two is because on a day like today the views are spectacular, and three because the alternate route to Sannox is on a wide track through chopped down forest, teaming with flying, biting critters.

My photos do not do justice to the view AT ALL:

Looking towards Brodick:

The people I followed down, having a sandwich before the descent. The woman’s shorts say Minnie and Mouse. That white pillar thing is a trig point, where you can measure the accuracy of your GPS. People tend to get very excited about trig points even if they don’t use a GPS.

I was supposed to descend by a path (unmarked) that goes off at a thirty degree angle from the main path….to the extent that the main path is discernible. I was not sure where it was and was scared to death to try a solo descent to who knows where in those desolate hills. The photos do not capture the vastness and cragginess and into-the-no-where-ness of the hills, so I just followed the sandwich eating couple back to the starting point, turned at the junction, and walked to Sannox on the low level route, the one with all the flies. The entire day’s walk was only fourteen miles, but felt longer due to the demands of the Goat. It was a good first day!

A pretty start on the way to Lochranza:

There were no habitations except this abandoned cottage, no sheep, no cows, just cliffs and rocks and lots and lots and lots of biting flies. Tomorrow the DEET goes on before departure! A chunk of the walk was tricky going as you had to work your way along an undefined path through boulders. And it was slow as every step had to be calculated.

Then things evened out, you might say:

As I was checking into the B&B, Jesse James here told me that he has walked almost every walk in England. He probably has:

“If you have time,” the notes say, “Visit Lochranza Castle.” This castle may have the distinction of being the smallest, most modest castle in the UK:

What I learned from ambling through it was that lots of things that were done were later undone. For example, the plaque informs that there was a window in that very place in the 13th century, but it was filled in in the 18th. A truism about castles, though, is that the stone work never ceases to astonish.

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