Clients sometimes ask me, “what is your favourite walk to lead on Arran”. This one is certainly a contenender.
On Tuesday, I met Vicky and Tim at Lochranza for a circular walk around the Cock of Arran. It’s a wander along a rocky and wild stretch of coastline, with a moorland climb and descent to bring us back to the start. It feels like one of the most remote and unpeopled parts of the island, and in some ways it is, but its is also a place that is steeped in history, with remains of human settlements scattered along the shore and among the pastures above. The people were here until The Clearances, a sad era in Scottish history that saw the highlands depopulated in favour of more efficient land use. At one time, at least a hundred folk lived on the North East coast of Arran, in the hamlets of Laggan and Laggantiun, and at Cock Farm. The children walked over the hill to school in Lochranza. The last farm to be inhabited was Cock Farm, which was finally abandoned in 1912.
Arthropleura trackway in carboniferous sandstone.
I love this walk because not only are there a lot of stories to tell about the people who once lived here, but there is also some amazing geology, and wildlife to see. The geology is a predictable highlight- and includes the famous Hutton’s Unconfirmity, which is both underwhelming and extraordinary, and the fossil Arthrupleura tracks, left by a giant centipede-like creature on a land surface over 300 million years ago.
The wildlife is harder to predict, but we almost always see a fantastic range of seabirds and of course, seals. Sometimes we see otters. On Tuesday we were treated to good views of great northern divers, gannets, a newly arrived migrant wheatear, and even a golden eagle.
It’s not a particularly long walk, and some people could cover the ground in half a day, but it is rough walking, with boulders to clamber over at times, and more than a little bog to negotiate, and with so much to see, it’s best to spend a whole day over it and not rush.
I love the contrast between walking on the shore with the rush of the waves close by, and then when we turn up hill, and the views open up and the sound of the sea becomes a distant roar. Finally, cresting the hill, we get wonderful views of Lochranza and the distillery. On this occasion, it was here that we were treated to a flypast from a golden eagle, as well as a close encounter with a bachelor group of stags.
Is this my favourite walk on Arran? It’s certainly in my top five. And no mountains were climbed!
