Isle of Arran Adventure

In what turned out to be one of our favourite days so far, Brandon and I made a trek to the Isle of Arran on Wednesday. We began very early to catch our 6:40am train to Glasgow where we fortified ourselves with caffeine and changed trains heading to Ardrossan. As the train steamed along steadily west, the sky became clearer and bluer and when we finally came to our stop at 9:20, we were confused by the big yellow warm thing in the sky. I'm not really trying to be funny - it's seriously been that long since we've seen the sun in Edinburgh! We didn't see much of Ardrossan, really only the pedestrian walkway from the train platform to the ferry terminal. Due to Brandon's perfect scheduling, we boarded the ferry at 9:45 and were on our way.

Looking back at Ardrossan

A chilly Brandon

And a wind blown Carmen

Passing the ferry going the other way

It was windy and a little chilly but we stayed out on the deck instead of inside the ferry. We both felt totally fine when outside but were almost instantly dizzy and a little motion sick when we were inside and could really feel the motion of the boat. As the weather board inside the ferry terminal told us, the sea was slight and with the sun beating down the 50 minute crossing was over in no time and we had landed at Brodick on the Isle of Arran.

First sight of Brodick

Everything we'd read before going told us that Arran is basically Scotland in miniature. The north of the island is similar in landscape and look to the highlands and we noticed this as soon as we stepped off the ferry. Brodick sits in the shadow of Goatfell Mountain which we didn't climb, but apparently is a short four hour hike.

Goatfell Mountain and Brodick Castle

We decided to look into renting a car for this adventure and though I was nervous about the concept, Brandon assured me that it was going to be the only way we would be able to make the most of our day on the island. The rental place was right at the ferry landing - conveniently located within the gas station/convenience store/garage - and we totally lucked out and were able to rent the only automatic car they had available which meant we both could drive. After a quick reminder to stay to the left and that the signal lights were on the opposite side of the steering wheel than we're used to and we were off. I drove first and oh man, that was so much fun! I'm not sure how to describe the roads other than to say that they were narrower, twistier and had less of a shoulder than the old road between Acme and Linden had. I know that won't make sense to a lot of people, but trust me, that's pretty narrow and pretty twisty. I have no idea what the actual speed limit is on the island but the potholes, buses, tractors, pedestrians and bicycles all meant we weren't able to do more than about 30 miles per hour all day.

Our wee car!

Having so much fun driving

We'd made a plan to head north out of town towards Brodick Castle, but somehow I turned when I should've stayed straight and we ended up on the road that cuts diagonally across the island. Not a big deal, we would've gone that way eventually. That meant our first stop was at Blackwaterfoot, a tiny town on the west coast of Arran. Here, we ate our lunch and planned our attack. A quick stop in the self sanitising public toilet and we were back on the road. This time it was Brandon's turn to drive and we found out way to the King's Cave trail.

Blackwaterfoot

Brandon's turn!

The view from the parking lot of the King's Cave trail

I don't know the whole story about the caves, but one I do know involves King Robert the Bruce. On the run from the English, he took refuge in a cave. Here, feeling defeated and fearing the human cost of fighting for Scottish independence was too great, he sat on the verge of giving up. But one night he sat watching a spider trying desperately to complete a web. Being blown about by the wind, the small spider tried and tried to make his web only to be have its efforts destroyed. Bruce was inspired; thinking that if this tiny creature could begin over and over again in what seemed like such an insignificant endeavour, then he could indeed lead his country to fight again. Spurred on by this, he lead the Scottish army to a massive defeat of the English at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. And this is just one of many caves that may have been the very site of this historic tale.

Along the trail

Putting aside the story, it was really interesting to stand in these caves. I don't know why it always amazes me to witness the power of water, but I was amazed none the less. We avoided walking all the way into the first opening as there was a small bird stressing out about people being so close to her nest.

It's hard to tell, but the height of this cave was well above Brandon's head all the way around.

And this opening was tall enough to walk through as well.

My Google search once we got home turned up this info: Historically the caves may have been inhabited by ancient man, and there are fragile ancient carvings on the walls. These consist of early Christian religious images, and Pictish symbols. It is thought the caves were visited by early Christian travellers.

The King's Cave

We battled about a gazillion flies both on the hike in and again on the hike out from the caves and we roasted a bit in the unexpected sun. But that didn't stop me from taking some photos of the flowers along the way. I was most excited to see the heather starting to bloom.

These are blooming everywhere lately

Heather!

Thistles

We continued north from here, over some of the funniest, short little hills, and stopped at the Lochranza ferry for a bathroom break. Turning back south, we pulled into a little dip in the road so Brandon could play his pipes. I took the opportunity to take some photos of the surprisingly empty road and watched the sheep running away from the noise!

My own personal piper!

While all the rest ran away, this guy seemed rather curious about what was making all the noise

From where we'd come

Where we were going. We pulled into passing spots to take photos.

Then it was back towards Brodick and a stop in at the castle. We drove in and parked but couldn't decide if we actually wanted to go in. We left, but then ended up changing our minds and turned around and went back. This time though, we were told we were too late for the last admission - exactly four minutes late. We were disappointed by this to say the least but what could we do? So back into the car and we went shopping instead. Arran is known for cheese and we bought two small samples: a smokey garlic cheddar and a crumbly cranberry white cheese that's really good.

Our only view of the castle

We returned to Brodick and searched for another item Arran is known for, knitting. We found beautiful hand knit sweaters but decided 135 Pounds was too much to spend and they didn't have any mittens I liked so we went back to the car and decided we'd call it a day. We returned to the gas station/car rental place, handed back the keys and packed all of our things that we'd spread across the back seat. Oh how lovely it was to have a back seat! Then, after a quick stop into the tourist information centre to buy our souvenir magnet, we went in search of dinner. We decided on Arran on a Plate which turned out to be one of the best meals we've had in Scotland so far.

We finished dinner just in time to walk slowly to the ferry where we boarded and claimed our seats up on the top deck. And as we sailed away from Arran, back towards the cloudy mainland, we both felt like we'd just been on vacation. Yes we were still in Scotland and it had only been one day, but being on the island and being able to get ourselves around without being at the mercy of bus schedules felt fully freeing. And even though we had two hours of train travel ahead of us to get home, we got off the ferry feeling completely relaxed and happy. What a fabulous day.

Two happy tourists on a boat

Our last look at Arran

Entering the Ardrossan harbour at the end of our day