Kielder Water

It's been a long time since I posted anyhtng here - we have been out and about quite a bit, it's just that most of the stuff is going directly onto my Garmin site.

This trip saw us heading down into England to cycle around the lake at Kielder. Linda came too, as she wanted to check out the terrain for the annual marathon that takes place there - she was thinking of entering. Was thinking of entering......but the track and surface put her off. It's quite an undulating ride, swoopy downs and short, steep ups, not too bad for a short distance but over the 27 mile loop it adds up to about 1500ft of climb. And the surface on the north shore of lake is pretty rough as well; loose stones. Great views and really interesting artwork on the way round as well; loved these chairs.

From Kielder Water

Someone (erm, me) had the bright idea of parking halfway along forest drive and cycling along to the water, around and back. Would have been fine, apart from the first 6 miles, a 700 feet descent on the loose scree of a forest logging road. There was no way we were all going to get up that after 30 miles around the lake. I did the decent thing and left Susanne and Linda three quarters of the way around to go and get the car; last 6 miles at 10 mph climbing 700 feet.

Arran day 7: final fling

The path that I'd seen on Wednesday, cut into the hillside at Glenashdale, to allow access up to the Giant's Graves, just had to be cycled. Before we had to leave to get the ferry home, I set off first thing in the morning for a bit of a spin before breakfast.....

Arran day 6: the west Glenrosa horseshoe

Our last day here saw us heading back into the hills, back up into Glen Rosa, but this time heading west at the Allt Garbh and around a magnificent horseshoe of peaks. The mist was back again and it was very warm and still as we made our way up the main climb to 800m. As we rounded the centre of the horseshoe, the cloud blew off the notorious A; Chir ridge leading to Cir Mhor, opening up some wonderful views.

From Arran 2010: Friday

The cans of Coke that we’d left weighted down in the river at the junction with the Glen Rosa path tasted better than the most expensive champagne…..

Arran day 5: Lochranza and the King's Cave

We’d done quite a bit of high level walking and cycling, but nothing around the coast. Today dawned very calm and still but misty, so we thought this would be a good day to prowl around the coast. We did two walks – the first around Newton Point at Lochranza, the second down to the King’s Cave (allegedly visited by Robert the Bruce) on the west coast of the island near Blackwaterfoot.

Deer patrolling around the village in Lochranza:

From Arran 2010: Thurs

King's Cave:

From Arran 2010: Thurs

Arran day 4: rest day (sort of)

Time for a bit of rest day today, so we did the tourist thing and went shopping. We managed a short five mile walk up and around Glenashdale Falls near Whiting Bay. Coming down via the Giant’s Graves (Neolithic burial grounds) we found a wonderful track cut into the hillside that simply has to be cycled (see Saturday’s post).

From Arran 2010: Wed

The biggest find of the day was Coast – a new restaurant on the seafront that served us a slice of carrot cake so large that it could probably be seen from space…..

Arran Day 3: Brodick, the hard way

After a long walk yesterday, my legs let me know that they would appreciate a gentler day today. Well, they sort of got that ....

From Arran 2010: Tues

Detours seem a great idea at the time, and on the map. We thought we'd warm up with a gentle roll along the bay at Lamlash to see what lay further to the north of the main strip of houses and shops. Part way down, we saw an inviting sign for a footpath to Brodick that was too much to resist. Problem was, it really was a footpath, and not really suited to the bikes, as there were fields to cross, stiles to clamber over etc.

We made it up to join the red MTB route up above Corriegills and then decided to take the hard route over the summit of Clauchland Hills. Bits of the ascent (...and the descent!) were completely unrideable, but we puffed and struggled along feeling like complete amateurs. The descent down to the Cnoc Na Dial car park was great though, weaving through the forest.

From Arran 2010: Tues

From here, we headed on the blue graded route through the grounds of Brodick Castle. It's all on very rideable tracks and forest roads, but there are some steep climbs up but also some great descents, particularly the one down into the lower reaches of Glen Rosa: a narrow sheep track of a path, plunging down towards the river.

From Arran 2010: Tues

From here, we headed back to Cnoc through Glen Cloy and then took the easy option home, along the main road to Lamlash (and even with a strong headwind, I still managed to get a speed warning from the windmill-thingy at the entrance to the 30mph zone...)

Not bad for an easy day...

Arran Day 2: Goatfell

I am always amazed at how some people think all Scotland's best walks and climbs have to reach over the magic 3000 ft to be any good. There is nothing on Arran higher than about 2800ft, but what a place for walking...!

From Arran 2010: Mon

We followed the popular path up Goatfell from the Cladach car park, through the grounds of Brodick castle and out onto the open fell. The last couple of hundred metres of ascent was tough going up a path that increasingly needed hands and feet, but at the top, the view of the ridges to the north and west were just stunning. The photos never do it justice...

From Arran 2010: Mon

From Arran 2010: Mon

From the summit of Goatfell we descended the ridge to North Goatfell and then up to the rocky prominence of Mullach Buidhe, before coming back down to the Saddle and looking in awe up at the forbidding eastern face of Cir Mhor.

From Arran 2010: Mon

From the Saddle, it is a long and steady descent down into the beautiful Glen Rosa which eventually joins the cart track that emerges a few hundred meters up the string road. It was a full 8 hours out but we'd only really scratched at the surface of what you can do up here.....