A few of my friends and I decided because of the brilliant weather we’ve been having in Scotland, to venture up Goatfell in Arran. Last time I was there (in aid of Fullarton Building Funds in 2014) it took me 2:30 hours to climb Goatfell and about 1:40 hours to get back down to Brodick. This time I was hoping to beat that, but then it was a bit more cloudy and there was more of breeze. The forecast this time around was full sun all day! So Kevin, Fraser and myself got the 9:40 ferry, walked from the harbour to the distillery, had lunch/drinks and then started our ascend up Goatfell at 12:30! It was quite a venture for all us especially under the major heat of the sun; it was pretty busy with climbers as well including a bag-piper who we could occasionally hear in the distance. We thought we’d eventually get a breath of wind to cool us off but didn’t get much. The last rocky part at the end was the hardest; think it’s the part that everyone hates climbing, but after quite a bit of time we eventually got to the top at 16:00! 3:30 hours!
Even although the sun was a bit of a nuisance when climbing, it was a stunning clear view! Absolutely beautiful! I decided to use my rest time while we were up there to create another photo montage; last time it was of Edinburgh from Arthur’s Seat. So did a 270 degree roatation from the rock monument all the way around towards Ardrossan in the distance! Quite liked the turn out of it. You can see a picture of the montage below!
And at 17:00 we made our decent down Goatfell. There were one or two groups still climbing, but was generally quiet on the way down. We were hardly needing any breaks too, until I got a cramp on my right leg with about a sixth of the way left! It was agony, but managed to sort it out after a while. We ended up getting back to the distillery at about 18:40, so approximately the same duration as last time. We didn’t have time to wait for the bus unfortunately to the harbour so had to walk back there too. The last ferry at 19:20 was crowded, but we got seats and went back to Ardrossan. Overall it was a great experience, but we were all knackered and legs sore; fortunately none of us had work in the morning…well except Fraser. Oh dear!
Managed to get some good photos while up there. Take a look below. Camera used: Fujifilm Finepix HS50 Bridge Camera