After the Rain (also the name of an Arran Aromatics fragrance!)

Sunshine arrived like a long lost friend one morning last week glistening on the snowdrops in the village and on the snowy mountain tops. It’s been a long wet and windy spell on Arran though nothing like as extreme as the stormy weather that has repeatedly hammered the south of England. At Lochranza the hills shelter us from the full impact of southerly winds, but getting on and off the island since Christmas has involved closely scrutinising weather forecasts to judge when the Caledonian Isles will be able to sail. High tides have nibbled away at the island’s edges and, in places, taken out a big mouthful, Maybe it’s time we pinched an idea from our prehistoric ancestors and started building crannogs on stilts to live in. I sometimes wonder if the ceilidh tradition of Scotland came about as a creative response to long dark wet winters. Anyway, one sunny morning and you’d think the storms had never been. There is very little pollution in the west coast air and sunshine after rain makes everywhere look freshly created in brilliant colours.

Another highlight of this time of year for us is the Lochranza Village Hall Burns Supper. A tasty traditional meal of cock-a-leekie soup, haggis, neeps and tatties, followed by Arran oatcakes, Arran cheese and Arran shortbread is punctuated with speeches and songs. We are well-fed on this island! The toasts, naturally, are made with Arran single malt. Two centuries later, it’s surprising to realise just how many well-known expressions come from the pen of Robert Burns.

The big news of the last week is that the Corrie seal was washed away in a storm and washed up at Turnberry Golf Course in Ayrshire. The wooden seal was carved by Arran sculptor Marvyn Elliott and was so lifelike that almost every passer-by stopped in their tracks to see if it was real. Hopefully, it will soon return to bask outside the Corrie Hotel once more.

A bit of sunshine has had the effect of a powerful energising drink on us. We open next Saturday so on with the outdoor painting!

Here’s Nigel polishing pods!

A blog of blogs

A blog of blogs

Happy New Year! Hope you weren’t affected too badly by the storms. It’s looking like the map of the British coastline may have to be redrawn after this winter. With winds from the south we were lucky enough to be sheltered in Lochranza but we’ve witnessed some big tides engulfing the sea field of the golf course and lapping the doorways of the village houses.

A lot of us start each new year with thoughts of what we’d like to see and do in the coming months, so for this reason I thought you might enjoy sampling a small selection of other bloggers’ thoughts about Arran life.

The following link will take you to a blog written by my daughter Emily about a RIB trip from Lochranza round the Cock of Arran. Emily also lives in a country that has beautiful mountainous landscapes (but no sea) –Switzerland:

http://www.countrybycountry.com/2014/01/isle-arran/

The annual popular Arran Mountain Festival takes place over 4 days from the 16^th-19^th May this year. It offers great value guided walks in the Arran mountains. You can read a varied collection of AMF blogs at:-

http://www.arranmountainfestival.blogspot.co.uk

The next link will take you to Arran in Focus’s stunning photographic blog:-

http://www.arraninfocus.blogspot.co.uk

And this link is guide Lucy Wallace’s blog which focuses on outdoor adventurous activities and wildlife:-

http://www.wildonarran.blogspot.co.uk

You’ll find a treat for the ears at:-

http://www.soundcloud.com/chae-cruickshank

Chae is a geologist from north-east Scotland living in Lochranza. If you were here in the autumn his “Arran in October” will evoke deer memories, I’m sure.

Hope you enjoy reading all these as much as I do.

The Red Deer Rut  Diary 2013 part two

October 15^th

The chief stag was VERY agitated this morning, refusing to tolerate other stags anywhere near the herd and charging furiously and noisily after a young stag who was determined to try his luck. I found out later that a big fight between two stags was witnessed on the sea field that same morning, lasting twenty-five minutes.

October 16^th

The ground has been scuffed up on the 6^th fairway today. I wonder if it has been caused by actual mating? Damage to trees has stopped. There must be something about munching up pine trees just before the rut that attracts stags- it doesn’t seem so appetising to them afterwards.

October 19^th

The atmosphere has changed on the golf course. It is less intense and there is less roaring. The main herd on the golf course of 16 hinds has been sitting comfortably on the first fairway in a tight-knit group with the chief stag. No hinds were trying to run away and no other stags were around waiting to challenge.

There is still a lot of night-time roaring coming from up the Narachan track and from Gleann Easan though the stags sound pretty hoarse at times.

October 21^st

This week stag culling stops and hind culling begins. If this isn’t done there will be high mortality of the young over the winter. Calves stay with their mothers for a year or even two. There are two or three little family groups like this who are now grazing at some distance from the main herd, presumably because mating has taken place.

October 23rd

One very exhausted chief stag fast asleep in the reeds near the Newton Road Bridge. His big antlers sticking up like an aerial gave his whereabouts away. The rut ends in a drawn-out slow calming like the sea after a storm. The structure of the herd loosens and eventually the big stags return to the hills.

Blinky was culled earlier this month. He was estimated to be 15 which is very old for a stag. He was blind in one eye and going blind in the other so his prospects for surviving the coming winter were not good. At least he spent his last few days proudly in charge of the herd again.

Snowstorm Facts

Our camping season 2013 began dramatically with the blizzard that blasted Arran on March 22^nd.  Some facts about it that we have learned recently are:

• Three power towers collapsed on Kintyre severing the electricity line to Arran. Power tower collapse in this part of Scotland had only occurred three times before in sixty years. Heavy snow rapidly built up and turned to ice. Lines between each tower had about 20 tons on them.
• Some Arran homes on the West coast had no power for six days.
• 700 SSE workers were drafted into the area from round the country.

 (This information came from the ‘Snow bill hits £15 million’ report in the Arran Banner 3^rd August 2013 following a presentation by Neil Wilson SSE Operations manager for Argyll and West Highland.)

The campsite and golf course close for winter on October 31^st as usual. Rutting has no sooner ended here than tupping begins and the hill sheep will be brought down to the golf course on November 1^st. Whoever thinks Lochranza is a quiet place?

I’ll leave you with a glorious view of the Arran mountains in October sunshine taken from Dun Fionn near Brodick on Thursday.

The Lochranza Red Deer Rut Diary 2013

For two summers a stag has been hanging about Lochranza. Sometime he must have had the worst of a fight and had been blinded in one eye. He is the Blinky I refer to in these notes.

The red deer of Lochranza are wild but managed, and culling takes place in the autumn.

Every year the deer congregate on the golf course for the rut. The obvious reason for this is that it’s the best grass in the area. My personal theory is that they choose to be here because it’s a natural amphitheatre and the rut is all about stags showing off their strength. The stag in charge keeps the main herd centre-stage on the golf course and his roars resound around the hillsides.

17th September

32 deer have congregated on the golf course including six young stags. Some play-fighting is going on and some muted roaring at night. A mature stag with 17 points on his antlers is sitting in the sea-field of the golf course- by himself.

19^th September

Blinky woke us up in the middle of the night sawing his antlers on a tree outside the caravan and breaking off branches (that’s why Lochranza gardens are fenced!)

20^th September

Eight young deer are munching Mrs MacAllister’s hedge next to the golf course. Why are they doing that now when they haven’t done it all year? There’s plenty of grass to eat. Once the rut begins properly the stags won’t eat at all. The 17 pointer has taken charge of the herd- he’s showing interest in the hinds but they’re not reciprocating- they scurry out of his reach.

22^nd September

The stags have re-opened their baths by the 6^th green (we filled them in after last year’s rut). They scour out holes with a circular motion of their antlers and finish up looking dark, muddy and scary (to impress their rivals).

26^th September

A noisy night of roaring. Jackdaws were sitting on the 17 pointer pecking insects off him- he looked happy to have the service. The quietest time of day is late morning, when the deer settle down and have a nap.

30^th September

Thought the 17 pointer was dead- he was crashed out exhausted in the sunshine this afternoon. Not easy to lie flat out when you’ve got big antlers at each side of your head!

1^st October

Blinky has moved in and has charge of the herd. He is defending them fiercely because there are rivals roaring all round the periphery of the golf course. If females run away he roars at them.  If young stags come too close he gives a series of loud grunts. He had fun bathing in the deep ditch we’ve just cleared and tossed mud and water everywhere.

4^th October

Blinky has moved the herd to the sea-field. Roars from stags above the old quarry, the Village Hall, the Distillery, the hill fort and the Whinns.

6^th October

Walked up the Narachan. Stags are everywhere- oblivious to people- just intent on watching the herd to seize their chance.

Tonight  Blinky saw a young stag off by walking in a dominant way parallel to him, forcing him right up above the old quarry where they had a quick tangle with their antlers. Blinky then charged headlong back down to the herd. P.S The eagles were out in the sunshine too- flying high above all the deer drama.

8^th October

Blinky is not in charge any more. The herd have scattered a bit but there are plenty of stags moving in. Some of this year’s calves are still being fed by their mothers.

14^th October

The first fairway is the central arena of the rut.

Night-times now are filled with the long resonant groans of stags’ voices- they sound as if their urge to procreate is unbearable. If they all took up monogamy life would be much easier.

The hinds come into season on the 21^st so the tension is electric. When the stag in charge chases the interlopers away he really means business now. I give him a wide berth when I’m raking the bunkers.

Next instalment coming soon.

Photo by Lance Ostler

Taking the Humps  

From Tuesday 24^th September the A841 between Catacol and Pirnmill will  be closed for six weeks for “improvements”.

As many of you reading this will know, the A841, which along with The String from Brodick to Blackwaterfoot makes up Arran’s road network, includes a bumpy stretch between Catacol and Pirnmill known locally as the Humps or the Switchback. Its Gaelic name is Rubha Airigh Bheirg. The area is  picturesque and geologically significant with heather-tufted volcanic sea stacks and a tiny old weathered graveyard huddling under high cliffs. The humps cause many an excited squeal from children in passing cars.

The A841 clings to the island’s edges because they are the only flattish land on a mountainous island. In fact the road is using ancient raised beaches much of the time. Arran’s steep hillsides mean that rainfall flows off the land rapidly and across the road to the sea. This makes maintaining the tarmac a challenge. Fortunately, for most people, the beauty of the scenery more than compensates for the odd pothole, and who would want to speed in such surroundings anyway?

The imminent roadworks at the Humps have provoked a great deal of controversy. The aim is to level the road so that buses with low floor mobility access ramps can use it. Apparently this is required by EU legislation (aspects of small island life can be vulnerable in the path of juggernaut one-size-fits-all legislation). Any road closure on Arran has a considerable impact on local people and visitors alike. There are no alternative routes unless you have a boat. In this case, Pirnmill Village Stores, the only shop in the north end of the island, will undoubtedly be affected by daily road closures. These come in a year when March’s freak blizzard meant a late start to the season, then shortly afterwards the shop was badly damaged by fire, before reopening in July.

Given the unique character of this section of road, many people have wondered if buses with lifts might offer a solution which would allow access for people with wheelchairs without changing the landscape. This is not to be but after listening to local concerns, North Ayrshire Council has moderated the original plans. Instead of flattening the crests the dips between are to be infilled. We hope that this compromise does not compromise the natural landscape. Many islanders fear the pressures to “mainlandise”  the island with pavements and tarmac laybys. Arran’s unspoilt natural character once damaged can never be regained.

Another concession that has just been announced is that the road will be open daily during the period of roadworks, from 3.30 pm until 9 am the following day, so Pirnmill Shop, the Lighthouse Restaurant and The Old Byre Showroom will still be accessible later in the day. The drive from Lochranza to Pirnmill is very scenic and there’s usually something to see in the Kilbrannan Sound from basking sharks to naval manoeuvres. If you’re hoping to travel to Machrie Standing Stones or the Kings Caves it will be best to make an early start or go across the String via Brodick.

Cir Mhor: The Great Crest

I saw stars for the first time since early May this week; the time of the never-truly-dark nights has passed for another year. After July’s heat, mornings are fresher and hillwalking has become appealing again.

Why do so many people climb Goat Fell and so few venture on any of Arran’s other mountains? Okay, it’s the highest peak, but not by many metres. Maybe it’s because it’s got a pronounceable name. Whatever the reason, one of the joys of Arran walking in this world of shrinking lonely places, is that, apart from the group you’re with, you can usually have an Arran hill all to yourself.

The other day  the route that Will and I took was up Glen Sannox, over Cir Mhor (799m) and Caisteal Abhail (The Castles 859m), onto Sail an Im, then down Gleann Easan Biorach to Lochranza- a route about 15km long with 1000m climbing. From the start of the walk Cir Mhor, the Great Crest, confronts you majestically from the head of the glen looking like a child’s drawing of a mountain: a perfect pyramid.

This walk starts at the bus stop at GR 016454. Whenever I am driving back from Brodick to Lochranza the view at this point into Glen Sannox is a –well, shock. The fearsome ridges on each side of the glen look like they might swallow pretty Corrie golf course whole. A well constructed and discreet path takes you almost to the top of Cir Mhor. The path exists thanks to the hard labour and expertise of Scott Murdoch of Lochranza and his team of pathmakers, commissioned by the National Trust of Scotland. It is no mean feat to make a helpful path up such steep and rocky hillsides. Some hands-on scrambling is needed to ascend a gully close to the top of the Saddle and again to reach Cir Mhor’s summit.

My favourite moment when climbing Cir Mhor comes close to the top as you turn a corner round a boulder and find yourself in a corridor of rocky granite towers with dizzy drops to the valley floor. Surrounded by great grey bulky shapes you feel as if you are moving through a herd of sleeping elephants. Q. What’s the point of climbing mountains? A. For special moments like these.

Whilst eating our sandwiches we watched fierce showers blowing in from the west and as we continued up to The Castles one blew onto us. Stopping for a quick rest we found ourselves having that common British mountain experience whereby, in thick cloud, all boulders look the same and so do all paths down. The trouble is that paths close together on mountain tops can end up in valleys that are many miles apart. It was time to dig the compass out of my rucksack. Whenever you need a compass it is sure to be cold and wet, with the wind snatching your map and rain dripping off your eyebrows. The direction of travel arrow can often seem to point you to a direction you weren’t expecting but you know you have to trust it rather than your instinct. It will be right.

As the cloud raced away and we saw Lochranza a long way down and a long way off we knew we were on the right path for Sail an Im. From here we headed down boulder strewn slopes into boggy Gleann Easan with its many waterfalls. The photo shows Will having found a particularly wet bit. Golden spires of bog asphodel, fluffy tufts of bog cotton and clumps of purple heather made it all a delightful bog.

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Being at the end of a hard day’s hillwalking is one of my best feelings in the world. It’s the inner and outer glow factor. If you decide to do this walk, don’t forget that if you get back down to Lochranza by 5pm, the additional warming pleasures of the Arran Distillery await you.

 Caisteal Abhail also features in my June 2012 blog: Castles in the Air

Four Years Later

August 2^nd

It is four years today since Nigel and I arrived at Lochranza Campsite about to embark on a summer of camping and sea kayaking following Nigel’s redundancy. Ten days later we travelled on, having bought the business – well almost. (The land is owned by The Estate by the way.) Before Lochranza, we had an action plan for our next moves in life, but when you find a random opportunity popping up in front of you, by a certain age you decide it’s best to grab it with both hands and deal with the inevitable snags later.

Our summer of sea kayaking and camping round Scotland was wet and windy to say the least, but strangely it made running a campsite seem even more appealing. We got so used to living a very basic lifestyle in difficult conditions that going back to normality looked like walking into prison.

Ironically, running a campsite is actually pretty confining for significant stretches of the year, and when visitors comment on our idyllic lifestyle we think it’s not quite the right word. Remember that it does involve embracing toilet bowls on a daily basis, and toilets and paradise do not normally get mentioned in the same sentences. From the beginning, Nigel’s regret was “we don’t get a weekend”- in fact, no down time at all once the campsite’s open for the season (and then maintenance goes on in winter). Undoubtedly however, life has simplicity- you look after people; you look after land, and your day is dictated by the needs of both. And we have a very beautiful office. If running a campsite is something you’d like to try, the most important skill you can offer is being able to fix things – at any minute of any day something will need fixing. Fortunately fixing is Nigel’s heaven.

Looking back, we were in a state of shock most of our first year- it was less of a steep learning curve and more of a vertical precipice.  We had no financial safety nets and we worked very hard, doing a lot of heavy manual labour that we were not used to at all. Also, coming to live in a place like Lochranza is about so much more than taking on a business- it’s about joining in with community and island life too. Four years on, summer 2013 has beamed brightly on this part of Scotland after Easter blizzards. We are pleased with the changes we have made here, especially our investments last winter in new toilets and showers, as well as two camping pods. With Scott the greenkeeper in charge of the golf course (where previously we did all the golf course labours ourselves) we do not topple into bed in an exhausted state every night.

Things are never dull on a touring campsite – far too many interesting people, doing interesting things and pursuing interesting journeys pass through for it to be otherwise. And paradise does really come into it because the island on a daily basis never fails to move me in terms of its unspoilt beauty. With wild red deer grazing, red squirrels trotting by, and eagles gliding silently high up, I feel a bit like Disney’s Snow-White wandering merrily through the woods with wild creatures gambolling about her.

We are here because a) we went travelling b) we got talking c) we took the plunge. We both believe life is full of opportunities floating around like bubbles. You have to catch them when you coincide with them or else they drift away.

Nature put on a glorious show here on Monday night; the photos show the rainbow that arched over Torr Nead an Eoin and the fiery sunset over the loch.