GO SCOTLAND:From basking sharks to golden eagles, the Isle of Arran, an hour by ferry from the Scottish mainland, offers an abundance of wildlife. The only thing you won't find is the Loch Ness monster, writes AMY LAUGHINGHOUSE
NOW I KNOW what it feels like to be a penguin swaddled in a girdle. Not that I had given it much thought before. But as I waddle into the cool shallows of Lamlash Bay, on Scotland’s Isle of Arran, lumpily sheathed in neoprene and dragging my bright red kayak behind me, I feel as awkward as that klutzy, egg-shaped comic. I’m hoping that when I finally reach deeper waters and launch myself into my craft, I, like the stubby-legged polar bird, will take on some measure of aquatic grace – but in my heart I know better.
Just as I feel a chilly trickle of water filling my rubber booties, our jovial guide, Bruce Jolliffe of Arran Adventure Company, suggests we board our crimson kayaks, and soon we’re gliding across the gunmetal-grey bay. Well, my companions may be gliding, but my idea of an upper-body workout is brushing my teeth (flossing, too, when I’m feeling particularly hale), and I soon start to feel the burn.
Fortunately, Jolliffe has chosen this sheltered location on Arran’s southeastern coast for its relatively calm waters – and, to my surprise, I find I’m having fun. The briny smell of the sea fills my nostrils as I hug the shore where an abandoned church, slowly declining into romantic ruin, and several tidy cottages with well-kept lawns sweep down to the rocky beach. Gentle green slopes, typical of southern Arran, form a wide V behind the village, parting to reveal jagged granite peaks serrating fast-moving clouds in the wilder, more rugged north.
“The island sits along the Highland Boundary Fault,” explains Jolliffe, his commentary wafting along on the breeze. This fault traverses Scotland, partitioning it into the hard-edged Highlands and the more softly undulating Lowlands. Arran, about an hour’s ferry ride off Scotland’s southwestern coast, is divided by the same fault, so it delivers the same diverse topography. Measuring just 90km in circumference, it has earned the often-repeated moniker of Scotland in Miniature, although one big thing about Arran is its golf. With seven courses and a year-round population hovering around 4,700, the island has the most courses per head in the world.
But Arran isn’t just for golfers. Thanks to its dramatic landscape, Jolliffe says, “geologists get a kick out of it, and there’s plenty to see and do, whether you’re a hillwalker or want to do some climbing. It runs the spectrum.”
The isle offers an abundance of wildlife, and Jolliffe advises us to scope the rocks for common seals, as well as grey seals, which are actually more common than common seals despite the name. “You can also get sightings of seabirds – gannets, gulls, curlews, oystercatchers – and we get basking sharks on the exposed coastline, too,” he adds.
Sharks? Scanning the steely waters for a hulking form beneath the surface, that famous line from Jaws – “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” – screams through my brain. But, blessedly, they prefer plankton to paddlers. “They have no teeth,” Jolliffe says, “and they’re very docile.”
About the only thing you won’t find in or along Arran’s waters, it seems, is the Loch Ness monster. But Holy Island, where a group of Buddhists offer holiday retreats for folks of all faiths, does its best impression of a giant, partially submerged dinosaur rising from the middle of Lamlash Bay.
For those who wish to commune with a spirit of a different sort, a tour of the Isle of Arran Distillery and Visitor Centre may be in order. In fact, that’s my next stop, and I’m relieved to find that, despite kayaking leaving my limbs as limp as linguine, I’m still strong enough to lift a dram by the time we reach the distillery in Lochranza, on the isle’s northern tip.
Campbell Laing, our twinkly-eyed guide, begins our tour beside an indoor waterfall meant to simulate the distillery’s own source. The distillery, which opened in 1995, is the first legally produced whisky made on Arran in nearly 160 years, and in 1997 Queen Elizabeth gave it her blessing by opening the visitor centre.
After watching a brief video in a simulated old-time distiller’s cottage, complete with a sinuous “escape route” that whisky runners could take when the law came a-calling, Laing leads us into the distillery itself, which is perfumed by the smell of warm cereal. He explains that nothing goes to waste in the process, including a barley by-product that is used to feed local cattle. “The cows may walk a wee bit funny,” Laing says, “but they’re happy.”
I’ll be walking a wee bit funny, too, thanks to a visit to the tasting room, where Laing lets us sample several whiskies, including “cask-finished” products that have been aged in a variety of cognac, sherry, champagne and premier-cru-wine casks. He advises us that, if we add a drop of water to a dram, it will soften the flavour and take the edge off. “But drink it to suit your taste,” he adds. “The only thing I ask is, please, no Coca-Cola.” None is needed, as the nectar glides down my throat, leaving a delicious burn on my lips and a warmth in my belly.
Weaving outside, I scan the skies for a pair of golden eagles that nest in the crags above the distillery. Alas, while I might be seeing pink elephants, there is no sign of those majestic birds. “It’s just the remote control’s not working,” quips Laing, although I suspect that they’ve been sent off for regilding.
Aside from the eagle no-shows, Arran offers a true Scottish safari. In a single weekend I spot Highland cows, red deer, a grey seal sunning on a rock, dozing goats, shaggy Highland cattle and sheep of such variety that I suspect they were invented by Dr Moreau.
It’s not just the fauna but also the flora that flirts with the fantastic. The gardens of Brodick Castle – a stately red sandstone home, furnished as it was when the widow of the 12th duke died, in 1957 – are filled with all manner of exotic vegetation, from leaves ample enough for more than one bum to sit on to strange palm trees that look like parts of other plants assembled by giddy four-year-olds let loose with a glue stick.
My favourite slice of Arran, however, is a walk on the southwestern coast from the King’s Caves – where legend holds that Robert the Bruce, repeatedly defeated by the English, was inspired by a spider building its web to “try, try again” and regain the Scottish throne – to the beach at Blackwaterfoot.
A narrow dirt path winds through fields of bracken, heather and foxglove before descending towards the sea, where hikers have built small stone cairns to mark their pilgrimage. Then it begins a slow, steady ascent to the base of a dramatic bluff, improbably tufted with gravity-defying bits of green. With all their lush drama, these cliffs might appear more at home in Tahiti than this northern outpost.
Arran, it seems, isn’t content to model itself solely on the best of Scotland. It’s a greatest-hits medley of island beauty – a slogan that’s equally as apt as Scotland in Miniature, and it might just about fit on a bumper sticker, too.
* Amy Laughinghouse was a guest of Visit Scotland. See visitscotland.comand ayrshire-arran.com
Go there
Ryanair (ryanair.com) flies to Glasgow Prestwick from Dublin, Shannon, Derry and Belfast. Aer Arann (aerarann. com) flies to Prestwick from Donegal. Aer Lingus (aerlingus. com) flies to Glasgow from Dublin. PO Irish Sea (poirishsea.com) sails from Larne to Troon. From Prestwick, Glasgow or Troon, take a train (national rail.co.uk) to Ardrossan Harbour, from where Caledonian MacBrayne (calmac.co.uk) sails to Brodick, on the Isle of Arran.
Where to stay, where to eat and where to go on the Isle of Arran
Where to stay
Best Western Kinloch Hotel. Blackwaterfoot, 00-44-1770-860444, bw-kinlochhotel.co.uk. Ideally situated on a sandy stretch of beach, near a golf course and scenic coastal walk, the Kinloch Hotel has a child-friendly lawn, lively bar, indoor heated swimming pool, sauna, snooker room, squash court, fitness room and Wi-Fi. Rooms from £45 (€51) per person; self-catering suites from £95 (€108) per suite.
Auchrannie Resort. Auchrannie Road, Brodick, 00-44-1770-302234, auchrannie.co.uk. Choose from two four-star hotels – the Spa Resort or Auchranie House Hotel – or one of 23 five-star self-catering Country Club lodges. Rooms from £99 (€112). Lodges from £120 (€136).
The Centre for World Peace and Health. Holy Isle, Lamlash Bay, 00-44-1770-601100, holyisland.org. You don’t have to be a Buddhist to stay in
this simply furnished accommodation on the Holy Isle, a 10-minute ferry ride from Arran’s Lamlash Bay, but guests are welcome to join in meditation and chanting rituals. Open from March to October, in winter by arrangement, and for a Christmas retreat. Dormitory beds £25 (€28), singles £45 (€51), doubles £65 (€74); includes three vegetarian meals daily. (Accommodation is not en-suite, except for one single room for disabled people.)
Where to eat
Kilmichael Country House Hotel and Deluxe Cottages. Glen Cloy by Brodick, 00-44-1770-302219, kilmichael.com. Voted Scottish Country House Hotel of the Year 2009, this hotel serves a £42 (€48) dinner that includes canapes, four courses, petit fours and coffee, with many ingredients gathered around the estate itself. Dinner reservations required.
Creelers. Home Farm, Brodick, 00-44-1770-302797, creelers.co.uk. A sister to the Edinburgh restaurant of the same name, Creelers is renowned for its seafood, brought in fresh daily, and for the adjacent smokehouse. Portions are generous, but save room for a rich dessert, such as a moist brownie in Drambuie sauce.
The Wineport Bar Bistro. Claddach, Brodick, 00-44-1770-302101. Local is the key word here, from western-caught seafood to lamb, pork belly and organic beef from Arran. Desserts are baked on the premises, and Arran Ale, brewed around the corner (see arranbrewery.com for visitor-centre information), is available on draught. The Wineport is open for lunch daily and for dinner from Wednesday to Saturday.
Where to go
Arran Adventure Company. Auchrannie Road, Brodick, 00-44-1770-302244, arranadventure.com. Activities range from kayaking and sailing to climbing, mountain biking, abseiling and archery.
Isle of Arran Distillery and Visitor Centre. Lochranza, 00-44-1770-830264, arranwhisky.com; £4.50 (€5) for adults, £3.50 (€4) for students and concessions, children under 12 free. Includes whisky tasting for adults.
Brodick Castle, Garden Country Park. Brodick, 00-44-844-4932152, nts.org.uk/Property/13. Fanciful gardens, complete with a pinecone-encrusted gazebo, are a highlight of this castle, parts of which date back 600 years. Keep an eye out for the dodo-shaped crystal decanter and alligator-inspired cigar lighter in the dining room. Castle (open April to October) and gardens: adult £10.50 (€12), family £26 (€30), single- parent family £20 (€23), concession £7.50 (€8.50), car park £2 (€2.30). Gardens and country park only: adult £5.50 (€6.30), family £15 (€17), single-parent family £11 (€12.50), concession/group rate £4.50 (€5).
Where to shop
MacKenzie. The Old Saddlery, Brodick, 00-44-1770-302311, mackenzieleather.co.uk. Customised briefcases, Gladstone bags and ladies’ handbags made on site by Alan MacKenzie. Open March to September.
Arran Aromatics. The Home Farm, Brodick, 00-44-1770-302595, arranaromatics.com. Toiletries, skincare and candles in scents such as lavender, grapefruit and fresh fig, all produced directly behind the shop.