So, it was another amazing weekend away with GMBC and Arran delivered lots of great, challenging riding. Great craic all weekend and a big thank you to Tom for organising it all.
The “easy” Sunday ride was fortunate enough to bump into a professional photographer (Andrew Surridge) who took these photos.
Arran Sunday Laggan ride photos by Andrew Surridge
My shonky, pocket camera photos will follow later in the week. 🙂
Summary
A weekend enjoying some of Arran’s fantastic trails staying at the NTS bunkhouse at Brodick Castle.
Logistics / Accommodation
The plan is to meet up in Ardrossan and get the 6pm ferry over to Brodick (there is a later ferry at 8pm for those that can’t get away early). The idea is to leave the cars in Ardrossan as the ferry is pricey for cars. The hostel is only a couple of miles ride from the ferry, so only take the essentials. There is co-op on route to pick up food and drink. The plan would be to get the 1640 ferry back in the Sunday, or the earlier one if you need to be back.
We will be staying at the 14 bed National Trust for Scotland (NTS) hostel at Brodick Castle. It’s a nice hostel with good facilities and plenty of space. The cost if £18ppn so £36 total.
The Riding
There is a lot of good riding on Arran, and most of it accessible from Brodick. The terrain is very varied and it can be quite technical in places so a reasonable level of fitness and bike handling are recommended. That said, there are options to cut most of the bigger loops and there are some easier rides starting from Brodick. If you’re unsure please ask.
Some possible rides on Arran:
The “classic loop”. A big ride taking in some of the best riding to the south if Brodick. Highlights include the spectacular Glenashdale Falls and the descent to Clauchland Point (see pic below).
Cock of Arran – spectacular views following the coastline around the north of the Island.
Goatfell – Drag the bike up and bash down. Also other hike-a-bike options like Glen Rosa and The Saddle.
Booking a place
There are 14 (Update: 18 places now available) places available in the hostel on a “first come first served” basis for paid up club members. To book at place please email me or post up on the calender entry.
Update: The deposit has been paid. The NTS require full payment by the end of June so I’m starting to chase people up now.
It would also be possible to come over for a day if you can’t manage the whole day, but it would involve getting the early ferry.
Hi,
For any new members and people who missed it last time the club is running a weekend trip to Arran at the end of September:
There are a few spaces left and there may be other places as people’s plan’s have changed since I posted it the first time. If you’re interested please post up on the calender page, email me or speak to me if you see me on a ride.
The riding on Arran is brilliant, and we will have sole use of the very nice National Trust Bunkhouse at Brodick. So it will be a fun social event too.
Tom
Hi,
The club has booked a bunkhouse on Arran for a weekend away in September. The riding on Arran is fantastic but it’s hard to get good quality accommodation so don’t miss the chance. There are 14 places for club members, check the calender entry for details:
http://www.gmbc.org.uk/event/arran-weekender-provisional/
Hi,
Thanks to everyone who expressed an intrest in this trip. Apologies for the delay in following up the accomodation, too much biking and work going on.
The best bet seems to be the camping pods at Broddick Castle. There are two large 4 person pods available that weekend and I have provisionally booked them. They look pretty luxurious as these things go, and have full use of the facilities at the nearby lodge (read more here if you want). Cost of £45 per pod per night, so if we have 8 people it’ll be £11 per night, or £15 if we have 3 in each etc. Accomodation will be for Friday night (6th Sep) and Saturday (7th). Continue reading
Hi,
There has been some chat about organising a weekend trip to Arran this year. For those of you who haven’t been mountain biking on Arran are a lot of great trails to suit all tastes. The Arran bike club (http://www.arranbikeclub.com) have done a great job linking up trails and putting routes on their website.
The rough plan would be travel over on Friday night (ferries are at 1515, 1800 and 2030, or 0700 Sat morning), avoiding taking the cars if at all possible. Ideally we would get some sort of hostel type accomodation near Brodick. On the Saturday we could aim for a big ride like this:
http://www.arranbikeclub.com/documents/ABCClassicroute_002.pdf
On the Sunday we could do one of the short but still brilliant rides like this:
http://www.arranbikeclub.com/documents/ABCClauchlandsroute_000.pdf
There are a number of other routes and variations possible if anyone fancies something different.
If you are interested in coming post up here and I’ll look into accommodation next week. I’d like to book something by the end of next week once I get an idea of numbers.
Tom
As Tom posted earlier, a great day out. Would be even better on a hot, dry day. Anyway, here’s a few more photos…..
Despite predictions of high winds and snow a few of us headed over to Arran today. Obviously no one had told the menagerie of roadies, golfers, drinkers and old-ladies-seeking-tea-shops as the ferry was as busy as ever. We had decided to try and ride the loop up Goat Fell, which as the freezing level was around 300m seemed ambitious. After a short spin on the road to Corrie, a steep section of tarmac gave way to top quality hike-a-bike. It was a steep but interesting walk up, with great views over the sea and a mountain burn tumbling down rock slabs beside the path. We found snow around 500m, but it was fresh and grippy. The further we ascended the wind increased and by the time we reached our destination it was a bit of a blizzard. Continue reading
