Walking on Arran: Goat Fell

Hello again from Scotland!

I hope you enjoyed my last post about the King’s Cave and Machrie Standing Stones. It’s still 2006 and I was looking forward to our next challenge.

The next morning the sun was shining. As I looked out at Goat Fell from our room at the Glenartney Guesthouse I was thinking how high and faraway it looked.

My head was saying “I’m not fit enough, what if I can’t keep going to the top? Just do the best you can” I then said to myself.

After all, trying is better than not doing anything at all.

Goat Fell hike

We started the walk at the Arran Brewery, Cladach, near Brodick Castle. There was a free car park just off the main road which was perfect.

I was better equipped this time with walking boots, backpack a few snack bars and water. I looked the part at least!

The first part of the walk took us through the woods at Brodick Castle . We were very lucky that the Scottish midge wasn’t exploring that day!

Some parts were flat but as uphill started to become more frequent I did begin to get out of breath. It was harder than I thought, but regular breaks and some Kendal Mint Cake helped a lot.

The path was really good heading towards the mountain. I didn’t remember there ever being a path like this 18 years ago. My memory was some sections with a path and lots of heather.

The National Trust for Scotland Footpath Fund had certainly been busy over the years building these paths for us to walk on.

With many breaks we eventually got to the crossroads where the route from Corrie meets the route from Brodick.

We stopped to look around at the most fantastic views. It was a bit hazy and we couldn’t see the mainland but it was still the most amazing place I had ever been to.

The footpath had changed further up and we were now faced with the last part of the hike, climbing up the stairway to Goat Fell!

There was a path of sorts, but it was more like walking up steps and having to lift your legs higher. This part was even more challenging for me.

There was no way I was going to be defeated, so off I went, lagging behind, but stopped when I needed to. We had all day, so there was no rush.

And what a view when we both reached the top. I was totally amazed at all the other mountains around Goat Fell. I never even knew about them. I was on top of the world.

There must have been about 10 other people up there too and I was tempted to ask “Is this where the secret meeting is?”.

We all shared the same feelings. We conquered Goat Fell with each and every one of us having a reason to do it.

So we sat for a wee while and ate our snack bars, whilst watching the others eating sandwiches and wishing we had brought a proper lunch with us too.

What goes up must come down, so we headed back. The path below looked so faraway and tiny!

If my memory serves me right, I think it took us about four hours to walk up and possibly three hours back down. Many people can walk this much quicker, we stopped a lot there and back.

So that was my challenge complete and it felt brilliant! It gave me a huge confidence boost and I was already thinking of what I could try next.

If I can do it, anyone can do it!

Thanks for reading.

Love, Dawn-Marie x

Other hikes up Goat Fell

Sometimes when a challenge is difficult the first time we say never again … this wasn’t the case with Goat Fell! To date I’ve been up six times and never tire of it.

Read about other hikes up Goat Fell