Walking on Arran: Coire Fhionn Lochan

Here I am, back visiting my favourite island again, the Isle of Arran. This time it was to explore a new walk! I love finding somewhere new and walking into unknown land. We sailed across the Firth of Clyde from Ardrossan on the smaller ferry, Calmac’s Isle of Arran. Yet again we had a nice breakfast to start our day.

It was a choppy sailing and a tad breezy on deck. I always like to take photos on the ferry, sometimes you can capture the most amazing skies.

The larger ferry, Caledonian Isles, passed us and looked fabulous with Ailsa Craig behind it.

We watched it disappear into the distance with these amazing clouds around it.

To the lochan

Our plan was to drive to the northwest of the island to mid Thundergay (also known as Thunderguy) near Pirnmill. I had read and heard about a beautiful loch up in the hills called Coire Fhionn Lochan. I think you pronounce this as ‘Corrie in Lochan’. There’s limited parking right across road from the start of the walk. If you don’t have a car you can take a bus and ask the driver to let you off at Thunderguy.

The hike

The walk is a two mile uphill hike so this was a wee fitness challenge for my daughter to see if she could do it. Enjoy some photos of this beautiful walk.

This hike was two miles of pure loveliness! It felt a bit like hiking up Goat Fell with a steep start, flatish middle section and steep rocky steps near the end. It would be a great first time test of your hiking ability before trying Goat Fell which is a three and a half mile hike. The fluffy white bog cotton that we seen on our last trip to Arran in June was still around but starting to wither slightly. It was time for the purple heather to take over in colour and how pretty it is.

Waterfalls

Crystal clear waterfalls complimented our walk most of the way.  The burn called Uisge Soluis Mhoir runs down the mountainside straight from the loch and out into the open sea.

There was quite a few other people walking up to the loch. The little speck in distance at the top is my daughter, she was away ahead of us!

I had an idea of what the loch was like in my mind as other explorers had told me about it and I seen photos of it. It did not disappoint.

The lochan

When we reached the top, the loch just appeared. Nestled amongst the mountains with beautiful white gravel beaches scattered around it. This was the most beautiful loch I’d ever seen on Arran. We made our way round to the far away beach as the closest one in the photo below was enjoying the company of another family. The kids all seemed to be having fun.

The other lochan beach

The other beach was empty so we sat and ate our lunch enjoying the peace and quiet. My daughter had a little paddle but the water was so cold.

My daughter also practised her video skills and filmed the water moving in slow motion. There’s no tide of course but the wind was blowing the water in our direction making mini waves.

Views from above

Alan walked further up the hill and captured a photo of us sitting on the beach.

I also walked higher up the mountain to look at the views. I really wanted to walk round the ridges but I wasn’t sure how long it would take. I’ll keep that adventure for another day.

The higher I got the better the views!

When the cloud cleared I could see across to the Mull of Kintyre and the Isle of Jura.

Alan took photos of me from below. You can just make out my silhouette! Or maybe I look like a rock?

This is a mother and daughter photo with a difference. I’m on the hill and my daughter is on the beach below, looking a bit fed up. The gull looks happy though.

I would’ve stayed longer but my daughter was ready to go. She did really well and I was proud of her. Maybe hiking Goat Fell with my children is possible after all. We headed back down the hill.

Back again

Another beach

After the hike we explored the rocky beach where we’d parked. It was so pretty with views across to the Mull of Kintyre and I loved the different colours of brown, grey and green. We looked for some nice rocks and my daughter even found small pieces of sea glass. We drove back to Brodick and managed to get on an earlier ferry, even though I had booked a later one.

This was another great day on the Isle of Arran. We hope to wild camp at the lochan one day, it’s a great spot to do this.

Watch my videos on YouTube

Isle of Arran: Scotland in miniature in poetry

Thanks for reading.

Love Dawn-Marie x