The Holy Isle, Ayrshire and Arran

It was our anniversary and I was excited to be visiting the Holy Isle today, a small island on the Firth of Clyde that is dedicated to world peace and health.

We were looking across to the island the day before when we walked up the Clauchland Hills and the Dun Fionn viewpoint. Now it was time to be standing on top of the Holy Isle, looking across to Dun Fionn, I hope!

We planned to visit three years ago so I could create video footage to compliment my Isle of Arran: Scotland in Miniature video tour (YouTube), then sailings across to the island were cancelled during the pandemic.

At last I booked a sailing with Lamlash Cruises, sailing at 2pm from Lamlash. It was £18 each for around four hours to explore the island, with the time starting from when we leave Lamlash Bay.

As well as exploring the island, I was keen to create a new video for my YouTube channel to make up for missing it the last time. It would be a lovely memento to keep for our anniversary.

I share short video clips often across my Instagram and TikTok channels, as does everyone these days, but I do like the challenge of creating a longer video that is hopefully unique and also recorded in landscape view rather than portrait.

We arrived at Lamlash early and walked around browsing the gift shops until it was time to go to the Harbour at 1.45pm.

We gathered at the Harbour with a group people who would also be sailing with us. The boat arrived back from the island and the gentleman called Grant came to meet and greet us.

He talked about the walks we could do. There was the circular hike to the top, down the other side via a steep decline where care was needed, then along the coastline back to the start where the boat would pick us up. The estimated time to get back for the boat was an hour up, an hour down the other side and an hour along the coast. This was the walk I was keen to try.

Or we could stay on ground level and take a more leisurely walk along the coast to the Pillar Rock Lighthouse and back again.

We boarded the boat and we were off. It was going to be a short 15 minute sailing.

When we arrived on the island, we all gathered around the information sign outside The Centre for World Peace and Health, where retreat and course programmes are hosted. These are for members of the public of all faiths or even none at all, as long as the Holy Isle: Five Golden Rules are followed.

Our guide then chatted about the island, its history, and where we were allowed to explore. It was important to respect the privacy of the people living here and the guests who were on retreat courses.

The information sign marked out the walking routes and where we could walk.

As our time started at Lamlash and the talk when we arrived, we had around three and a half hours to complete the circular hiking route. I was keen to start as I know I’m slower than most.

We were following the route to the top of Mulloch Mor, 1.7 km/1 mile, the highest peak on the island. It wasn’t a long distance compared to the 8 km/5 miles we walked yesterday.

A group of lovely golfing people a little bit older than us were hiking the full circuit too, so we started following them. They were fast and way ahead of us so quickly!

Alan was ahead of me as well. Yes, I was quickly stopping to take a photo or video clip then I tried to catch up.

I could tell straight away that I was struggling today… the tight shooting pains up the back of my calves were constant and not easing off anytime soon. This sometimes happens as I need a slow warm up, then it goes away eventually, not this time. I remember this well when I used do running years ago.

I’d started off too quickly trying to keep up with everyone as I was aware of our limited time. Most people will manage this hike in the time given, it’s probably just me being slower than I used to be.

Walking through the trees was like being in a greenhouse as it was so hot today. I felt sick, I almost was. I stopped to take a sip of water in case I was dehydrated. I was feeling stressed.

When we were out of the tree line there was a slight breeze so this helped a little and the higher we got the better the view across to the Isle of Arran.

I quickly turned round, looked, snapped a quick photo and plodded on. Look at the small patch of purple heather. I never even noticed it when I was standing there. The purple heather will be so pretty here soon.

Alan stopped at times to wait for the slow coach, and I was beginning to feel disappointed in myself that I was lagging behind so much today.

He reminded me I had salt and vinegar crisps in my bag from yesterday. I wasn’t hungry but I ate a couple thinking I might need the salt. I eventually started to feel a bit better, yay!

As we got higher the views really started opening up and I could see the jetty where the boat dropped us off. I really wouldn’t like to be late and running for the boat from here.

The view to the south was just as amazing. You can just make out the private Buddhist retreat at the lighthouse below and views to Arran and Ailsa Craig.

We reached the top of the first hill, Mullach Beag, phew! The golfers were specks in the distance and had already reached the top of Mullach Mor.

We came to the decision that we wouldn’t make it to the top in an hour or be able to walk the full circuit. Alan might have, I wouldn’t today. We would keep going to the top though as we’d come this far and walk back down the way we came up so we wouldn’t miss the boat back to Lamlash.

We would miss all the interesting parts of the island such as the Pillar Rock Lighthouse, the cave where the early Christian Saint Molaise lived, rock paintings and the wild Eriskay ponies. I was hopeful to see the ponies. We would need to come back another time on a day trip and see the rest of the island.

We stopped on Mullach Beag for a short time and I felt more relaxed to enjoy the views around me. It was breathtaking, literally, to be standing there looking across to the Isle of Arran.

We both relaxed knowing we didn’t need to rush now. I really don’t like rushing a walk, I want to enjoy it at my own pace and take in the beauty around me. I think this is what you also call slow travel, experience the places you visit, soak it all in.

To reach the top of the island would be a great achievement for me I thought. Think of the positive 😀.

It was calming to walk on a flatter path for a little while, and my legs were not sore now. Then it was down the other side of Mullach Beag and the last stretch up to Mullach Mor.

There was a section here near the top that was a very narrow path with high drops and some scrambling, so I took it slowly as balance was everything. The last thing I needed was twisting my ankle or something worse.

We made it! I was relieved and happy as we could also spend a short amount of time here.

I was now looking across to Dun Fionn, the small bump on the far right above the yellow fields where we hiked yesterday. How amazing is that!

We took some photos and enjoyed just being there. I also felt so lucky that it was a beautiful clear day for us and much cooler at the top.

This was me taking a photo of Alan standing at the trig point and he was taking a photo of me.

We couldn’t see much of the Ayrshire coast on the mainland. I carefully peeked over the edge, yikes, it was a sheer drop. The ocean was looking so beautifully blue.

In the next photo this would have been the path we followed to hike down the other side if we were walking the circular route. The views would have been stunning this way as well. Maybe another day.

It was farewell to Mullach Mor. Thank you, it has been a pleasure enjoying your natural beauty in the glorious sunshine.

We made our way back down the way we came up. It looked quite steep going down actually, so there was a bit of shuffling down on the bottom lol.

Where did this beautiful white cotton come from I thought! Another area I didn’t even notice on the way up.

We could just make out white ponies grazing far away in the distance below, in the eastern conservation area. I was wishing I could see them close up. It’s just luck if you see them I suppose.

We did meet a Soay sheep enjoying the grass, my first time seeing a brown coloured sheep.

When we reached ground level again we had about fifteen minutes before the boat arrived, so I wandered around the rocky shore.

The amazing golfers arrived back and seemed to love their circular walk. They saw ponies and a pod of dolphins too! One lady said it would have been good to have an extra twenty minutes to sit longer and enjoy their lunch.

I think if we had an extra hour we might have made it. According to my Garmin it took us one hour and forty minutes to reach the top, including stops. Total distance up and down was 5.5km/3.42 miles.

The signpost at the beginning of the walk said it was 1.7km to the top of Mullach Mor though, so this doesn’t add up.

We boarded the boat and sailed back to Lamlash. We were hoping there might be spaces to sail again the next day but sadly it was fully booked.

We were tired and didn’t feel like cooking, so since it was our anniversary we went to the Shanghai Chinese Takeaway in Brodick and ate our meal in our cosy pod.

We enjoyed yet another beautiful Balmichael sunset to finish this adventurous day.

The next day we were going to walk to the Fairy Dell in Lochranza and possibly a detour along the coastline to try and find Ossian’s Cave.

If you are thinking of visiting the Isle of Arran where we sailed from to reach the Holy Isle, have a look at my other Isle of Arran stories for more inspiration.

Thanks for reading!

Love, Dawn-Marie x

Holy Isle video on YouTube