Isle of Arran: Ossian’s Cave, Lochranza

After our most magical walk to the Fairy Dell, instead of walking back to Lochranza we took a detour to find Ossian’s Cave.

Even though I felt a little tired and this would become a longer walk, I knew I would regret not looking for the cave. It might be a year or longer before we return to the island again.

We found caves along this coastline on earlier visits, but we don’t think they were Ossian’s Cave. After researching online I found the correct coordinates for the cave, so I was hopeful this time it would be easier to find.

We turned right and followed the amazing Arran Coastal Way towards the Cock of Arran.

The Arran coastline is so unique! The whole island is a geological treasure with ever-changing rock formations creating the most beautiful scenery. Of course it can look different in heavy rain which we have experienced too, but on a sunny colourful day like this its natural beauty makes me feel happy and calm. Happy days 😀

I was enjoying walking along quite merrily on an easier grassy path, then down I went. I don’t know how it happened. One second I was walking, then I was lying on the ground… I was embarrassed with myself, thankfully only Alan saw what happened!

Luckily my walking pole took the impact of the fall and was now looking very crooked and bent out of shape. Alan managed to bend it back into place without breaking it and I thanked my pole for saving me!

I’d walked safely on more dangerous terrain this week, then I fell on a path that was easy to walk on … why I wondered? After walking a short distance I seemed to be okay, just a slight pain in my left ankle that didn’t get worse thankfully.

We reached the An Scriodan boulder section of the coastal path. The tide was high so this was the only route.

The Arran Geopark map and leaflet for the North Arran self-guided walk says the boulders fell from the cliffs above as a huge rockfall in the eighteenth century. The noise was reportedly heard on the Isle of Bute and on the mainland. Wow, that was a powerful avalanche of huge boulders!

Look at the size of this one that fell and rolled to its new home.

As the high route is a bit of a scramble, my head was down and concentrating on where to step. I didn’t want to fall on this rocky terrain. Six years ago I managed this route fine in wet weather, but I am finding that as the years go by challenges like this seem to be more difficult. My silly fall ten minutes earlier confirmed that.

I was relieved when we finally reached flat ground and I could look around at the wonderful scenery again. As I looked up at the high cliffs they were covered in vegetation looking like a Jurassic landscape.

Millions of years ago this land would have been home to dinosaurs as there’s evidence of footprints across the island’s coastline. We’ve only found the Chirotherium footprint so far, which is listed in Arran Geopark’s King’s Cave and Drumadoon walk.

The Arran Geopark website has an amazing video telling the big story of the Arran landscape and its past. It’s well worth a watch!

It was a short walk through the avenue of fern before we reached the Cock of Arran.

The name Cock of Arran seemingly comes from the rocky cliffs that resembled the silhouette of a cockerel from the sea. A huge boulder, which was possibly the head, now lies on the coastal path.

I was looking at old Arran maps on the National Library for Scotland website and from what I can see, the name ‘Cock of Arran’ seems to stand out quite prominently from the rest of the writing.

If you are viewing the maps on a mobile device, they might take longer to load and focus. You also need to zoom in to see the writing. Viewing on a larger screen is best.

This 1560 map of Arran (National Library of Scotland) is so beautiful with reference to the “Cock of Arren” all those years ago.

This 1732 map of Arran (National Library of Scotland) made me laugh out loud. There’s large writing at the south of island saying “Here is Plenty of Cod”. Advertising of its time for the fishermen!

Look at that sandstone! I always think it looks like the Grand Canyon in miniature. I’d love to see the real Grand Canyon with my own eyes, but I can’t see that happening. I’ll need to make do with the mini one.

We met a guy earlier who was also walking the same direction looking for Ossian’s cave. He was sitting on the red sandstone at the Cock of Arran and we walked over to say hello. His name was David and we chatted a bit about our holiday and walks on Arran. As we had the coordinates to find the cave we said to follow us.

So now we were three and continued walking along the coast. I was lagging behind as usual, gazing up at the sandstone rocks within the hill wondering if there were caves inside these rocky cliffs.

I caught up with Alan and David and it looked like we had arrived. I was excited!

The three of us climbed up into the opening of the sea cave. Tap or click to see larger gallery photos of the entrance and carving.

At the entrance on the right wall there was an amazing carving of a sailing ship that is thought to date back to the eighteenth century as recorded on Canmore: Arran, Ossian’s Cave. I knew we were in the right place when I saw this.

It’s always difficult to know what’s authentic and what’s graffiti, but the fact that Canmore have a record of this makes it legit.

We walked in further and needed to crouch down to clamber up and over sandstone rocks. It was then narrower and a short scramble took us further up into the back of the cave. As far as caves go it was small and not very deep, but it had height where we could stand up. The ground was uneven so care was needed.

It was dark of course and we couldn’t see much by eye, so my phone torch helped and Alan shone his head torch. I was wishing we’d thought to bring a more powerful torch though!

It was difficult to see what we were taking photos of, so it was all very random hoping to capture something unusual or find more cave carvings.

When I looked back at the photos and video footage later, I was in awe of the sparkles in the cave that lit up with the flash on my phone camera. It looks like quartz on the red sandstone and I think efflorescence (salt) coming through as well.

“I wonder how many spiders there are?” I asked out loud. There was no reply as Alan and David were chatting about cave carvings and how there was always initials and dates engraved as well.

Later, when I looked more closely at the photo below, when you zoom in there’s four spiders on the cave ceiling … yikes! I’m not scared of spiders, but the thought of one landing on me gives me the shivers.

You can also see the beginnings of stalactites developing on the cave ceiling. They are small, but I hope they get a chance to develop into long icicle shapes. They are of similar size to the stalactites we saw in Culzean Castle’s caves, where I first learned about how to look for them.

I could see an area that went deeper but when I carefully stepped down it was a very narrow gap that I wouldn’t be trying to explore. This is where a powerful torch would have been useful to look further.

I didn’t want to stay inside the unknown for too long though. The sandstone was dusty and I was concerned about possibly breathing it in. When I was recording, you could also see what looked like smoke in the air, but Alan said it was us breathing. It looked very ghostly! You can see this in my Instagram video at the end of this post.

I wondered if over time rockfall created cave infill and it was possibly an open and larger cave in the past. There was the rockfall landslide at An Scriodan in the eighteenth century, so it is possible. The fact that the cave is named as ‘Ossian’ with wall carvings makes me think it must have been habitable and important to name it.

We made our way back out. The first photo on the left below shows the way out and the second photo is Alan climbing down the rocks from opposite direction. It’s only a few steps to get back to the entrance and find daylight again.

We said cheerio to David and wished him well on the rest of his holiday. This was his first time visiting the island and he was planning to visit the King’s Cave too. It’s a larger sea cave at Blackwaterfoot and much easier to explore. I hope he enjoyed it.

Even though we were only inside a short time, it was a strange feeling moving from dark to light.

I really loved seeing inside the cave. I was later imaging I was Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, venturing into the dangerous unknown looking for historical treasures and hidden history.

As I write this I want to return and spend more time here. I say this about many places I visit, which I suppose is a good thing and shows that I am immersed in my surroundings and always wanting to explore more.

Looking at the photo below also makes me wonder about the inside size of the cave in the past.

I also wondered where the name Ossian’s Cave originated from.

This name appears across Scotland in a few places. I know of Ossian’s cave at Glencoe and Ossian’s cave at the Hermitage in Dunkeld. There’s also Loch Ossian.

Wikipedia has a lot of information that would take me a while to read and understand, so here is a short snippet and a link to the source if you would like to know more.

Ossian is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as Fingal (1761) and Temora (1763), and later combined under the title The Poems of Ossian.

Wikipedia: Ossian

Interestingly, I also found historical information by Charles Currie on the Voice for Arran website about about Malvina’s grave, and someone by the name of Ossian who lived on the island. Unfortunately the link to the webpage is broken so the story must have been removed.

It was time to start walking back to Lochranza and tackle the An Scriodan boulders again. They seemed to go on forever and I was glad we got through safely. I love boulder hopping, but I think being tired and wobbly doesn’t help.

I was looking forward to food and a glass of wine or two. The full walk today including the Fairy Dell was 10.77 km/6.7 miles.

We reached the car park at Lochranza and drove to the Brodick Co-op to buy our dinner. We opted for Cornish pasties that we could heat up in the microwave in our pod, and a cheeky bottle of wine.

The next day it was time to go home and I was feeling sad. I really wanted to stay at the beautiful Balmichael Glamping for longer. Farewell lovely Balmichael and thanks to Tom and Emma for the chats and the tour of the amazing Safari Tents! I’d love to stay there sometime as well, but I do love the cosy pod too.

The past four days were full on with walks and we were both feeling it. I was thinking a week would have been better so we could have chill days in between. I am hoping we can stay on the island for longer next year.

On the way to Brodick we stopped off at the Sandwich Station in Lochranza as they make the most amazing sandwiches that are more of a meal than a sandwich. Our breakfast and lunch was sorted.

We arrived in Brodick and browsed the shops until it was time for the ferry home.

As I was writing this blog, I found out that we actually did find Ossian’s Cave in 2017 when we walked the Arran Coastal Way! I was looking back at the photos of the cave we found and it’s the same one.

We didn’t know in 2017 to look for the ship carving and chamber at the back. It looked like an alcove type cave with a dead end. We’d quickly looked and moved on as it was raining heavily and we still had a long way to walk to Lochranza.

We wouldn’t have had time to explore it the way we did this year though, so I’m glad we returned to find the sea cave of sparkles and spiders.

If you are thinking of visiting the Isle of Arran, have a look at my other Isle of Arran stories for more inspiration.

The Isle of Arran is a magical island in my eyes, it surprises me every time I visit.

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my 2023 visit to the island.

Love, Dawn-Marie x

Video of Ossian’s Cave

I only managed to record a small amount of wobbly footage and put together a short video on my Instagram account.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dawn-Marie | 📍Ayrshire (@loveexploringscotland)