coast SHORT BREAK
The Isle of Arran’s main village basks between mountains and beach, radiating a seaside vibe that combines art, botany and wildlife, reveals EMILY ROSE MAWSON
PREVIOUS PAGE The Fisherman’s Walk is overlooked by Goatfell.
You’ll never forget the view as you sail into the port of Brodick. The Scottish Isle of Arran’s main village lies where the depths of the Firth of Clyde segue into a mile-long sandy crescent sheltered by pointy summits. They rear up from gentle folds of farmland, suddenly topping out on the pyramidal peak of Goat Fell at 2,867 feet, and are scythed open here and there by deep glens.
Tightly packed cottages and villas dating from the 1920s and ’30s line the south side of the bay, facing the red sandstone turrets of Brodick Castle that protrude from towering pine trees on the opposite shore.
Brodick is an hour’s ferry crossing from Ardrossan on the mainland, itself an hour from Glasgow, but this scenery is unexpected. As a result of the Highland Boundary Fault, which cuts the island in two, Arran is often dubbed ‘Scotland in miniature’. It has a mountainous Highlands-like top and an agricultural Lowlandslike bottom, with Brodick, a lively seaport, situated just about in the middle, along the narrow 55-mile road that encircles the island.
The village largely developed after the first pier was built in 1872 but the area has been settled for thousands of years. Nearby you’ll find evidence of Iron Age hill forts (including a very scenic one at Dun Fionn) and cup-and-ring marks carved into rocks (at Stronach Wood above the bay). But it was the Vikings who gave the place its name when they sailed their longships into the deep sheltered crescent in the 9thcentury and declared it Breda Vick (broad bay).
To soak it all in, I follow the Fisherman’s Walk Circuit, an easy 3½-miler that starts at the end of the promenade near the ‘wee’ Co-op. It starts on boardwalk that weaves across tidal plains beside the golf course towards Goat Fell. It’s delightful to watch the grey seals cavorting in the water, and cormorants and oystercatchers foraging the shoreline. They’re part of a crowd of local wildlife that also includes golden eagles and adders in the surrounding glens – both species that are protected by law as they are in decline elsewhere in Britain.
Soon, you pass the lane to Arran Heritage Museum – agood stop-off for anyone interested in the fascinating local history and geology. Its Geohub reveals why the island is a source of excitement among geologists near and far: there’s the achingly pretty North
