UKC

Heading to the Isle of Arran for a couple of days climbing, looking for some advice:

1. Taking my camper van over is it worth it, or just walk leaving my van at the ferry port?.
2. Looking to camp nr Brodick or would it be better at sannox, do i need to book either.
3. Whats the best route in for SW slabs and how long is the walking.

cheers for any advice.

In reply to jon59:

You can walk or just get the bus to most places mate,save money on taking camper. Theres a campsite at the foot of Glen Rosa. Theres a wee ruin in Glen Sannox thats good for wild camping about 5 mins from the bus stop. Walking in from Glen Rosa is best access for SW, good track, about 90 mins maybe from road end.

Cheers

In reply to jon59:
I'd take a tent and wild camp near bridge at bend in Glen Rosa. If you had bikes, you can cycle to this point in 25mins, walk to Rosa Pinnacle in under 2hrs. Then you could return to brodick at dinner time, if your means of cooking was in camper van!

Bikes are free on ferry, only pay as foot passenger £11.60

Stuart

In reply to jon59:

I would consider the camper van at this time of year if there's not much wind. The midges there at this time of year are unbearable. Don't expect any respite up on Cir Mhor if its still.
There's a bunkhouse at corrie and the Corrie hotel has some interesting old climbing pics (80s)on the pub walls.

Rosa for walk in but consider Sannox for walk out. Its very scenic and takes you through the heart of the mountains. You can grab a pint in the bear garden besided the sea while waiting on the bus back to Brodick. (given no midges)

In reply to jon59:

Many Thanks for all the information, all I need now is the weather!

In reply to jon59:

I've camped in the pay per pitch campsite in Glen Rosa. I don't rate it. It's ned infested in good weather and the facilities are poor.
Camping at low level in Arran at this time of year will depend on a good breeze to blow midges and clegs away.
My favourite option is to bivi up at a nice grassy area just West of the summit of Cir Mhor. Up there you have the least chance of being midged as there should be a breeze most of the time. The walk in to Cir Mhor is about 2.5 hours up Glen Rosa.
Don't bother taking your van over. It's fairly expensive for such a short trip. Enjoy- the Rosa Pinnacle is absolutely superb.

In reply to fmck:


Sounds exciting.

In reply to nw:

Maybe thinking about Saltcoats rather than Corrie?

In reply to Colin Moody:
Ah revisited and seen. Rest assured nae bears on Arran only beer. I would say A dross town where you get the ferry is far worse than Saltcoats all the same. Oops flamin spell check again. He he!
Agreed camp site in Glen Rosa must be in the top ten of worst in Scotland. I had to once evict the sheep from the toilet to get in and get cleaned standing in sh#te. Do not go there.

In reply to jon59:

Thanks for all the replies to the original post, for completeness I visited this weekend arriving by ferry on friday evening with a MTB (£11.35 for a 5 day very return).

We mountain biked into Glen Rosa as far as the bridge where we left out bikes locked and hidden and walked 90mins to the base of Cir Mhor south face. The initial part of the path up to Cir Mhor from the main path is hard to follow at present, we bivvied next to a large obvious rock with a lovely flat grassy area next to it at the bottom of the cliff. The midges on the way in were horrible but at our bivvie location we had no issues for the two days. We went to climb the South ridge which was quickly abandoned due to a running torrent down it, change objectives and climbed SW Slabs and Labyrinth the later being very poor. Headed back on Sunday picked the bikes up and took a look at the campsite which was as described in the posts very poor. Great weekend and I will be returning for the south ridge as it looks amazing.

In reply to jon59:


No it's not! It's just old fashioned. Of its type it's a classic but perhaps not worthy of its inclusion in classic rock. Caliban's is probably more to modern tastes at the same grade although there isn't that much actual climbing on it.

In reply to jon59:

"...and climbed SW Slabs and Labyrinth the later being very poor..."

You must have been on a different route...

In reply to jon59:

Nope 100% on the right route but only my opinion, others may love it..i just didn't.