Boarding CalMac’s swish new Glen Sannox (yes, she is finally here) I am in one of my happy places. As a travel writer I’ve been to over 100 countries and Arran remains not just my favourite island in Scotland, but anywhere. I’m back down with my family for what must be at least my 50th trip in search of wonders old and new, so take a seat as we slip our lines in search of adventure on Arran.
Scotland’s seventh largest island is hidden in plain sight for many visitors from outside Scotland and even for some Scots. It is so much closer than the wilds of the Outer Hebrides or over-the-horizon Northern Isles. Maybe that is why some foolish people ignore what is the pride of the Clyde. To be fair because you can get there really quickly and you can see it from the western extremities of the Central Belt some people feel they need to traipse further for adventure. That could not be further from the glorious truth.
You see on Arran there is something new every time I go. I don’t even need to check, just go and it will unfurl ahead. This time within minutes of arriving I’m stripping off in the early spring morning chill right down to my swimmers in Whiting Bay. Why? I’m going for a swim in the sea, of course. Just swimming. Note straight-talking true Arranachs don’t use the necessary ‘wild’ prefix. I’m slightly cheating as I warm up beforehand in the Stonesthrow Sauna. This brilliant new venture brings a mobile sauna to various parts of Arran’s coast. We have exclusive use of this wood-clad wonder (with its big windows gazing out to the water) and it’s massive fun dipping and warming up, then dipping and warming up again.
I’m buzzing after this bracing, circulation-boasting adrenaline rush. I practically bounce along to meet Zoe, the close-to-nature free spirit who has set up Wild Food Arran. She offers foraging adventures across the island. I’m always doubtful about foraging alone in case I instantly poison myself with an ill-advised leaf. She soon has me munching away on leaves and shoots, showing me a forest is also a natural supermarket. Zoe tells me of the days when mainlanders used to flock across with baskets to pick their wild food bounty on an island that is a source of nourishing plenty in so many ways.
I’m nourished with aplomb just to the north in Lamlash at the Drift Inn. Over the years I’ve watched the Drift rise leviathan-like from the edge of Lamlash Bay, from simple pub complete with a McEwan’s sign, to the foodie oasis it is today. The main bar space has been augmented by a glazed extension that brings the outside in. There is a beer garden too that gets closer to the Buddhist fulcrum of Holy Isle every time I come. The food is the sort of delight to have meditating monks breaking fasts. I tuck into pan-seared scallops and equally delicious beer battered langoustines. Washed down, of course, with a hoppy Arran Blonde ale.
Next up on the foodie front is the Corrie Hotel. I love what the new owners – a brace of Manhattanites who swapped the Hudson for the Clyde in 2022 and have never looked back. They have elevated the food from simple pub grub and sourced meats from the brilliant Bellevue Farm over in the Shiskine Valley. They have reborn the Corrie as a boutique hotel: more Shoreditch than Shiskine. Their latest project is fashioning a new seal from granite to replace the famous wooden one that used to sit on rocks outside the hotel, the latter now in retirement in the hotel foyer.
I’m impressed too by the Ormidale Hotel in Brodick, which I used to come to as a kid with my parents. Family-owned for 70 years by the Gilmores, this friendly fulcrum offers the sort of hearty pub grub I miss in today’s homogeneous microwave pinging chain pubs. Our Arran-shaped wooden table boasts sweeping views up to Goatfell and you stay over too. The scampi and chips, followed by a proper apple crumble, hit the tasty and comforting spot. They have lush gardens too and a great location in Brodick.
It's not just the new that delivers on this latest Arran extravaganza. Arran offers so much it’s just impossible to take it all in. Criminally I’ve never been to the Doctor’s Bath. It’s very near to the Corrie Hotel so I remedy that, easing down to the large tidal saltwater ‘bath’ where the good doctor’s patients sought remedies to their maladies. You can still see the steps down into it cut into the rock. As there is no sauna on hand I eschew a dip, but you can enjoy nature’s medicine for free if you like.
Next up in the old new sights is, er, unconventional. Not one for convention 18th-century Scottish geologist James Hutton came to Arran on his quest to unearth the earth’s secret. The moniker Hutton's Unconformity is given to the spot you find on the trail from Lochranza where the junction between two types of rock – forged at different periods in time - can easily be discerned. He used it to prove his Plutonist theories about the age of the earth and its ongoing formation.
It's not just Hutton that draws geologists to Arran. ‘Scotland in Miniature’ really is a geologist’s dream with an incredible variety of nature’s wonders to appreciate. Arran’s unique geology has created diverse flora and fauna, which in turn drew mankind here thousands of years ago. Arran has been a defacto Geopark for years and hopefully we’ll hear soon about whether the application for UNESCO Geopark status has been successful. To me it’s a no brainer. If it’s granted expect more people to get in on the secret of Arran’s remarkable geology, so it’s a good idea to get in before everyone goes Hutton daft.
All too soon – as always with Arran – it’s time to leave this glorious, life-affirming, spirit-soaring isle. I vow to be back, as I always will as long as I breath this world’s air, knowing that there will be more joys. Some will be impressively new, others will be another joy hauled from the rich treasure trove that Arran is always capable of delving into and conjuring up gems from on every visit.