Circuit of Arran on the bike

5 am on a Friday and I was up, cramming porridge down my gub and grabbing kit for my big cycling escapade. The dog looked up quizzically from his basket and then curled back to sleep. Far too early for him...

Circuit of Arran

At the start of Summer I got a PB in the Glasgow Men's Health 10k race. Unfortunately, any chance of road running stardom was curtailed by injuries that were still lingering a few weeks afterwards. So I hung up the trainers, dug my old mountain bike out the garage and  started cycling to and from work in a bid to keep the pies at bay. I soon fancied the target of cycling round Arran (55 miles)- once I was fit enough.

So this was the big day. I left the house in the pitch dark and cycled hard for the 20 miles from Kilbarchan to Ardrossan, aiming to catch the 7am ferry. I was aboard my latest acquisition- a second hand Specialized Allez roadbike. It really flew down the road compared to the old clunky mtb. Aye, the roadbike flies but Scotland's second National sport (after drinking) is smashing empty bottles. In the first few dark miles I heard a crunch as I ran over the remnants of somebody's cycle path bevvy session. Thankfully, the dreaded hiss never came and I managed to whip it to Kilbirnie, belt it over the hills of Dalry and got the ferry with just 10 minutes to spare. A puncture would have scuppered my plans.

Arran's Beinn Nuis in Winter

Arran is stunning. It has fantastic jagged granite peaks, rolling hills and beaches. As the old cliche goes, it really is 'Scotland in miniature'. The Cal Mac ferry crossing takes less than an hour. £11 gets you a return ticket with a bike- which is pretty good value.

The internet consensus says the best way is to go clockwise from the ferry and tackle the very hilly South end of the island first. After that, the prevailing South Westerly winds should help in the long flat haul up the West Coast to Lochranza where one final, killer hill is the last hurdle before success.

Profile of hills on circuit

I set off from the Co-Op in Brodick carrying 2 litres of juice in my drinks bladder thingy and a 5 pack of Chunky Kit Kats. The first hill starts immediately. It's a steady 1 miler on a good road surface leading up to a viewpoint, giving a brilliant panorama of the granite peaks North of Brodick.

Rosa Pinnacle of Cir Mhor

A flat out, careering descent then leads down the into the picture postcard village of Lamlash (with views to the Holy Isle just offshore). I was aiming to catch the 13.50 ferry back to Ardrossan so I was unable to stop to enjoy any of the sights.
I pushed on over the next roller coaster climb and flat out descent into Whiting Bay. After that the ups and downs of the South End get more difficult and the good road surfaces of the previous sections are notable by their absence. It seems like the roadworks dept ran out of dynamite after Whiting Bay. The road jinks about, up and down over every wee hummock and round some turns that are very tight- even on a bike...

After a series of tricky corners a sudden monsoon forced me to shelter under a tree at Lagg. I narrowly avoided crashing entering the difficult hairpins and waited 15 minutes or so for the downpour to cease. But it didnae. I boarded the bike and set off soaked and seething at the Met Office's incompetence. Up and down the road continued until I had a wee spill somewhere near Sliddery. This was quite appropriate, as the rain had made the road very sliddery. A warning sign of a tight left hander flashed past and I skidded straight on, my wet brakes no match for the job- luckily no buses were in the way. I was making a beeline for a dry stane dyke but stopped short up a wee grass bank. I couldn't clip out the SPDs and in classic style cowped back over onto the wet tarmac, grazing my elbow a bit. I didn't cry.

Approaching Blackwaterfoot

After that I continued on to Blackwaterfoot where I bought some more juice and ate a couple of Kit Kats. Then it was off up the flat haul of the West Coast. Ironically, this is quite an enjoyable section after the difficulties of the South End. With the tailwind it's possible to make fast progress, and soon I was heading into Lochranza where my puncture luck disappeared. A shard of sharp green glass did for my back tyre. It's a nice spot to get a flat though.

Puncture at Lochranza

Tyre eventually re-inflated, I checked the watch and realised I was going to have to boot it. Leaving Lochranza the challenge of the final ascent is obvious and daunting. It's the biggest hill in the circuit and the hardest. I ground away at my granny gear until the summit eventually came- with views to the mainland and the North- West view of Arran's granite peaks. I could see the ferry nearing the shore from up here. The descent from the summit to Sannox was fast and required concentration. After that it was head down and just grind it out past Corrie back to Brodick.

I reached the ferry with 10 minutes to spare. The circuit had taken 5 hours and 15 minutes. I'd cycled reasonably hard overall, but lost quite a lot of time with waiting on the rain to stop at Lagg, the fuelling up at Blackwaterfoot and a lengthy puncture mending session at Lochranza (tube trouble). Without those stops 4 and half would have been more like it. I've seen internet claims of 3 and a half which I'm sure are possible if you have the legs and are motivated.

It's a great circuit. Go do it!

Beating the Pies, and the A'Chir Ridge

Been back in Scotland for 2 months. Unemployment has been good so far. The fact that it hasn't rained much since we got back has been a great way to break us back into life back home.

Since I've not been working there's been plenty of time to dedicate to get a routine of running and training for climbing going. The targets are- drop 2 stone to get back to my fighting weight and get the fitness up big- style for climbing.
I'm running three times a week (25 miles on average) at the moment- which is the most I've ever run in my life. Despite the running schedule and almost complete abstinence from beer the Pies are proving very resistant to eviction. I ran 99 miles in May but I've only lost a measly 2lb!

Beastmaker 1000 with Argos stopwatch

Having spent the last four years in Bermuda climbing short, steep juggy routes I'm struggling with two of my big weaknesses. It's the old troublemakers- finger strength and stamina. I've been going to Ibrox recently with Erick and it's apparent that overhanging F6c is at my limit at the moment. The moves aren't desperate but I'm boxed clipping the lower- off.

I've got a Beastmaker 1000 set up on a plank of wood screwed into the hall cupboard doorway and I've been using it if I'm not going to the wall or bouldering. I've seen the threads on UKBouldering where people post about feats of strength on their boards. Good on them for getting that strong but the 'Beasts' can all relax because there's no danger I'm going to be threatening their achievements any time soon. I'm starting to see some slight improvement using my 'beginner's' 1000 series board. It's a great bit of kit, but I'm taking it very slowly dues to a combination of being too weak to do anything hard and not wanting to get injured. I've never finger boarded until this year and I really don't want it to end in tears.

One thing I am very pleased with is that I am now properly going for it at the wall and taking falls, where before I would have shouted 'take' or down- climbed. Fear of falling off was and is quite a handicap for me, but I'm finding it's less stressful to just take the lob- and I'm wishing I'd started doing it years ago....

Beinn a'Chliabhainn, Brodick and the Holy Isle- from an easy bit on the A'Chir Ridge

Recently, me and my wife went over to Arran and did the A'Chir Ridge  during the heatwave we had in May.
I've done the Ridge a few times over the years. Coming back to it again with a non- climber was a bit of an eye- opener.

On my first traverse around 20 years ago I remember being gripped scrambling up the 'Mauvais Pas' crux- a 'bad step' involving a steep and very exposed wall above the Fionn Choire. The fact I was carrying a 60 litre sac with full camping and climbing gear didn't help much. Mistakes were not an option- thankfully none were made. Once atop the crest I was glad that the difficulty relented a bit after that initial excitement. On a subsequent traverse I had nothing more to carry than a water bottle and a windproof top but the bad step still required my full attention.

My wife had cruised the Aonach Eagach and Curved Ridge before so I expected the A'Chir wouldn't be that much trouble for her either.  However, my memories of only one point of real difficulty at the 'Mauvais Pas' turned out a wee bit rose- tinted. After last week's traverse I'm now convinced that the A'Chir is a big step up from the mainland scrambling magnets mentioned above. It's much harder, the route finding can be tricky, it's very exposed and consequently it's much more serious undertaking.

I had taken the precaution of carrying a short rope and a few bits of gear for occasional belays if needed. Luckily, I did because if we hadn't taken the rope we would have had to abandon the traverse for safety's sake. In the passage of time I'd forgotten how slabby and almost completely lacking in jugs it all was. Wearing road running shoes, Julie was not finding it easy to trust friction on the granite and there were a good few moments of stress before she gained confidence in her feet. Over the course of the Ridge her confidence improved though as she discovered the 'joys' of thrutchy body wedging and bridging that are required for many of the downclimbing sections.

We used the rope a lot overall and it was a good decision to take it. My memories of the 'Mauvais Pas' remained true. The fixed tat and pegs seen at this point are quite welcome sights, reassuring you that you are on route, providing security and also giving the sense that you are not alone in feeling the exposure here.

The Rosa Pinnacle of Cir Mhor

One of our options we'd discussed for the day had been the four star classic Sou' Wester Slabs (V. Diff) on Cir Mhor. Julie hasn't done a lot of rock climbing but the stuff she has done has been of equal difficulty. I offered her the choice and she decided against the V. Diff reasoning that she that hadn't climbed in a long time. Ironically, I reckon she'd have cruised Sou' Wester Slabs in rock shoes! I don't think there's much gap in difficulty between the routes. The fact that there's no thrutchy, exposed down- climbing on Sou' Wester Slabs would probably make it a far more pleasant excursion for someone who isn't a regular climber...

Still, we had a great day out on the A'Chir. You can't beat Arran in sunny conditions like this. The only casualties of the day were Julie's H & M leggings which had not proven thrutch- proof. They were pretty trashed by the end. We were both sunburnt to a crisp (we didn't take suncream because we thought we were used to the sun from Bermuda! Ooops) but no long term damage was sustained. Hill days in Arran tend to be big days in my experience and this one turned out to be around 10 hours long. We were tired from our exertions but thirst and hunger spurred us into a record breaking descent down Glen Rosa- all that jogging paying off at last!

Walking back down Glen Rosa