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Walks
on Arran.

It’s 21:44 on Arran.
Isle of Arran

The coast path and North Glen Sannox.

Walking on Arran can mean an easy hour in a glen or a week right round the island. The Arran Coastal Way covers 65 miles of shore, through Sannox, Lochranza, Blackwaterfoot and Whiting Bay, and you can walk it with a mountain leader who arranges the rooms and moves the bags. For something shorter, a gravelled path follows the North Sannox Burn up through the forest, past little waterfalls and pools, to open views of the ridge above Glen Sannox. It is about three miles there and back. Pack waterproofs and good boots, as the weather in the hills changes fast.

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From the magazine18 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 11Issue 11Autumn / Winter 2025–26

When the Landmark Trust took on Saddell Castle, on Saddell Bay in Kintyre, large trees were growing out of its parapets.

The tower was built in 1508 for the Bishop of Argyll and held by the Campbells for almost 400 years, and only its outer walls and two fireplaces survive from the original building. The Landmark Trust, a charity that rescues historic buildings and lets them as holiday homes, has reopened it after a year of renovation. From the battlemented wall walk round the roof, you can see across the Kilbrannan Sound to the Isle of Arran. Down on the long white shore, you could hum Mull of Kintyre to yourself: this is the beach where Paul McCartney filmed its music video.

See Saddell Bay and Castle · Isle of Arran
Walk of the day14 hours ago

Arran Coastal Way with Thistle Trekking.

A guided walk round the whole of Arran on the 65-mile Arran Coastal Way, led by a mountain leader, with rooms, baggage and a support vehicle arranged.

Read about it
From the magazine10 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 11Issue 11Autumn / Winter 2025–26

Pladda, a pancake-flat island just a kilometre long off the south coast of the Isle of Arran, has been crowned by a lighthouse since the 1790s.

The light is automated now, but its swan-white tower still mesmerises. The island is private, so the magazine's advice is to see it from the water, by kayak. From land, Pladda is part of the view at Kildonan, where a ruined 13th-century MacDonald stronghold stands sentinel over the island and the entrance to the Firth of Clyde. The castle later became a royal hunting lodge, and it now sits on a lovely 30-minute circular walk from Kildonan's grassy car park, with the white sweep of Silver Sands below for seal spotting and paddling.

See Pladda · Isle of Arran
Open again7 hours ago

The Bavarian summerhouse in the grounds of Brodick Castle on Arran has reopened after its conservation.

Built into the sandstone cliff above Brodick Bay, it is the last of four made for Princess Marie of Baden after her marriage to the 11th Duke of Hamilton in 1843. A circular walk from the castle reaches it through the walled garden.

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Lunch3 hours agoIsle of ArranMara, Corrie2.4 milesIsle of ArranArran Botanical Drinks, Cladach5.3 milesIsle of ArranThe Sandwich Station, Lochranza5.4 miles

Lunch near North Glen Sannox.

The three good places closest to it: Mara, Corrie, Arran Botanical Drinks, Cladach and The Sandwich Station, Lochranza.

See North Glen Sannox
From the magazineJust nowThe printed copy of Issue 11Issue 11Autumn / Winter 2025–26

At Kildonan, in the south of the Isle of Arran, a dinosaur-like footprint left around 240 million years ago can still be seen 50 metres from the car park.

The print was left by Chirotherium, and it is still there to find, embedded in black igneous rock a short walk from where you park. Beyond it, the white sweep of Silver Sands is ideal for seal spotting, paddling and picnics among sheltered coves. Arran is full of finds like this. On the Laggan Circuit, an old slate quarry holds fossilised tracks of Arthropleura, an ancient millipede that grew two metres long. So pack a picnic, and give yourself time for the rocks as well as the beach.

Read the full story in Issue 11

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