I was recently updating the booklet listing all-but-one of our walks over the last 37 years and I counted up that we had been to Arran seventeen times! Oh, the fun we’ve had: breakfast on the boat; meeting the Queen (Elizabeth that is); sending for the helicopter to find four lost members; hospitality from the Buddhist monks on Holy Isle on a very wet day; losing the leader on Cir Mohr… ..and endless coffee and scones with Henry and Irene at their holiday home in Corrie. It’s time we went back.

But we will do yet another new walk! From the ferry terminal, we take the ‘Fishermen’s Path’ along the shore to the entrance to Brodick Country Park and Castle at Cladach. From here, those who wish to can climb up Goatfell while those preferring a more gentle route will follow the woodland and waterfall- strewn paths around the entrance before taking the wider paths up, around and beyond the castle. As well as being of interest in itself, the Country Park gives glorious views of Arran and the Firth of Clyde. In the late afternoon we stroll back along the Fisherman’s Path for an evening meal before boarding the boat for home.