Arran Day 3
Tuesday 16th June
Holy Island
Walk distance 7km
Cycle 0km
Height 345 m
3 hours
Total coastal distance on Arran walked 30km
Running height climbed 1359 m
Total coastal distance cycled 0
Total coastal distance driven 0
The ferry crossing cost £12. In fact it was more of a small boat, so ferry is perhaps gives the wrong impression . Three Canadians, two Scots and a Dutch man crossed with me. The crossing probably took 15 minutes. On the floating pontoon at Holy Island, we were welcomed by a volunteer living on the island. This lady, in a colourful dress, and very cheery disposition explained the holy nature of the site and also suggested where we may like to visit. The backdrop to the grazed lawn was a rather beautiful house set off with many Buddhist prayer flags. This is the Centre for World Peace and Health. http://www.holyisland.org/ The island is owned by Buddhist monks. I took the walk over the hill. The path went by a large plantation of native trees, planted by volunteers. Fenced off to keep the islands animals off. On Holy island are native goats, Soay sheep and Eriksay ponies. All are wild.
Up above the trees the path winds up through moorland. Amongst the heather, especially at the south end I saw bearberry growing.
This delicate looking plant formed a bright green and red carpet under the heather. All three heathers were growing side by side, with bell heather in flower. The views from the top - Mullach Beag, included Goat Fell, although today it was partly shrouded in cloud. The path down was fairly steep and the cliffs to the west very high. Among the heather I saw a few flower spikes of heath spotted orchid as well as tormentil and heath bedstraw. At the south end I was surprised to see a very attractive square towered lighthouse.
Here I had lunch, whilst watching cormorants out at sea. Above common gull made a racket. They were nesting on steep scree slopes. Presumably there are no foxes or badgers around. The return path is at sea level following a track way on the wave cut platform. Another lighthouse and cottages, in a similar stile are fenced off. These, as well as hill side pods and cabins are retreats. Nuns live in the cottages. Why cant I get carry on film ideas about nuns out of my head? On the way back I saw lots of soay sheep on the shore as well as a few ponies. A common gull dive bombed me even though I was a long ways from its nest on a scree slope. In places I spotted interesting plants such as sundew, marsh orchid and climbing fumitory. I got an impression of neglect of old shoreline pastures, swamped by bracken. I also thought the tree planting could be misguided unless it was well planned. I thought it would not be many years before the orchids vanish under the shade of trees. Buddhists believe in not killing anything, but I cant see how that works if you want to manage land. Nature is so linked to our traditional management systems that much vanishes without our actions. The same though is true for the lack of that we do since traditional management has ceased almost everywhere in the countryside. The road verges mentioned before are just one example. Further on I passed beautiful paintings of Buddhist images on rock outcrops.
Then the cave of St. Molaise, this Irish saint lived here years ago around 600AD. Shrill calls from a crag attracted me but scanning with my binoculars I could see no sign of young bird of prey. Until a female peregrine swooped in to feed them. The nest was too hidden though to see the young. Finally I visited the little Buddhist shop for a welcome coffee. The sea was a little rougher on the way back, splashing some in the boat. The Dutch guy was very chatty. We shared concerns about the state of the world and worried about pollution from farming and fisheries. We talked about the unique no catch zone set up south of holy island. This is the first in Scotland. It provides a refuge for sea life to breed. The Community of Arran Sea-bed Trust influenced Government to set up the zone in 2008. Afterwards I went to the pool at in Brodick. A really nice swimming pool complete with sauna, steam room and footbaths. In the evening had a very nice Hawaiian pizza at Lamlash Bay Hotel.
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