UKC

I'm trying to work out the logistics of climbing on Arran.

It looks like if you want to take a car you've got to book it sometime in advance because the car spaces on the ferry get filled up, but I kind of want to leave it fairly last minute because if the weather looks crap I'd rather just cancel or try to find better weather elsewhere.

Is it better to just go as a foot passenger on the ferry? How's climbing on Arran without a car?

You can do it on foot, there are regular buses. Another option is to take a bike, you can ride quite a way up Glen Rosa if that's where you're heading.

I've never taken a car to Arran for climbing. Unless you're there for a week and planning to go to lots of different places there doesn't seem to be much point.

I have never been climbing on Arran but went on holiday there last year. I booked the ferry for our car. About 3 weeks before the holiday my husband noticed that I had booked the wrong eay round: Arran to Ardrossan the first Saturday and back to Arran the next. I have two masters degrees and am supposed to be quite intelligent but apparently booking ferries is beyond me.

Three weeks before was too late to change, the ferries we needed were full. So take note.

The happy ending to the story is that we were holidaying with another couple, so we left our car at Ardrossan and shared one car. We did a lot of walking and would not have found it convenient without a car.

If you're headed for the climbs accessible from Glen Rosa you can easily avoid taking a car - a bike is very useful though as you can cycle it up the glen for several km. 

How far up from Glen Rosa campsite? I’m planning on doing Caisteal Abhail from Glen Rosa soon but assumed you could only take the bike another 3km or so up the glen from the campsite. Therefore not really worth the effort.

NR 98275 38635 ish!

Ta. That as far as I thought. 

Some years since I went but there were regular buses in both directions from Brodrick around the mountainous north of the island. When hitching I got lifts within minutes. I did use a taxi once which was cheaper than I expected.

We did it from the north back in March from the carpark at North Glen Sannox Bridge which would be a shorter approach. There is a bus which would drop you there although we had the car. To the OP: there is also the short ferry over from Claonaig to Lochranza. We used this when Calmac cancelled our Ardrossan sailing due to the weather. It's a longer drive but at least we got there. They didn't charge us and refunded the difference when I claimed after the trip.

You just walk in with lightweight camping gear. Quite a long way, but very straightforward - it’s forty years since I did it, so my memories of it are not very strong, but I have no memory or any/much climbing involved.

Aye, that route is def in scope. Debated on biking to Sannox from the campsite, but don’t fancy being on the road. However, bus sounds like an option. I’ll need to look into that.

Thanks all!

Sounds like we can ditch the car, should make it a bit easier to leave the booking until we can see what the weather is doing!

You've also got the option of going from Troon to Brodick on that thing that looks like a Gerry Anderson creation

I'm not certain so check for yourself, but I think the ferry from Troon has temporally replaced the Ardrossan Ferry while it's being repaired. Calmac seem to be swapping and changing their ferries at short notice all the time. 

Yup that's correct. 

If you've got a car on Arran and park by the campsite in Glen Rosa the bike likely won't save much time. 

However if you don't take a car over as the OP asked about then will the bike will save you 3.3km of tarmac plodding from the ferry terminal to the campsite and you can cycle it up the landrover track for another  2.3km.

Yes, it’s a long plod without a car, but the fact that I can remember almost nothing about it, despite the fact that the two of us were carrying camping equipment and food for 4 days, plus all our climbing gear, plus 300 feet of rope, plus camera gear, means it can’t have been too bad.

PS. Most climbers used to pride themselves on being quite fit.

Later note. I’ve just looked it up in my logbook for April 1983. It says we took a bus up from Brodick to the Glen Rosa footpath, then walked. ‘Very heavy packs… V. impressed by desolate beauty of Glen Rosa - much wilder and more ‘untamed’ than I’d imagined. One of the finest valleys in Britain, with a real mountain atmosphere. 2½ hrs walk from nearest civilization. A superb spot - amongst the best I have ever camped in.'

Glen Rosa is a glen, not a valley. You should know that 

The clue’s in the name…

OP: if you are weighed down with big packs and gear, a taxi to the campsite is not prohibitively expensive, easy to get at the ferry terminal. 

Looking at the Calmac 'Status Update' page both Troon and Ardrossan routes seem to be operating to the normal timetables (at least for today!).

https://www.calmac.co.uk/service-status

Just to say there is a car option from the north going from Claonaig on the peninsula to lochranza on Arran. It’s a long drive round (but really pleasant), and the key thing is that ferry doesn’t take bookings. It’s small, but when we went last Easter was very quiet with plenty of space for vehicles. 
 

If he had written "one of the finest glens in Britain" it would not really have made much sense though. The fact is that Glen Rosa is a valley. Likewise Loch Lomond is a lake and Ben Nevis is a mountain, even though we might choose to use the Gaelic words in circumstances where it is reasonable to do so.

I was commenting, as an English person (in my private climbing logbook) using the standard English term for such a geographical feature, which is called different things in different parts of the country/Britain, e.g. dale, vale, cwm. The South Wales valleys all seem to be anglicised, anyway, as vales or valleys, e.g. Taff Vale, Methyr Vale. It would have been daft if I’d said that Glen Rosa was the finest glen in Britain. PS. I happen to think the finest valley in England is Wasdale.

I’ve now seen Robert's post - making exactly my point. Thanks Robert!

Do you know if the buses on Arran are cashless? I assume they are, but having not used them I’d hate to be caught out.

Sorry, I can't tell you as we had a car so didn't use them. I caught a bus yesterday and paid with cash but it was in Kirkby Lonsdale!

If only I was going to Kirkby Lonsdale for the weekend. Ta anyway