Solitary giant atop Brodick at Moyish.
16 October 2010
Solitary giant atop Brodick at Moyish.
16 October 2010
Solitary giant atop Brodick at Moyish.
16 October 2010
Solitary giant atop Brodick at Moyish.
16 October 2010
Solitary giant atop Brodick at Moyish.
16 October 2010
Ten feet of red sandstone
Failed visit 28.7.16
It was early evening on our last night on Arran and I fancied a walk along the sea front at Brodick to see if I could spot any otters. This is where I had been fortunate to see two last year. It was a lovely evening and the sun shone on the mist covered mountains to the north – a really beautiful sight. Arran is a beautiful island. Anyway, I thought I would take the opportunity to seek out the Moyish standing stone.
I first attempted to reach the stone from the back of the houses to the east. All this achieved is wet and muddy boots and my route blocked by a combination of impassible high gorse hedges and several electric fenced horse paddocks.
I then walked back down the hill, past the houses, and attempted a route via the children's play area. I climbed over the fence at the back but was again beaten back by the hedge / stream / brambles etc.
My third attempt was from the west, along a footpath from Brodick to Lamlash. The walk was much easier but again my way was blocked by electric / barbed wire fenced horse paddocks.
In the end I gave up and went back to 'otter spotting' – something else I failed to do! This standing stone was very close the the B+B we were staying in but as they say – 'so near, yet so far.....'
October Moyish Frenzy – 16 October 2010
An hour till the ferry
Shaggy-haired Junior dodged a bullet, what with Jimmy the Brodick Barber being shut on Saturdays. So instead of a a much needed clipping, he and my OH popped off to purchase bespoke chocolates and play crazy golf. I checked my map and decided on Moyish. I had last been up to the Moyish stone more than half my lifetime ago, as a teenager on a camping holiday. I'm still coming to Arran...
I had time for a quick scoot up the road beside the Co-op and turn right, then first left. Time was not on my side, the hot October sun beat down on me and I regretted wearing my fleece and jacket. I found myself puffing and panting my way up the street in a small housing estate. A children's play area lay ahead which hadn't been there thirty years ago, I climbed over the fence at the back, turned right through a hedge, crossed a deep, steep sided stream, over a barbed wire fence and through a gorse hedge.
An absolute beauty of a stone. A giant in the regular Arran monolith style, it stands with a slight lean to the East. Its top is fluted and weathered like the tallest ones on Machrie Moor. It stands on a fairly level field terrace high above Brodick with superb views East to Mainland Scotland and North to Goatfell and Cir Mhor. Set in a reedy field bounded on the West by a Beech and Hawthorn hedge with turning leaves and deep red berries. I lean against the stone and rest for five minutes drinking in the view, the peace and the last seven days spent here on Arran.
Wandering back down the hill with the car parked in line at the ferry terminal and Junior and my OH sitting waiting for me on the Co-op wall, it didn't feel too bad to be leaving Arran. I know we'll be back again next year and Moyish had hit me with a last minute boost.