Last week Lucy was out with Brian who contacted us, keen to climb Cir Mhor via a route published on the excellent Walkhighlands website.
It’s a much more interesting way to climb Cir Mhor than trudging up and down Glen Rosa twice, taking in Beinn Tarsuinn and Beinn Nuis too, but is a long day out and needs a good forecast to be worthwhile. Luckily for us, Wednesday was fantastic, and we enjoyed a great day exploring Arran’s ridges.
We did the route in reverse, heading up Cir Mhor from Glean Rosa first. The summit of Cir Mhor is properly pointy, like a mountain that a child would draw. From there, we headed down and north of the ridge of A’Chir, to pop back up to the Bowman’s pass and some easy scrambling onto the summit of Beinn Tarsuinn. We were treated to views of a swooping golden eagle on the way.
Beinn Nuis is just a short stroll from Beinn Tarsuinn, with little height lost or gained, but great views along the way and a chance to say hello to the iconic Old Man of Tarsuinn, who grimaces out across Coire A’Bhradain and is visible all the way from Brodick.
There’s a steep descent from Nuis down to the boggy terrain level with the coire floor, and then more steepness into Glen Rosa, where new woodland is appearing thanks to the hard work of National Trust for Scotland volunteers. It felt good to be on gentle ground again for a stroll back out to the start.