There’s a ginger eyeing me, giving me that “do you come here often?” look. I’m prepared to step away, but something keeps me still. Is it the slow loping as he makes his way over? Or how his scruff of hair sweeps carelessly across his forehead and falls into his eyes? I hold out my hand. He nuzzles it, his nose, like soft, slightly damp suede, slides across my palm.
Bellevue Farm in Blackwaterfoot. Photo: Vivian Vassos
This is my introduction to the Highland “Coos” of the Isle of Arran. Yes, they’re those cows; the ones with the long shaggy manes and shapely horns. I’m near Blackwaterfoot at Bellevue Farm having lunch, but before I and the small group I’m travelling with can sit down, we’ve been called by the cows. They’re also looking for lunch and, conveniently, there are pre-measured bags of feed available. We spend a few minutes offering the stuff, admiring their wonderful coats – not all are red, some are blond and there’s even a chocolate boy that’s come along the fence to say hello, showing off his curvaceous, and somewhat pointy, horns. But they all go to the same barber, long, eye-covering bangs and all.
Arran is off the west coast of Scotland, in the Firth of Clyde, and about an hour ferry ride from the mainland port of Ardrossan (after about an hour’s drive from Glasgow) to Brodick. The whole island is a designated UNESCO GeoPark but, to me, it’s Scotland in miniature: a postage-stamp isle with windswept coastlines and hideaway beaches, Highland moors and landscapes, craggy mountain peaks and cliffside views, with whisky distilleries and the famed Highland coos to boot.
Arriving in Brodick
Alex Dickinson, owner of Mogabout Arran 4X4 tours. Photo: Vivian Vassos
When we alight at Brodick, we’re met by Alex Dickinson, owner of Mogabout Arran 4X4 tours. He’s in full kilt regalia, sporran, knee socks, kilt-pin and all, a blend of forest greens, sky blues and a tartan that belies the grey clouds behind him. We get a lay of the land at the Arran Heritage Museum and discover that in the early 1800s, 12 families from the tiny island braved the Atlantic and settled in Quebec. We tour Brodick Castle, the former seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, and a turn around the mist-dusted gardens of the castle’s County Park puts me at ease in nature. My shoulders drop, deep breaths fill me with the scent of sea air and surrounding forests.
Brodick Castle. Photo: Vivian Vassos
We climb aboard Dickinson’s mammoth 4×4 for a bit of off-roading – lesser travelled pathways that lead us to ancient landmarks and coastline views that have me wondering anew. The wild winds and churning water continuously carving the jagged shoreline; the moors dotted with cows and sheep picking their way through carpets of purply-pink heather to the tender shoots of grasslands in the glens.
Blackwaterfoot and the Sea
The town of Blackwaterfoot.
The town of Blackwaterfoot is on the bay on the westerly side of the island. The beach is a mix of brown-sugar sand and stones polished by eons of pounding surf. Two black Scottish terriers are out for their daily walk; it’s blustery, but that hasn’t stopped them or the many walkers out to take the restorative sea air. Everyone is bundled against the breeze, the fast-moving clouds over the waves the backdrop.
Water is everywhere here, and the people of Arran its stewards. At COAST (Community of Arran Seabed Trust), we learn of how this wee populace was a driving force behind Scotland’s first “no take zone,” the protected area along the east coast’s Lamlash Bay. Since 2008, fishing is absolutely forbidden in this near-three square kilometres of ocean. Over-dredging of scallops had near decimated the sea bed but, not even two decades later, the area is regenerating and thriving once again.
A Therapeutic Encounter
Speaking of thriving, my time with the coos is not quite done. Apparently the barber has taken the day off, but my shaggy friends at Maol Fold Highland Coo Encounters are still in need of grooming. The drizzle gives their coats a sparkle, but the salt and sea breezes wreak havoc, tangling the strawberry blonde strands. I’m handed a brush, and sidle up to one of the gentler giants, avoiding hooves and horns.
It’s oddly therapeutic, the bristles gripping just enough, my brushstrokes slow and intentional.
Soon, my lovely Titian coo is satisfied; she’s had her fill of attention and sets off slowly toward the rest of the herd.
A Wee Dram
Lochranza Distillery. Photo by Vivian Vassos
Lochranza Distillery
I did mention whisky, and whisky I must. Celebrating 30 years in the business, Lochranza Distillery is a relative baby when comes to concocting a wee dram. Scotch has been distilled in the British Isles since the 1400s; Arran has two distilleries. It’s the quality of the island’s spring water that gives Lochranza’s – and its sister distillery, Lagg’s – distinctive flavour. Vanilla, chocolate and just a hint of peaty smoke dance on my tongue. Here, they say Slàinte and toast good health to us all. visitscotland.com/places-to-go/islands/arran
Scotland in miniature, indeed.
When you go:
The Douglas Hotel. Photo: Vivian Vassos
Stay at The Douglas boutique hotel, with only 19 rooms, a restaurant with a local-first menu and sweeping views of Brodick Bay. thedouglashotel.co.uk/
