Walks

The tree-lined Goat Fell track starts behind the Wineport Bistro, heading uphill between the Arran Brewery and the leather shop.

Follow the track uphill, ignoring two minor paths to the right and to the left. 

As the track flattens slightly and swings to the right, views open up across the Kennels field towards Glen Rosa and Beinn Nuis. Highland cattle may be grazing here.

Cross the tarmacked Brodick Castle drive. At this crossroads, there is an opportunity to contribute to the conservation of the Goatfell property, including mountain path repairs, by popping a donation in the donations post or scanning the QR code for an online payment. 

Continue uphill, now surrounded by forestry plantation. Further tracks and paths branch off the main track – ignore those and continue uphill on the main track. 

Eventually, this track curves to the right through a gate; at this stage, take the footpath straight ahead signposted Goat Fell.

Climbing steeply, the path now winds through more open birchwood, with glimpses of views back towards Brodick and of the moorland and Goat Fell ahead. 

Crossing a forest road, the trail climbs through ever more open terrain until Tommy’s bridge is reached. Here, a track joins from the right from the hydro dam below – pay attention not to go down this by mistake on your return.

Cross the bridge, but before continuing the ascent, look out for the sandstone Arran Heritage Arts Trail marker commemorating Scottish writer and artist Alasdair James Gray on the other side of the burn, and admire the view across Brodick Bay and Holy Isle that inspired his art.

Shortly after the bridge, the path passes through a fence, which encircles Arran’s northern hills and is designed to keep red deer away from the forestry and farmland below.

Now on open moorland, the path steadily climbs towards Goat Fell’s east shoulder, getting progressively rockier. 

Nearing the shoulder, look out for dwarf juniper clinging to the rocks, and keep your eyes peeled for birds of prey such as buzzard and kestrel. With some luck, hen harrier and golden eagle can be spotted. Red deer may also be encountered, although they often favour the quieter corries away from the main path.

On the shoulder, an alternative route from Corrie joins the main path via Meall Breac. This junction is marked by a cairn – make sure you catch the correct path on your return.

Heading leftwards along the shoulder, just below the crest of the ridge, the path steepens for the final pull to the summit. This section can be exposed to wind and has a distinctly mountainous feel to it, clambering over big rocky steps. To ease the hard toil of the ascent, let your creativity run wild and look out for interesting shapes and creatures in the jumble of granite boulders!

Over the last decade, the National Trust for Scotland has worked hard to stabilise and widen this path to combat erosion. You can help by staying on the consolidated path line. It can be harder to spot in the rocky terrain as it has been designed to blend into the natural environment as much as possible – look out for built steps, cross-drains and waterbars.

Just below the summit, the path swings rightwards, then curves back left to the trigpoint.

On a good day, Goat Fell boasts incredible panoramic views across the entire island and out to sea, making it feel higher than its Corbett status might suggest. A view indicator identifies the spectacular surrounding mountains and points of interest further afield. 

Views extend across the Clyde estuary to Bute and the mainland hills to the northeast, with the mountains of Mull and the Paps of Jura visible to the northwest, and perhaps even the Antrim coast beyond the Mull of Kintyre to the southwest.

From the summit, look out for signs of broadleaf woodland reappearing in Glen Rosa. The National Trust for Scotland’s ranger service has been facilitating the return of native upland birchwood to the glen by excluding deer from its lower slopes and constructing seed islands higher up in the glen. Thanks to this work, which has involved the planting of tens of thousands of trees, three endemic Arran whitebeam species now have a home in Glen Rosa.

The landscape-scale conservation project also includes the restoration of degraded peatbogs. Look out for watery pools in Coire Chatan below, formed by damming old drainage ditches and reprofiling eroding peat hags and channels. The return of the native upland woodland and peatland restoration will make the glens and corries more resilient to the effects of climate change and provide vital carbon sinks, as well as significantly increasing biodiversity and improving landscape character.

Return to Cladach
From the summit, retrace your steps to Cladach. In bad visibility, take care to navigate in the right direction. Big cliffs dominate the west side of the mountain; to the north, a narrow ridge of jagged granite tors requires scrambling or careful route-finding around – this is a much more demanding route, suitable for experienced hillwalkers only.

An alternative is to descend to Corrie at the path junction described at stage 3, then catching a bus back to Cladach – but do check the timetables!