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Re: Aberdeenshire sites, access for the less able?
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>>>so where did you get to then? :) <<<

The Aberdeenshire sites were tagged onto the end of a longer trip, so first I'd visited many of the sites in Orkney during my 2 weeks stay there which was a wonderful experience, from quiet times amongst the stones and sites at all different times of day and night to the Indiana Jones bit of crawling into "tombs" etc with an unexpected but very welcome tour of the Minehowe site by the archaeologist from OAT, did you know they'd found 2 shrines in the outer lower surface of its mound? The new skeleton near/in the forge was discovered 2 days after my visit.

I didn't fancy the A9 on the way back from Scrabster so went the way I'd been, down the A897, it was very quiet and just before I got to Helmsdale I stopped to take a photo of this, which I'd spotted on the way up.

http://community.webshots.com/user/runemage
Stones and sites album, penultimate photo.

It certainly looks and feels "right" to me and it's in an area where there are many humps in the landscape, but there was no obvious path to it and the ground was waterlogged so I had to be content with just a photo for now. Does anyone know what it is, please?

On arriving in Aberdeenshire I liked it. It's a rural area with mountains, a lovely combination, very gentle on the eye and great to see lots of wildlife and the odd castle in a field. Big skies and quietness, not much traffic and lovely clean air. We spent some time watching three buzzards hunting and on another occasion saw a red squirrel, they are just about non-existent in a lot of England.

After getting the stuff unloaded for 3 nights B+B on a farm near Inverurie, we went for an evening meal in Inverurie itself, ( Bugles has a menu varied enough to suit all tastes, good service, plenty parking round the back and reasonable prices) then I just had to see East Aquhorthies. It was around 8 or 9pm, and the walk from the car park didn't give any clue as to how far it was so MrRune stayed in the car while MissRune and I almost ran the whole way up the hill. The panorama is stunning, and the Rose Quartz stone (really red jasper and porphyry) was shockingly red in that lighting, also the "energy" call it what you will, by the recumbent was incredibly powerful, electric in fact. What a lovely welcome :-D On my second visit on a late afternoon in the sunshine, it seemed to exude an air of timelessness which was really poignant.

Over the next 2 days I also visited the Maidenstone, Loanhead of Daviot which has an interesting double or split recumbent, Kirkton of Bourtie wasn't accessible as the barley was ready for harvesting. Midmar was lovely, I met a nice chap there who was writing a book about peoples spiritual experiences in stone circles, I'll look forward to reading that, he reckons it will be about 18 months til publication. I like the redness of Midmar's stones, are any of the markings on the recumbent ancient ( the lozenges? ) or are they all later graffiti? Cullerlie is definitely Groundforced to blazes but what lovely stones, they have what looks like pink quartz lumps all over them. South Leylodge was easily seen from the gate. Esslie the Lesser had cows and calves in attendance so I didn't even think about trying to go near and contented myself with looking from afar. Esslie the Greater looked lovely, like a circle on a cairn or at least surrounded by a circle of smaller stones. I was taken with the triangular stones, but a plague of midges ( note to self, remember to take a smudge stick next time) and a tied up gate put me off exploring further. I really regret that I didn't make more effort to visit that circle. Ninestanes struck me as being very fey. It's startlingly close to the road yet when you're in it, it feels secluded. As I walked towards it, there were flecks of quartz sparkling in the dappled sunlight shining on the pebbles and stones on the rough track. At the circle itself, the frondy larch branches added to the sylvan feel and the sun once again highlighted the quartziness of the circle, a large lump on the recumbent and large pieces on the right flanker. Even though the left flanker is fallen, Ninestanes has the air of being whole and filled me with a feeling of peacefulness and kindness.

My Navigator, MrRune did a splendid job during his 3 and a bit weeks in the passenger seat and got me to all the above sites and a few more we spied on our travels. I drove over 2,200 miles and enjoyed every minute.

One thing I'd like some info on is the Drumstone. Aha, I thought, seeing the village named Drumstone, and a stone called The Drumstone marked on the OS map, acoustic archaeology, I think I've been reading too much Devereaux ;-) However, the Drumstone isn't a stone, ( perhaps it was once) nowadays it's a small round stone platform, about 10 feet diameter, photo here, any info gratefully received.
http://community.webshots.com/user/runemage
Stones and sites album, last photo.

Rune


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Rune
Posted by Rune
8th September 2005ce
15:06

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