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Visited June ‘25

One of those sites that has always been high on my list to visit. We were vaguely in the area, and I really really needed to get to see it.
After heading south from Llanglydwen we parked on the verge of the track which runs down from the north side of the site. I had to manoeuvre carefully along the path which was muddy/skiddy but mostly covered in places by several fallen trees (in an earlier storm?). After perhaps 20 minutes or so I reached the clearing, with the dolmen coming into view.
A big smile crossed my face, as I realised this is going to be as good as I’d hoped. This one will stick in the memory – I’ll easily feel transported back to that clearing.
I walked around trying to take in the wider site – some outlying stones, the orientation of the chamber – but just wanted to sit and soak it up.
Such a visually pleasing monument in a beautifully isolated place.

Dun Canna

June 10, 2025

A vegetated promontory located at the northeast corner of Camas Mor (a kilometre northeast of Isle Martin in Ardmair Bay) bears the remains of this Iron Age promontory fort. To visit, follow the A835 north from Ullapool for about five miles until you see a sign pointing left to Blughasary. Follow this winding road to its end where lies the small Keanchulish car park. From there, head across the stream and follow the signed footpath to “Dun Canna – 1½ miles”.

The footpath leads through a mixture of grassy and bracken covered terrain and finally ends at a breach in the eastern wall of the fort, although Canmore (now Historic Environment Scotland at trove.scot) points out that the true entrance actually lay to the north.

Dun Canna consists of a large, cliff-girt enclosure divided into two sections by a precipitous drop at a narrow neck of land, and is largely surrounded by substantial ruined stone walls, now reduced largely to tumble. In a few locations, it is still possible to detect structure in the walling but little else is visible nowadays.

Visited June ‘25.

Made my way from the road, through the tunnel of branches, through the 3 kissing gates – staying straight/right (but not towards the farm equipment), until Pant-y-Saer appeared. Just. It was trying to hide in the undergrowth, which swamps half of the stones. Although there’s been many skeletal remains, and pottery, arrowheads, etc found here, it looks like the chamber is trying to hide its secrets in the bushes.
Although no real views to be had today, the site still was impressive, with remnants of the edge of a mound and possible forecourt on the visible western side.
Nice big, gnarly capstone too. Yeah, really liked this one.

After hunting about for various cairns on the south of the A836 it was time to drive along the road to park near Ardvannie’s Chamber Cairn, slightly to the north. At almost 26 meters wide and 1.6m tall, it would take a large tree to protect it. A beech provides the large tree which seems to be trying to protect the chamber, situated on the cairn’s south west.

As usual the cairn has been damaged, the access road has removed a chunk on the east side, field clearance has been dumped on top (also around the edges) along with the usual stone removal.

A bit of a ‘what if’ but also enough to let an imagination conjure up an image of what it once looked like.

We would see this site again later in the day, completely accidentally, of course.

Visited 31/03/2025.

Ardvannie Kerb Cairn still survives despite the occasional visit from cows. Several kerbs remain in place and surprisingly not noted by Trove (Canmore) are the remnants of a cist situated in the middle of 6.5m wide cairn.

A superb view of Dun Creich to west and lovely views over Dornoch Firth add to site. The nearby pond much more recent.

From the chamber cairn at Ardvannie we headed west and pulled in at the first gate on the south side of the A836. Over the fence, head west following the pond until it’s end, head south then back east on the pond’s south side. This will lead straight to the site.

Be warned, if wet weather this will be a mud bath, however, for us it was dry and more of an ankle breaker.

Visited 31/03/2025.