Upper Balfour 2 Cairn(s) View all content for Upper Balfour 2

This cairn is hard to find as it is covered in all sorts of horrible and jabby vegetation. However not wanting to give in I flung myself thru the narrowest section to land on a small clearing which is the north section of the cairn. With all the vegetation it is difficult to measure the width. Canmore says 17 metres which seems about right, the height being 0.5 metres. The centre of the cairn can be found by crawling under the whins/furze etc. It has been houked or possibly it is a cist. Kerbs are visible in the south but impossible to reach. Like all the nearby sites maybe one day the vegetation will be cleared and we'll be able to see them. As for me it was back to the car for plasters and bandages as these cairns had taken their toll on my legs. Visited 24/11/2016.

Posted by drewbhoy 14th December 2016ce

Comments (8)
I salute your commitment in the face of attack by vegetation. It looks very chilly as well. Plus, I like your word 'houk', it's not one I hear often enough.	Posted by Rhiannon 15th December 2016ce
Cheers Rhiannon, the vegetation this year seems, to me, to have gone crazy. Houk is a great word :-)	Posted by drewbhoy 16th December 2016ce
Well done on your efforts, Drew..and, btw, for the volume of your fieldnotes of visitations elsewhere too. I consider whins to be the barbed wire of our forebears, sometimes planted deliberately in order to protect burial sites and their contents, and on occasion still doing its job rather well today. I do not curse it, although I know others do. You'll mend : )	Posted by spencer 16th December 2016ce
Cheers Spencer, I don't mind it either. Adds to the fun :-)	Posted by drewbhoy 17th December 2016ce
Reckon there's a lot of very nice and important unknown stuff still hidden under the whin..found things on Larbrax Moor and in the vicinity of Stair Haven broch that look rather interesting..patience, agility, bloodymindedness and blood elsewhere sometimes gets intriguing results. Trying to dig in the stuff'd be another matter..but praps thats the point. Plus, who can fail to love the bloom? Bet 'they' did too. A good source of nectar for their hives, excellent nutritional fodder when young, source of dye, was even used for gold panning. Samhain fire material. Plus, defence, both to forts and burial sites - one of the sacred thorned species - plus for boundaries. And that's half of it. Have done a lot of reading on it for a proper TMA blog, yet to get round tuit. Still, if folk want to just say 'fekkin gorse, grr' so be it...but in we'll go again.	Posted by spencer 17th December 2016ce
I wished they would use techical names like jabby things.	Posted by drewbhoy 17th December 2016ce
You mean you wish they'd use names for simple minds : )	Posted by spencer 17th December 2016ce
Worlds best band would suffice :-)	Posted by drewbhoy 17th December 2016ce
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