I camped beside Achnabreck with my friend Ant in 96. There's a convenient tent-sized break in the tree stumps next to the higher of the two stone outcrops. Kilmartin Valley is an amazing place. You can spend a week inwhat is a relatively small area and still not have enough time to take it all in. The landscape changes with the light and the weather and the whole vicinity is capable of sucking you in and making you feel an existence that is somehow detached from modern living. We spent many nights just watching the sea mist gradually encroaching on the valley plain below, leaving just the twinkling lights of Lochgilphead as a reminder that it was the twentieth century we were escaping from.
The carvings themselves exert a powerful pull and you would find yourself wandering back to inspect them on your own, whenever the chance arose. Taking a spray bottle filled with water is highly reccomended as this makes them stand out from the rock face itself. The only way to really see them is to climb into the fenced off areas and sit above them. It's one of the most evocative places I've ever spent any time in, and one that I was afraid to revisit for two or three years in case the magic had dissipated. I needn't have worried. It's a very special site and all the more unspoiled for not being overrun with visitors. If you do get the chance to go there, be silent and enjoy one of the most magical sacred places in our ancient isle.
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