goffik wrote:
I dunno if these cairns have so much to with conquering but more to do with being markers for other walkers... I always assumed (I'm sure I've read several accounts, anyway) that these "walkers cairns" are used to guide walkers in bad weather.
I can testify first hand that they are very useful as guides when the clouds descend! :)
I'm sure, also, that it has been reported, as you so rightly, that actual bronze age cairns have been damaged as stones have been removed to add to the modern ones.
G x
I am curious about the subject of cairns and first heard about walkers' cairns while watching Wainwright's Walks.
While staying in Thurso last month, prior to taking the ferry across to the Orkneys and in the hope of getting a better view of the Old Man of Hoy,
I walked with a couple of fellow travellers along the cliff tops from the small ferry port of Scrabster
The sun shone and the well marked walk was completely safe, however, eventually we came to Holburn Head, the point where the cliffs mirror Hoy and fall away in a sheer drop. I don’t normally suffer from vertigo but did on this occasion and, although desperate to get a better look at the puffins, couldn’t go too close to the edge.
There was grey slate cairn about eight feet high overlooking the sea, I did wonder what its purpose was and assumed it was a ‘walker’s cairn’. We each threw a piece of slate onto it – as I understand this is the tradition with walker’s cairns.
The walk and the cairn can be seen here:
http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/sutherland/holburn-head.shtml
