Latest Fieldnotes

There is a large (but bumpy) parking area next to the main road. Maen Ceti is easily seen in the distance and can be reached by a 15 minute fairly flat walk. The cap stone is HUGE – as are the views across the Gower. Plenty of people about although this didn’t detract from my visit.

I love these type of sites – Next to a church or in the middle of a village. The stones are next to the road and easily seen without leaving the car if you don’t want to. Lovely little village.

Probably as most people do (judging by the ‘path’ through the grass) I had a quick look after visiting Maen Ceti. A pile of stones – but a large pile at that. Easily seen from Maen Ceti if you don’t fancy the short walk.

Although I visited this site in the height of summer (2009) the first field you walk through at the bottom of the hill was very, very wet – luckily I had my wellies in the car. Follow Postman’s directions and you will be there in about 10 minutes. I had the place to myself, blue sky and a bird or prey hovering overhead – bliss.

As you drive up the hill over the common, look to your right (the ‘up hill’ side) and you will see the stone about half way between the road and the summit. Once you spot it it is easy to walk to although when I visited it was quite boggy in places. A nice stone though and worth a visit.

I visited this site winter (it started to snow!) and couldn’t find it. However, as I was about to give up, a couple were walking their dog and by luck they knew where it was. I can’t really give directions other than to say it is in the middle(ish) of the common and is quite small – about 2ft x 10 inches. Only the top couple of inches are sticking up above the grass. Good luck!

Alas! Poor Auchnaha may well have been ‘christianised’ for our sins, or whatever, but the pious act of vandalism didn’t exactly do it any favours in the preservation stakes, did it? Survive for millennia upon your hilltop and then have a great big ruddy tree fall on you once you’ve been suitably ‘blessed’. OK, I may well be compressing the time-frame somewhat, but it’s a valid point, is it not?

This is another of Scotland’s obscure sites, as Greywether and Postie make clear (was it really so recent Postie?), very much hidden away in a boggy forestry clearing above the quiet – very quiet – eastern flank of Loch Fyne. The B8000 wiggles and weaves along said coastline to allow the motorist to get within striking distance of the monument, but upon parking near Auchnaha House one gets a distinct feeling of being an unwelcome guest. Private Estate signs abound, the hillside barred by a seriously tall wire fence. However further investigation reveals this to end before the forest line to my right, leaving a corridor of forestry devastation to overcome for anyone thinking of coming this way.

As it happens, I do, but all the clambering and whatnot results in me initially missing sight of the little standing stone guiding visitors to the clearing. However I backtrack and there it is... at first appearing simply to be a jumble of overgrown stones.... with a great big ruddy christmas tree on top! However orientate yourself and have a wander and a large inner and outer chamber (with slipped capstone), together with numerous orthostats from what must have once been an impressive facade materialise from the chaos. Moss and lichen are having a field day, as are the midges in the damp, humid atmosphere.... cue the usual improvised head gear, so no ‘scale’ shots in order to preserve what may still serve me as a reputation. Baldrick would’ve been proud... perhaps I could swop it for a visit from Time Team? A much more worthy cause than another bleedin’ R*man villa. Yawn.

Despite the state of the site, the sense of isolation here, together with the substantial remains give Auchnaha a true ‘I’m glad I came’ feel. Hang in there girl, hang in there.

I really liked this site – much better than I expected. Easy to access – park right next to site, up the bank and over the metal stile (slippery when wet!). It may not be as big as the other rock art sites but is much easier to get to. Well worth a visit, particularly if you are unable to walk very far. Easy enough to view over the metal railings.

My favourite cain in the group. The fact that you can climb inside made it special for me. I don’t know why but visiting sites where you can climb inside seems very peaceful and somehow connects you to the past – moreso than ‘surface’ only sites. Easy to access but watch your ankles on the loose stones. Didn’t stay as long as I would have liked as Dafydd wanted his bottle – which was in the car!! Cracking place to visit.

All the cairns are worth visiting and to view them in a line up the valley is something special. This place must have been amazing when the area was at it’s peak. A very special place indeed.

The perfect site to ‘visit’ in the rain. I sat in the visitor’s centre with a hot cup of tea and a cake and looked at the site through the conservatory windows – this is the life!!

It is perhaps surprising that although the other sites in Kilmartin had lots of people visiting (despite the weather) there was no one here. I parked in the lane near the house (also a B+B) and took the short walk up the little path which runs alongside the house. I had read about the axe head carvings and spent ages laying on my belly with my head in the cist trying to spot them. I was jusy about to give up when I noticed the other cist – and there they were (3 of them if I remember correctly) quite easy to spot once your eyes adjust. The first, and so far only, axe head carvings I have seen. Well worth a visit.

The rain eased off as I approached the cairn although the wind got stronger. Dafydd was safely secured in his push chair under his rain covers and I had a quick look around. Stuck my head inside the cist and tried to contemplate the whole landscape – too much for my small mind!

This was the last site I visited in my day out at Kilmartin. By now the rain was torrential and I made my tired and wet way up the narrow track behind the hotel to the site. The effort was worth it although I am sure I would have enjoyed the experience more in better weather! To make things worse I (somehow) took the wrong track back to the car and ended up the wrong side of the hill – resulting in a long walk along the road which runs around the base of the hill – much to the confusion of passing cars!

When I visited last year I failed to spot the henge. I know it looks easy to find on the map but I just couldn’t see it on the ground. Perhaps the constant rain was putting me off?! One to re-visit next time I get chance to visit Kilmartin.

I got absolutely drenched visiting this site (days before I had my waterproofs!) but it was well worth it as the rock art is amazing and the rock face is so large. I doubt a place like this would have survived this long if it was easier to get to! In saying that, the path from the car park is obvious. Just keep walking and it takes you right there.

I really liked Templewood. Easy to access and a very pleasant setting amongst the trees. (Disabled car parking is available right next to the site). Even though there were plenty of people about everyone seemed to respect the site and quietly observed from the edges as opposed to climbing all over it as I have seen at other places.

Companion site to nearby Lang Cairn, albeit much smaller and not so well preserved, this is arguably even more remote and relatively difficult to reach. Both time and inclination resulted in me foregoing an approach from Lang Cairn yesterday, heavy, low cloud almost resulting in me deciding not to go for it today, upon awaking beside an ethereal Loch Lomond. Almost.......

Following Greywether’s advice, I arrive at The Queen’s View car park on the A809 and, after shaking my head at the so called ‘Queen’s View’ itself (is that it?), look in trepidation at the swathes of mist sweeping across Stockie Muir and wonder if I’m simply truly committed, or ready to be committed, if you know what I mean? So low is the cloud that I stick to the low-level path across the northern shoulder of Auchineden Hill, against all Gladman instincts, and head for The Whangie. OK, to southern ears it’s not the best of names, but there’s nothing second rate at all about these soaring, rocky pinnacles, reminiscent of Skye itself, mist swirling around and – to be honest – putting further doubts in the mind.

However the forest line is where it should be, so I follow it steeply downwards to the left of a prominent (glacial?) hill, to eventally meet an intersecting wire fence line barring progress. This is of the ‘barbed’ variety, but passable [note there are the rusting remnants of a parallel fence]. Once across, look for a small stream-bearing gulley, with a (sort of) green path to its right. Follow this, the gulley becoming more and more substantial, until a green bridge, metal water pipe markers and a small brick structure on the opposite bank announce you are almost there. The long cairn lies a little further on to the right, not far from the forestry line.

Overgrown and sporting a typically spunky little tree, two facade orthostats, one significantly leaning, form the major structural highlight of the cairn. It is more than enough... the cairn is pretty substantial and, so it would appear, more or less aligned upon The Whangie? If so, the latter is perhaps not so surprising, bearing in mind my recent experiences there. A protruding orthostat maybe hints at a former lateral chamber to the north, then again maybe not. To be honest that is that in terms of visual experience. But, hey, we’ve other senses too, right? And it’s the stimulation of these where Stockie Muir long cairn excels. Superb vibe.

The mist lifts, allowing a ‘high level’ return along the summit ridge of Auchineden Hill, with the tenament blocks of Glasgow to my right, Loch and Ben Lomond to my left. This is not your usual place, it has to be said.

Relative to prehistoric structures, the term ‘sleeping giant’ could well have been invented for the Lang Cairn... sitting aloof at the southern end of Gallangad Muir, just north of the forest line, Mother Nature has now all but reclaimed her monument for herself, such is the heather coverage.

Yeah, the true height of this extraordinary long cairn may consequently be masked, but there’s no disguising its length. The name is descriptive and apt. Say what you see, prosaic local inhabitant, say what you see.... For me, however, it is the impressive facade which is the finest component of this top rate cairn, despite the toppling of two of the tallest stones who knows when? Facade aside, however, structural details are scarce, with only the remnants of a lateral chamber visible mid-way(ish) along the right hand flank as the traveller makes his way from the facade end.

Due to the aforementioned forestry there’s an ‘otherworldly’ aura here, the vibe amplified as a spontaneous Gladman exclamation echoes around the locality, as if within some natural mountain amphitheatre. Too much reverb, methinks. The light drizzle and mist lying upon the tree-tops probably helped as well, come to think of it. In some respects, a ‘Lost World’ analogy is not too fanciful, for the forestry not only shields the Lang Cairn from casual visitors, but makes a personal audience by the interested punter none too easy either.

So, assuming you’ve managed to locate the ‘Auchencarroch Road’ from the A813 at Jamestown, follow this minor road all the way to its terminus at West Cameron Farm. I asked to park here – no problem at all – before walking up the well made track, this veering eastwards, then southwards to enter the forestry. The trick now is to attempt to accurately guage when to cut through the trees to your right and emerge upon the moor within sight of the monument. Hmmm... somehow I managed the feat with ease, much to my surprise, although the ‘ride’ I chose did not possess the observation platform mentioned in Twinny’s post. So must have been a bit ‘jammy’, then. Further to previous directions, ensure you pass a distinctive structure faced with a couple of horizonal wooden planks on your left, and look to do your ‘Indiana Jones’ bit near the end of the next long, straight section of track around the corner. Think of it as a sort of induction test to prove you are worthy. Or something like that.

Finally, I should relate that the long cairn was surrounded by numerous Historic Scotland notices warning that metal detecting at a Neolithic site is not only very stupid, rendering you a muppet (er, ‘Stone Age’) but also illegal. OK, perhaps it didn’t say the former, but if any local TMA’ers are in a position to keep a look out, please do so.

Edintore is best described as a disgrace, I don’t care who’s to blame but something surely could have been done to save some of it.

Canmore describes it as badly mutilated. They where being kind. Nothing hardly remains, a slight rise in the ground with one or two stones poking their heads out. It would be better if this was flattened altogether than leave this shambles.

Apart from being a mud bath, one half planted in trees, 99% of stones removed (including perhaps a RSC), trampled to smithereens by cattle, man and machine have done the rest, there is always the view.......there isn’t............ more trees. As with Caird’s Wood, nearby, thankfully the Whiteleys aren’t far away.

Parked just short of Edintore farm at the trees which you can follow up hill until the gate. Turn west for the muddy swimming pool and knackered cairns. Keep going uphill for the Whiteleys.

Visited 7/06/2010.

I was told before that this cairn ‘wis in a fair state’. After the disaster of Edintore I shouldn’t have been surprised. From Edintore walk in a north easterly direction thru the mud bath following the young tree line until it meets the older trees.

It is impossible to say to much about this place as trees are planted on one side, there are barbed wire fences everywhere, machinery damage and in previous times cattle have trampled all over. At one time the views must have magnificent but like the cairn it has been obliterated by the trees.

It must have been over 14 meters wide and height is about 1 meter, even height is hard to tell because of the jabby things sitting on top. Thankfully the two other cairns at Whiteley are in far better condition.

Visited 7/05/2010.

Located within the grounds of Saint Mary’s church in the tiny village of Bolsterstone, the two stones lay recumbent, one on top of the other and are said to be the base of two Saxon crosses now long gone, sockets are still visible in the uppermost stone.

The stones once stood in the centre of the village probably on the village green and are thought to have been moved to their current position in the 19th century for safekeeping.

The stones are just inside the church yard through the lych gate, the main entrance, and can be viewed at any time.

Visited last summer during a week long stay in Scotland. Called in when visiting the Crannog Centre (also worth visiting). Easily seen right next to the road and parking easy as well. I brought the whoe family to see this site as access is so easy. Unfortunately only myself and Dafydd got out of the car to have a look around (and he didn’t have a say in the matter!). Lovely site and well worth a visit – despite what the rest of the family may say!! Cracking.

When I visited it was pouring down with rain and the road was like a stream. Eventually found the site thanks to directions from a farm house. Also, a special mention must go to the chap who stopped us in his 4x4 telling us the ‘road’ we were about to go down was flooded to a depth of 3 foot!. Despite this, it is a cracking site right next to the road. If only the weather was better!

Worth visiting when seeing Long Meg. The stones are near the field hedge on the left hand side as you enter the field. Very small although there are some nice markings on one of the stones. Might prove a little difficult to spot if the grass gets too long!