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Chambered Cairn
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Yet another 'Greywether special', modern antiquarians partial to the serenity inherent in the 'woodland clearing vibe' could do a lot worse that to pay a visit to the slumbering chambered cairn of Bealachnancorr. In fact it's not so much 'slumbering' as downright comatose. Hey, bring your insomniac friends and bank a fortune in deferred future goodwill, such is the tranquility on offer here.
Travelling on the A834 from Contin toward Strathpeffer, I take a minor road to the right at Jamestown and head approx east to locate the access road for Beallachnagore Farm. As intimated by Greywether I found parking to be less than straightforward initially; however I eventually squeeze in roadside beside an 'electricity station' (for want of a much better term) near the point where tarmac merges to dirt track. The farmer soon drives by, his friendly demeanour positive mute acceptance of my actions. So, walking up the aforementioned track to the farm, a footpath continues to forest's edge and stile. Once across I follow Greywether's simple directions; turn left, then right... hey, even I can follow those... and suddenly everything's all right with the world, at least for a few hours.
OK, for a chambered cairn there's not a lot of 'cairn' in situ, assuming there's not a volume of stone within the moss. Which is always a possibility, I guess. However a significant number of chamber orthostats still remain erect. Pretty substantial examples of the genre, too, the impression formed by this 'blissed out' traveller that of the bare skeleton of a very impressive monument, albeit lacking capstone(s). 'Blissed out?' Hell yeah! I lie within the chamber and time seems to, well, do whatever the appropriate cliche dictates in such circumstances. Unless you happen to be an insect or bird, of course. No rest for such creatures, or so it appears, the former scurrying all over the place, the latter engaged in full on, noisy mating ritual. Yeah, everything's in its right place, then. Check.
So, Bealachnancorr chambered cairn is more 'chambered' than 'cairn'. But highly recommended to all heads nevertheless. Come and lose yourself for a while in the shadow of Cnoc Mor... and then go and 'vitrify yourself' upon the nearby Knock Farril. Simple pleasures, eh?
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Posted by GLADMAN
10th August 2013ce
Edited 10th August 2013ce
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