|
Hillfort
|
|
|
Feeling somewhat tired and jaded... as you might expect following the long, long, long drive from Essex... I park below Gosland and follow the farm track toward the Kilbucho valley, the overcast conditions not the best, to be honest. But at least it isn't raining, something that is never welcome upon the first day of a two week wild camp. The track veers right to ascend through trees, a subsequent left hand fork accessing the ruins of a church suggesting a larger resident community in times past. Ignoring this, at least physically, I pass farm buildings to arrive at the foot of Mitchelhill. Guess the 'fort must be up there, then? Not the most inspired of deductions, perhaps, but at least it is accurate.
A short, but tiring scramble later, my mood rises sky high, unlike the low cloud base which resolutely refuses to permit passage to even a solitary ray of sunlight. The swine that it is. How could it be otherwise when faced with such a fine hillfort as this, perched airily upon the eastern flank of White Hill, the summit of which, also crowned by a hillfort, rises to the approx south-west?
According to Canmore the compact, bi-vallate enclosure is a "roughly circular fort measuring internally 175' by 160', with a secondary settlement inside it.... The entrance, measuring 10' in width, is on the SE (RCAHMS 1967)."
It's a great viewpoint, too, no doubt even better than I suppose under clearer conditions. Even today the vistas, particularly of the narrow glen carrying the Mitchelhill Burn between the left-hand brooding flanks of 2,000ft plus Cardon Hill - together with the not far off that Scawdman's Hill - and the lower, but nonetheless substantial enough White Hill (anything but 'white' today, it has to be said), are inspiring. In actual fact so much so that, duly picking up the evocative vibe, I decide to go have a look at the summit of White Hill itself. Hell, why not?
|
Posted by GLADMAN
5th October 2013ce
Edited 5th October 2013ce
|
|
Log in |
Register
Top of page