This year’s plan, 2024, was to visit the sites on the south or west side of the B8024, in 2025 it will be north and east side of the road. Barr Na Cour is on the west side.
Finding a place to park is easy, follow the road from Avinagillan until you pass the Dunmore Farm, look for a forestry commission road on the north side, plenty room. Directly opposite there is a barn, during my visit men were working improving the old barn, one of whom gave me directions to dun. He mentioned that I would be the first person to climb the hill since a field visit by people from Historic Scotland in 1982.
Be warned there is no path, there might have been such a thing a long time ago, but not now. The first thing I was told look for was a stile, which after battering my way through all types of vegetation I found. As soon as I put my foot on the stile, it fell down with me quickly following. Picking myself up I climbed the deer fence and stepped onto a dry stane dyke which like the stile promptly fell down. Unluckily for me some of the stones changed the colour of my legs.
However, the wall leads to the top of hill alongside a deer fence. Parts of the wall can be walked on when the vegetation becomes too dense. Eventually a cliff face is reached, this forms the northwest part of the dun. As soon as I put my foot on the fence, like the stile and wall -it fell down – once again I followed it to the ground.
Head to the northeast, to avoid climbing the cliff, and the entrance will be found. Facer stones can be found along with little guard rooms creating the galleried section. Sadly, the entrance and small rooms are filled with fallen stonework. The dun is 14m by 10m, the surrounding wall in parts reaching over 1.3m in height. As the walls head west, they become more ruinous until they vanish almost altogether on the northwest. Outer walls also reach a height of 1m and over but is obscured by massive ferns.
It must have been impressive when built, and in a way it still is. How it survives is something of a miracle – it has been robbed, used to build nearby dykes, fallen over the cliff edge and somehow survived me standing on it, previous man-made structures hadn’t coped so well.
Finding my way back was easy enough, a trail of destruction and flattened vegetation.
Visited 09/08/2024.
Jeez, you get to some places. That sounds like a great place to arrive at, shame there's no teleport option.
It proved to be a sore day, thought about giving up at Kilberry but the lady there gave some painkillers and that perked me up to visit a couple more sites. Some area to north west of Tarbert, heading back to Colonsay next year again, hopefully leaving from Kennacraig (south of Tarbert).
It looks amazing with the views and all that beautiful upland vegetation. I'm glad you didn't try the cliff given you'd already met with two accidents. I think your efforts would be appreciated given no visitors have made the trek since 1982. Sterling work. But do be careful :)
Just bad luck, first injury in a while. Sore for a couple of days but swollen for quite a while. I'll take care, promise :-)