Thelonious's lucid comments succinctly capture the appeal of this megalithic Inverpolly wonderland for this curious Citizen Cairn'd. Take out the map, choose something on said map.... and go see what's there. If it's a little underwhelming - possible; but, I'd wager, unlikely - there's no need to fret. Just move onto the next one nearby. Simples. Oh. And you may well get a glimpse, or two, of some pretty special landscape into the bargain.
Having said the above, however, it would be remiss of me to claim any pioneering TMA intention for this pair of cairns. No, I'd seen the previous notes, well, previously, and consequently scribbled this one down on the list. So, awaking from an overnighter just east of Loch Borralan, I make my way to the co-ordinates mentioned by thelonious a little west of the Ledmore River cairn on the A835. As I arrive, two very fit looking Germans (men, unfortunately) speed off down the track in the direction of the Cam Loch leaving me floundering very much in their wake... more or less literally, since I doubt whether the landscape could take any more moisture, to be honest. But hey, there's no denying Mother Scotland 'knows' a thing or three about how to use all this excess water to great aesthetic effect. Consider the sight of Suilven rising across the relatively placid surface of Cam Loch as I slither down to the near shore. Surely a spot to spend all day at relaxing under the watchful gaze of Suil? Er no. Not when the standing stones exert a magnetic attraction upon the visitor so difficult to define. Much like my inherent sense of (mis)direction....
So... abandoning the track (as usual) in search of legendary views, I discover, as (I think) Prof Cox once said, that 'things can only get better' in that respect. Truly exquisite. I really do not think the traveller can experience many finer for the effort required. Then... I come face to face with a seemingly impassable deer fence. Ha! Apparently they have these in Scotland to keep the sassenachs in check. Once across - not being a deer - I proceed to make a bit of a hash of locating the ancient monuments, only to suddenly see an 'obvious' chambered cairn standing upon a prominent knoll a lot further below my position than I had anticipated from the 1:50k map. Clearly from the 'Cam Loch' nomenclature I assumed the monument would overlook the loch. Guess the assumption to take from this is to never, ever.... assume. Nevertheless, despite the lack of altitude, the location is superb. As is the archaeology, the cairn possessing an apparently polygonal chamber, entrance passage and very substantial lintel. Amongst other stones. A top-class site, in fact.
The vibe kicks in and it is time to sit down and enjoy the light, enjoy the colours, the textures of the stones... enjoy the moment. The cairn - actually 'cairns' since there is another a little to the approx south-east, albeit lacking the orthostats and inherent detail of its near neighbour - overlooks the Ledbeg River flowing below to the east, as you might have expected of a Neolithic monument. OK, the vista is not as overwhelming as those experienced earlier. No, a quarry across the valley emphasises this is very much a 'working landscape'. Yeah, people still live and work here attempting to tame this brutally uncompromising corner of Scotland. Guess they always have, the Cam Loch chambered cairn still remaining upon this barren hillside in mute testimony to past human endeavours. I like that.
18/05/2012 - There is something a bit exciting about looking at an OS map in the morning and picking one of the many chambered cairns in this area to visit with no idea what remains till you get there. Will it be worth the effort? In this case the answer was definitely yes. We parked at a good spot (NC 2296 1211) on the A835 and followed the track to the shores of Cam Loch. Leaving the track, once past the deer fence, we headed east over the rise to the two cairns resting on their own little knolls. The Chambered Cairn is the pick of the two with some lovely stones. The other cairn is only a short distance away. What struck me most about them both was the choice of stones used. Fantastic colours with both cairns containing some great ordinary pipe and trumpet pipe rock. Great start to a walk.
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Posted by GLADMAN
Posted by thelonious
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