Bay of the Pledges + Ben Hiant The Blessed Mountain
Image credit: tomatoman
Images
Camas nan Geall from the car park.... any inkling why humankind occupied and worshipped at this stunning little corner of Ardnamurchan for millennia? Possibly....
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The stunning landscape setting of the Camas nan Geall tomb, approx centre of image under tree cover.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The ‘christianised’ standing stone, possibly Bronze Age. The chambered cairn is beyond, to left.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The chamber, with facade orthostat visible in shadow to its right.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The tomb is at the left hand extremity of the trees...
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The chambered cairn now lies beneath the prominent copse of trees, the ‘christianised stone’ in the enclosure visible to its left. Ben Hiant rises above.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Articles
I found the whole “Camas experience” very affecting and ended up sat on a very comfortable boulder at the top of the beach contemplating what the location has meant to so many successive generations of inhabitants.
The standing stone inscribed cross also appears to have a carved dog above the cross.
There is good parking up at the roadside with a good quality track leading down to the site.
Lost for words, to be honest. I last came here in 2000, completely unaware of the existance of a chambered cairn upon the floor of this truly stunning bay. Clearly I had to return some day, although perhaps a decade was a tad too long to wait. But that is all academic now. I’m here.
A well made track slants down the hillside, from a large parking area beside the B8007, to the lush pasture which adjoins the curving beach at water’s edge. The monument is located at the sea-ward end of a prominent copse of trees and, at first, appears as simply a jumble of stones. However I then catch on... what we have here are the pretty substantial remains of a chamber, with two large facade orthostats, one standing, one fallen, to its right. Ah, I see. And what an idyllic location!
Moving towards the shoreline, a prominent standing stone stands (luckily) beside what I take to be the remnants of a church. This is not as great detective work as you may at first suppose, for the stone is actually defaced by – sorry! – I mean, features..... a cross in bold relief, the attendant enclosure containing two gravestones dated 1730-odd, these bearing quite excellent images. Since I have no reason to suspect the standing stone is not Bronze Age in origin, the continuity of human spiritual practices at Camas nan Geall is breathtaking.
I walk the beach and poke my head inside a deserted, roofless dry stone building... my mind reels at the enormity of the human experience here. Hey, the chambered cairn may not be the finest, even on Ardnamurchan, but you will not be disappointed with a visit to Camas nan Geall.
Don’t forget your bucket and spade, too!
On the B8007 single track Salen/Ardnamurchan Point road. There is parking close by.
Clyde chambered tomb of which the two chamber entrance stones and a stone from the facade are currently the most prominent features.
Sites within 20km of Camas Nan Geall
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Greadal Fhinn
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Dun Ghallain
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Balliscate Stones
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Ardnacross
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Ardnacross Cairn
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Ardnamurchan, Salen Bridge
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Glengorm
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Dun Ara
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Dervaig A
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Dervaig B
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Dervaig C
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Quinish
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Tenga
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Torr Aint
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Claggan