drewbhoy

From Ardvannie 2 we took the most awkward route, south west, bashing our way through bushes, ex bogs, wee hills and eventually over the railway line to find the cairn in front of us.

Dried vegetation of the fern variety covers the site which sits at 8m wide. Underneath the plants stones can be felt, perhaps a kerb. We decided to not trample over or remove any obstacles as the cairn was still being used. Badgers had created a path and tunnel though the site, which impressed both of us.

Walking to a track heading south towards the A636, we walked past the nearby chamber cairn, something I didn’t expect. A nice way to end the day.

Visited 31/03/2025.

This is a cracking area for prehistory and we continued on our way, after Dun Alascaig, to the large burial cairn at Ardvannie. We headed east (A861) and took the first first track heading north after the Ardvannie Chamber Cairn. We’d accidentally walk past this later. We parked at the first corner, permission was given by the smartly dressed occupant of the railway house at the end of the road.

Continuing north east we crossed the railway line, past what looked like a graveyard for old cars along with a gradually falling down warehouse, followed what looked like a hedge (more like a bramble death trap) downhill into a clearing and kept going until we reached a wood along with a start of a climb. At the top of this climb sits the Ardvannie Burial Cairn.

The views are well worth the visit. Magnificent scenery of the Dornoch Firth and further north as well as a magnificent cairn. As usual a fair amount of ‘houking’ to the centre. It sits at almost 16m wide and is over 2m high with no signs of a kerb. Luckily it seems to survived a lot of the stone robbing suffered by nearby sites.

Great site, now for an unusual way back to the transport.

Visited 31/03/2025.

A real ‘what if’ site as the broch has been almost been completely removed to make the original A816 down below, slightly to the north. From the kerb cairn at Ardvannie we headed back east along the A816 parking at a lay-by just beyond the broch.

From the layby we headed back west to find a track, heading east, which led us to slightly south of the site.

Spying the site from the road is almost impossible thanks to vegetation and fallen trees.

However, it still sits at over 17m wide and on its west side still has impressive blocks in place, several other blocks remain in place. The rest of the walls are tumbled, especially on the north or, mostly, in the road below. Mr Ed also, putting in practise for future digs, found possible flooring or misplaced lintels. Inside the broch is a mixture of fallen rocks and trees.

Not much to see, but as usual my imagination worked well and went back to 1775 when the site had three galleries, four chambers and was over 4.5m tall. Sadly, by 1815, Dun Alascaig had been torn down leaving what remains.

Visited 31/03/2025.