drewbhoy
From the Laurencekirk by-pass, A90, take the B9120 south east. I parked at the entrance to the Johnston Mains farm. From here I walked in a south west direction, then headed south east following the track south. By this time a gap in the hedge will point the way east so follow the track up hill. By this time the Tower will be seen to the south east but keep to the track. Jump the first gate and a path will cut up the hill to a path that heads south to cairn. Once again this a fairly steep walk.
Why they had to build a tower on top of the cairn is anybody’s guess. To keep the tower company they put a trig point beside it. Sadly nothing remains of the kerb, it probably is now part of the tower. It still stands at over 28 meters in width and is almost two meters tall. Once again it is made out of pebbles. Once again the scenery is wonderful.
Just like at Shiels I went for a wander, to the north, but found nothing except a gate with a lot of barbed wire on top of it. Another excellent walk through the Mearns.
Visited 9/8/2012.
Just north of the Laurencekirk by-pass there is a minor road that heads south east and leads straight to Shiels Farm. Permission was given to park and I climbed the first stage of Shiels Hill. This is a fairly steep climb but at least it is on a decent track. Follow the track when it heads north but look east. A small, mainly filled in loch bars the way to the cairn. (after trying to walk on water near Inverness I gave this a wide berth.) So head north, then east after the loch (this is very boggy and has been churned up by the cows, who were quite friendly) and walk south along the top of the ridge to the cairn.
Fantastic scenery to be seen includes the Highlands, North Sea, The Mearns as well as modern additions, a wind turbine farm to the east. Still the cairn, almost Wessex like in style, seems in reasonable condition sitting over twenty meters wide, a platform on which sits a central mound over 6 meters wide. The height of the structure is over 1.5 meters. It is also made up from pebbles as opposed to rocks.
So a very lovely cairn, a fine walk and Aberdeenshire looks lovely. On the way down I headed further north to look at what resembled a cairn, it wasn’t, it was piles of rubble from a quarry. After that it was back down the hill and onto the next site.
Visited 9/8/2012
The top of the cairn is hollowed and has the ‘normal’ agricultural waste as well.
Image credit: drew/amj
Towards the North Sea, the mouth of the River South Esk can also be seen.
Image credit: drew/amj
Path on the northern side, seems they tried to save the cairn a little bit.
Image credit: drew/amj
The mouth of the River South Esk near Montrose in the distance.
Image credit: drew/amj
Don’t mind the trig but to build a tower was slightly overdoing it!
Image credit: drew/amj
And Frodo said to Drew, ‘have I been here before?‘
Image credit: drew/amj
The Houff Of Ury is another cairn in severe need of a clean up. It is heavily overgrown and being only 0.4 meters high it is difficult to spot. However I’m glad to say the kerbs are still there, only three are visible out of 12. There is a slab in the middle of the cairn, it might be part of a cist or just simply a boulder.
I approached from the north taking the last minor road west on the B979. Keep going past Monboys until a small wood on the north side of the road. There is a gate to south half away along opposite the wood. The track here quickly fades into an obstacle course of bogs and holes but it leads straight to cairn.
Visited 9/8/2012.
The small standing stone on top of Berry Top Hill offers some wonderful views. Alas it has also suffered probably due to weather (winter can be harsh in this area) as the stone has split. However it still stands, wonderfully shaped and triangular. At it’s base it is 1.3 meters wide and stands at 1 meter tall.
At the crossroads just north of Netherley on the B979 head east taking the farm track north, after Berry Top farm, to Whiteside farm. I parked at the farm and then headed in a north westerly direction. This might sound easy, unfortunately the stone resides in a middle of a bog amongst the ‘jabby’ stuff. Cows have also churned up the area so underfoot conditions are also dodgy, but it was a nice way to start the day.
Visited 9/8/2012.
Looks like the stone has split fairly recently. Winter is normally pretty harsh in these parts.
Image credit: drew/amj
Leave Knockando heading south on the picturesque B9102 take the second farm track west. This goes past Garlinemore House, a small wood before Leakin farm comes into view. The cairn is a short walk in a field to the south.
It sits about 16 meters wide and is just over 1 meter tall. Cairn material can be seen but turf mostly covers the site. Some kerbs remain in place and more importantly a cup marked slab in the central cairn can still be found. I counted 18 decent cup marks and a few weathered efforts.
Visited 6/8/2012.
