drewbhoy

After some refreshment at the Boat Of Garten, the lady at the shop added to my list of sites to visit (next time), I headed north to Carrbridge in order to give the legs a bit of a rest. From Carrbridge, on the B9153, head east on the minor road called Carr Road. Keep going until Easter Gallovie and stop at the barns.

For change, today, this is a very rural cairn set near the picturesque River Dulnain. It is 20+ meters wide and easily 2.5 meters high. Sadly the western and southern have been quarried somewhat but it still is an impressive structure.

Just north of Easter Gallovie, follow the track east of the barns which leads straight to the cairn. Bright sunshine, one or two dark clouds, a cheery place today.

Visited 26/7/2012.

From the Deishar Wood cairn, at NH94042054, I headed in a south westerly direction until I reached the track just north of Dochlaggie farm. Fairly tricky terrain, a few fallen trees, burns and some large puddles hiding underneath the moss but nothing to exciting.

At the track head up hill until the track meets another track. Instead of using any of the tracks head straight west into the woods, the cairn is about 400 meters away sitting on top of a small hill.

Originally it was 25 meters wide as a smattering of boulders, some possibly kerbs, proves but the main cairn is probably around 20 meters wide with it’s highest point being 2.5 meters. The chamber, difficult to spot, except for a slab, can be seen thru parts of the rubble and reminds us, so says Canmore, of similar types of thing in the Orkney and Shetland islands.

Once again this place felt very old, the trees, moss covered stones and heat (yes, heat) giving the site a warm kind of glow. Another lovely site, another lovely place which would have stunning views south if it wasn’t for the trees. No complaints, the trees have done a good job and protected it for many a year.

Visited 26/7/2012.

Fortunately this was an incident free walk up a hill thru very nice woods as Mr T says. I pulled in at the track to Deishar opposite the Boat Of Garten road. Up the hill, 2nd left, keep looking north the cairn is next to the track. 10 meters wide and just over a half meter tall. Lovely place, lovely vibe.

Visited 26/7/2012.

Now the walk from the standing stones to the Clava cairn isn’t that far and provided an excellent opportunity to speak to Tiompan asking for details about this site. Although chancy, I climbed the fence, crossed the railway, climbed another fence and walked over to the cairn. Unlike previous people I’d met thru the day the farmer driving his tractor did not take me on. With all the info gleaned from Tiompan I prepared to take photos only to discover the old camera was gone. Still I went back to railway and luckily found it lying in the tracks. Back over the fence I went and a new Olympic record was set for high jump, the electric fence had been switched on...............to stop hay escaping presumably.

All the details are in SC’s link, the kerbs and possible fallen stones in the correct places. The site is fenced for protection.

With that it was back to the car at the Ouchnoire track nursing a sore leg after the electric fence incident. This farmer obviously doesn’t play fair.

Visited 26/7/2012.

From the Toum cairn I headed back down the hill and crossed a very busy A95 going slightly west before heading south towards Tullochgorum. Keep going until the farm and then head west for about 200 meters. Look for a gate or jump the fence, the stones are in the field below.

Two very differently shaped stones here. One magnificent, to the west, and one looking like it was pinched from the chamber cairn at Gaich. (I made that bit up but the stone would do the job) Once again superb views of the Spey and Cairngorms. After this it’s the nearby Clava cairn. Still no signs of running out of steam!

Visited 26/7/2012.

Toum is a fantastic cairn and it remains in superb condition relatively unharmed. A massive pile of stones stands at over 20 meters wide and 3 meters high with stunning views of the Spey and the Cairngorms.

I parked at the Ouchnoire track and wandered up the hill. Keep heading west when a track heads east towards Ouchnoire. At the end of road Toum is reached, look east, you would do well to miss this cairn. It is quite a steep climb and I could have taken the car but that would have been cheating. From here I hiked back down the hill across the A95 across to Tullochgorm for some more fun and games.

Visited 26/7/2012.