drewbhoy

A few meters south of the middle stone this mound has been severely damaged by two massive trenches. Still it has nice views of the calm running River Spey. It is 27 meters wide and 1.5 meters tall.

(I’ll go back, the photos aren’t very clear).

Visited 26/7/2012.

Coming down from Gaich Wood 2 I jumped the fence at Skeilloch Croft onto the old A95. A tractor approached so I waved and he stopped. Asking directions to the standing stones I enquired what was the best way. Answer, over the A95 straight across. Absolute dawdle of a mile walk, maybe not.

Ran across the A95 jumped the fence and somehow managed to cross a bog without being soaked. Jump next fence and if you have long legs jump the burn as well, a few meters later repeat this process. From here it is much drier however bombardment from above started. Seagulls obviously have been lacking targets recently and decided that I was to be repeatedly dive bombed and screamed at. But after a while they realised they weren’t tough enough, so they flew away.

The three stones (plus a couple of others having a rest, including the cup marked one) are all still standing. Beautiful site, beautiful views. Park at the farm if you have any sense.

Visited 26/7/2012.

From the Gaich Wood Cairn I followed the so called path west which consists of some very boggy sections. With all the recent rain up here my feet have become webbed so no problems with this. After approx 450 meters look south down on to the A95, or more importantly look down on Skellioch or Skellach Croft.

The chamber, or basically the chamber, is a short distance north of the croft. Sadly most of the once substantial cairn has gone. All that remains is one kerb (in one of the pics) and clumps of rubble. The slab at the north end of the chamber has also vanished. To make matters this beautiful site is being used as a mini rubbish dump, their taste in drink equally bad.

From here I walked down to the A95 for the next part of what was going to be a very long, exhausting but magnificent day.

Visited 26/7/2012.

This is a wonderful cairn situated high above the A95. I pulled in at the entrance to Upper Gaich and climbed the hill to the farm. From here walk in an western direction gradually climbing until a path of sorts is reached. The cairn is a short distance north of the path.

Supposedly destroyed it was rediscovered on Oct 11th 2006, obviously a very good day indeed. Sadly some of the houk damage is fairly recent but it doesn’t detract as the cairn feels old, the trees also add to the ancient vibe. Traces of a kerb remain on a cairn that is 19/14 meters NW/SE and stands at 1 meter high.

Lovely and peaceful.

Visited 26/7/2012.

To the west of Grantown On Spey and just slightly south of the A95, pull in at the Craggan Golf Course, which has tremendous views of the Cairngorms, the River Spey and a hillfort.

I parked at the clubhouse and strode across the fairways to the 2nd hole, no golf ball on the head for me. The hillfort is situated behind.

A small ditch runs most of the way around the fort and there is still some rampart left. The entrance ‘causeway’ is to the east. It is more oval shaped than circular and has a flat interior. All the measurements are in the link.

As is always the case, one of staff asked what I was looking for, nobody knew about the ancient site.

Visited 26/7/2012.