drewbhoy

Heading west on the A944 go thru the hamlet of Roughpark until the first minor road heading south, indicated Culfork. Opposite that is road heading north to Inverernan house. Take this and go to it’s end. I asked permission to park which was granted. From here walk thru the forest following a path which leads to fence. The cairn is in the field in front.

This must have been a large cairn which at some time must have been oval shaped. At 37 meters north to south, 24 meters east to west and 2 meters in height it has received some unfriendly treatment. The shape has gone due to a dry stane dyke (itself in a state of collapse). Field clearence has also been dumped on top along with a tree trunk or two.

A shame as it has a really fine location.

Visited 14/4/2011.

From Balnagowan I walked all the way back going past sothern edge of Scar Hill and the northern edge of Mulloch. Walking fairly fast I walked past the kerb cairn so that will give an excuse to come back as there is plenty more to see in Drummies Wood and Corrachree, Craig Glas etc.

Anyway I made it back to car and the resident at the house informed of hut circles near the back of his house. There are three but they are in bad condition with one being smashed by a farm track road leading to Knockenzie. Field clearence cairns can also be seen. Further evidence that this must have been a busy area in prehistoric times.

Ironically I had to walk past the western edge of Mulloch on the way back. Two men with chainsaws were busily cutting down most of the heavy vegetation.

Visited 14/4/2011.

In between the Balnagowan Wood cairn and Blue Cairn are at least 6 smaller cairns. Some are moss covered and some have trees growing out of them. All of them have been hollowed at some stage. But they have individual charm as well as being all different sizes. I’ve put the map reference with each pic from this site.

Visited 14/4/2011.

From the cairn at Balnagowan Wood walk the fairly short distance north. (I gave them both different sites as both cairns are totally different.) It is almost impossible to miss this long cairn as it is 70 meters in length and at it’s highest is 2 meters. The horns are 3 meters. Quite simple this is a wonderful place, the woods as indeed does the whole Cromar area reek ancient history. Freachem said the cairn resembled the stars and their constellations. To me, its a beautiful place amongst beautiful places.

As usual the more modern human has added clumsy finishing touches such as hollowing, fences and a graveyard for fence posts. One thing the more modern human couldn’t change was the tranquility and atmosphere. Silence is a great thing in the right place.

Visited 14/4/2011.

From Balnacraig I cut across the field in a north easterly direction, jumping a burn, to reconnect with the path. Keep heading east the path goes thru the undulating hills with a couple of streams to jump. Keep going until a gate appears, head another 100 meters or so until the next gate then surprise surprise the path vanishes again. I walked in a straight line and ended up at the very pretty Balnagowan Wood cairn.

The cairn is circular being 12 meters in width and 0.7 meters tall. It has been hollowed out which has allowed trees to fill the space.

The next stop isn’t that far away, no chance of getting lost!

Visited 14/4/2011.

From Scar Hill I climbed down following the fence and shortly found a gate. The path heading east re-appears, keep going until the trees clear on the southern side. Look across the small valley and the long cairn can be seen on the crest of the hill behind some clearence boulders.

This is a very impressive cairn which has seen a lot of damage but it still hangs on. It is some 35 meters in length and 2.5 meters at it’s tallest. Even the horns at both ends are large being at least 4 meters in length. the views south are exceptional with the views east focusing on Balnagowan, my next stop.

Visited 14/4/2011.

I climbed down Mulloch by heading north to look for a kerbed cairn but instead I became lost. However I found a track which led to Altonrea and Burnside. From there thru a couple of gates then head east, or that is what the map said. The path quickly vanishes and then reappears and then vanishes. (this happened a lot today.) So I headed in the direction I thought would lead to cairn, straight east. This ploy worked but several boggy bits had to be crossed. Eventually I came to edge of the trees, still heading east and flukily found the cairn.

It is a large cairn being some 17 meters wide and 1.7 meters tall. It has been hollowed out and has a fence running thru the middle of it. Once again tremendous views. As well as west, Tarland can be seen in the north. Scar Hill’s peak can be seen due east.

Visited 14/4/2011.