thelonious
16/05/2024 – A sunny day trip to House of Dun near Montrose. It’s a lovely walk up the Den of Dun with just a little clamber up a slope at the end to see this nice small stone with 14 cup marks.
16/05/2024 – Looking towards the barrow. It’s a bit higher up the slope that in Drew’s photos I think. I didn’t go looking as it’s a mess up there and I was tired.
28/01/2024 – Tyrebagger stone circle this evening. The big stones are silhouetted against the twilight sky. The stones have stood here in silence for over 4000 years.
29/12/2023 – Towards the end of Astronomical Twilight. Mither Tap, silhouetted against a starry sky. The glow of the towns and city behind. Cold on the hill this evening.
25/12/2023 – The two remaining flankers of South Fornet recumbent stone circle. Christmas Day.
24/12/2023 – The single remaining stone of Fullerton stone circle. First time I’ve visited here. Been past it many, many times. Today just felt the right time to visit.
12/11/2023 – After sunset visit to Tyrebagger stone circle. Well into Nautical Twilight now. It was raining a bit and cloudy. The oddish purple colours to the sky come from the lights of nearby airport and the city beyond bouncing of the low clouds.
04/11/2023 – After sunset visit to Geallaig Hill. This a fine hill with a good loop from Glen Gairn. We reached the top at pretty much sunset. Misty and a cold wind. We sat by the cairn, had our tea and waited for the dark. A few stars on the way back down but the mist and clouds didn’t clear much. It was a chilly visit but just what we needed.
The nice cairn on the top of Geallaig Hill. I’d forgotten how big the footprint was. Looks prehistory to me. There’s over 14 hut circles and a field system at the bottom of the hill. Could the people who lived there have built this cairn back in the Bronze age?
01/07/2023 – Our run of good weather came to an end. Today it chucked it down for most of the day. We headed north to Eshaness to try and dodge the rain but it found us in the end. Whilst there me and Mrs T made a quick dash up and down Sae Breck in the rain to have a look for the broch. There was not much to see (or we just missed it). Still nice views of the surrounding landscape and a bonus trigpoint.
30/06/2023 – Mousa Broch. View from half way up (or down depending which way you are going).
30/06/2023 – Mousa Broch. Internal stairs. The steps are a bit random in size. I like a bit of random.
30/06/2023 – Top of Mousa Broch. That flagstone is perfect building material, probably why it’s stood for so long.
30/06/2023 – A boat trip to Mousa. 9 years since my last visit, 25 years for my dad. We were both happy to be back. I’d rushed it a bit last time, nervous about missing the boat back (didn’t need to be as you get plenty of time). It was great to get a chance to visit again, enjoyed it more. My dad made it to the broch and back too, which was pretty ace as his knees ain’t great nowadays. On the way back to the boat we were lucky to hear Storm petrels calling from the old stone walls nearby which was proper magic. Top day out with my dad, I’d not seen him for ages as we don’t live near to each other. Just great that he made the trip up. Mousa is a special place.
29/06/2023 – Brough Head broch. Lump of the broch (grassed over). Farmhouse to the left.
29/06/2023 – Brough Head broch at the entrance to the Pool of Virkie. Airport runway and Sumburgh Head behind.
29/06/2023 – Brough Head broch. Looking into what would have been the interior of the broch.
29/06/2023 – Heading back to Sumburgh in the afternoon we stopped by the Pool of Virkie, a tidal area good for birds. At the entrance are the remains of a broch and settlement.
Canmore has an old entry stating – ‘the broch may have given a name to the Pool, for ‘Virkie’ is derived from a Scandinavian word for a fort.‘
The broch is mostly destroyed by erosion. Walls can still be seen though. There looks to be the remains of outer buildings too. Maybe a large settlement like at nearby Old Scatness.
Easy access with good parking at the harbour and then just a short walk to the broch.
Site record for Sumburgh Head
28/06/2023 – This is the fourth time I’ve visited Sumburgh Head over the years. There isn’t much of the fort/possible broch to see but the views are nice and I finally met the current inhabitants – lovely puffins (the main reason everyone comes here). Still light at near 11pm. What a place to live back in the day. View down to the sea from inside what would have been the interior of the fort. Canmore entry is worth a read.
28/06/2023 – Setting sun behind Jarlshof. It was a nice evening.
28/06/2023 – Between the inner and outer wall of the broch.
28/06/2023 – The broch wall. Full of lichen.
27/06/2023 – It’s been ages since anyone posted a picture of Britain’s most northerly lump of rock so I thought I’d upload a new one. Not much has changed in the last 20 years, no surprise really for rocks formed over 500 million years ago.
The site is tricky to photograph so I made a short video. Like me it lacks focus at times.
26/06/2023 – Last cairn for us on a cairn filled walk to Crussa Field. Nice position with lovely views of north Unst and the sea. We sat and had a brew. Tired but it had been a good day.
26/06/2023 – Muckle Heog East cairn. Looking down to Muckle Heog West cairn.
26/06/2023 – Muckle Heog East cairn. The displaced stones on the southside.
26/06/2023 – Muckle Heog East cairn. View over the cairn stones to the rest of the rocky hillside.
1-50 of 2,822 postsNext page