26/09/2012 – The round barrow is situated on the top of Hensbarrow Beacon hill and it’s the oddest hill I’ve been to. Hard to feel you are at any sort of summit as you stand on the top surrounded by china clay spoil heaps that tower over you by 40 meters plus. Really interesting place. The barrow is huge and worth seeing. Small car park by road at SW 99205755.
thelonious
25/09/2012 – We were going to park west of Men-An-Tol but found ourselves in the middle of a hunt. Dogs, big horses and people wearing a lot of red. All a bit odd but each to their own, I suppose. Instead we drove north to park at Carn Galver. A shortish climb found us at the top of Watch Croft. What a place for a cairn. Amazing 360 view and for the first time I felt a long way from home. We stood on the nearby summit rock and watched the rain pass through creating a rainbow above the cairn. Magical. Carried on to Men-An-Tol and the Nine Maidens. A great walk in a great area.
24/09/2012 – After visiting the north side of Bodmin Moor in the morning I probably should have had a lie down in a darkened room but instead we chanced me passing out with excitement by going to the Hurlers on the south side. Had intended to just go to the circles and then on to Stowe’s Hill to look at the Cheesewring (both amazing) but we just kept walking north to Longstone Downs. Three nice cairns sit on top. If you visit and have time, carry on to Kilmar Tor. The top is as good as it gets. Walked back along the dismantled tramway east of Stowe’s Hill.
24/09/2012 – Started from Rough Tor car park on a walk in one of the best places I’ve been for a while. Bodmin Moor is wonderful. We made our way via the fantastic Showery Tor and it’s cairn to Brown Willy. Great summit cairn but the one just south of the top was my favourite. Looped back over Rough Tor with it’s brilliant stones and horses grazing just below. I’m not that good with words and I just can’t think of enough of them to describe how much I liked this place. A must visit.
22/09/2012 – Parked at Meldon reservoir on a great weather day. Very little cloud, big blue sky. Headed south via Black Tor to the cairn at Fordsland Ledge. Really fine walking and the cairn is very nice with great views. Continued on to High Willhays and the cairns on Yes Tor. Great loop on the edge on Dartmoor. I hope to go back one day.
21/09/2012 – We drove the short distance after climbing Glastonbury Tor in the morning to visit Wills Neck. It was a nice surprise to come across this 2 1/2 foot standing stone in the car park. Believed to be bronze age, it stands on an ancient trackway that runs along the ridge. Tradition has it that if you sit upon it, the stone will grant you a wish.
23/09/2012 – 650 miles might seem a long way to travel to look for a stone shaped like an arse but when I saw the photos on here early this year, I knew I had to see it for myself. It’s brilliant.
It took a bit of finding on these twisty roads round here.
It’s at SX 0474658699, small passing place at SX 0468858809 is a good spot to view it from.
02/09/2012 – From the car park at end of Glenesk we took the track into Glen Mark and made our way to the cairn. This was the last cairn we visited on a great day but it’s probably the least exciting in this area. But for my GPS I would have walked past it. Covered nearly completely with heather. It’s a lovely glen but there are better cairns. Worth mentioning that the OS 1:50,000 map has this cairn in the wood, it’s not, it’s just east of the track.
02/09/2012 – Mile cairn is on the east-west track that connects Tarfside to Wester Aucheen. Roughly one mile from Tarfside which might explain its name? The cairn is 10m in diameter and the view back down the glen is very good. We sat for a while, watching Ravens and Red Kites fly above the cairn. Magical. Worth mentioning is the Glenesk Retreat & Folk Museum, south of the cairn, on the main road through Glenesk. Coffee and homebakes are always welcome but better still, in the small museum they have a drawer containing flint arrowheads and Bronze Age axes from the local area. Well worth a visit. Glenesk has a different pace of life.
02/09/2012 – We came from White Cairn to the north but this could make a nice short walk from Tarfside, with a visit to the monument on Hill of Rowan (great view) on the way back. Hill of Rowan has hut circles and field systems. Hill of Milton cairn is a good one. Heather has been burnt back recently which makes the cairn easier to see. Well worth a visit. Great cist and capstone.
02/09/2012 – Parked in Tarfside. We took the track on the west side of the Water of Tarf. Passed Burnfoot and Baillies and made our way to White Cairn. 10m in diameter and quite low lying. Kerb visible. Very good position in a lovely part of the glen.
26/08/2012 – Parking area at end of public road to Boath (NH 5724 7410). Track heads west to shore of Loch Morie. Canmore have this as a crannog (possible). It’s 50m from SE shore with a causeway visible on Bing aerial view leading towards it. Don’t know if it is a crannog but it’s a pretty nice area to visit.
Artificial Islands in the Highland Area by Rev. F. Odo Blundell from 1913 makes mention of this crannog. Quite interesting reading.
25/08/2012 – Parking area next to loch at NH 4732 5765. Quite big, tree covered crannog in centre of Loch Kinellan. See link below for details. Easy access. Nice setting. Loch is good for Slav Grebes in summer.
10/06/2012 – Parked at NJ 00433879 and took the track heading east from Dava. Visited Carn Biorach cairn on the way to Ourack Burn. Our main reason for the walk was to visit Carn Kitty but on the way back we took a little detour to have a look for the possible stone circle at Lynagowan. If just visiting the circle there is a faint track north from where the track from Dava meets the Ourack Burn. This track running north south is a Via Regia, a once major medieval road connecting Spey to Forres. Today it is little used and the whole area has a quiet loneliness about it. As to the stone circle, there is little to see. Nothing standing as the field has been cleared. On the edge of the field are two possible stones from the circle. As Chris writes in his post below – go for the walk not the circle, it’s a nice part of the world.
10/06/12 – Short walk on track heading east from Dava to cairn which sits on the boundary between Moray and the Highlands. In fact the fence goes right through it. The cairn is not very big but has a couple of cists which were revealed when the fence was put up. Fine settiing.
02/06/2012 – Blue Cairn is just by the side of the road through Glen Esk, in the grounds of a school in Tarfside. Bit overgrown but it’s a fair size with a few large boulders forming a possible kerb. Easy parking at the small car park on the opposite side of the road. We arrived by a different route. Starting at Aboyne, Deeside, we walked south over the hills via the Fungle (old drove road) to camp at Tarfside overnight. Feet were pretty pleased to reach Tarfside. After a cold night we left Blue Cairn behind and headed back over the hills to Aboyne, this time via the Firmounth (another old drove road). Great weekend.
02/06/2012 – Good parking in Tarfside, Glen Esk. Follow the Firmounth (old drove road) north for a mile. The cairn is just by the side of the track at NO 4902 8057. It’s fenced off with a gate, protecting it today from the lovely cows with calves in the surrounding fields. Nice cairn with visible kerb. Worth going just for the walk, a lovely glen.
18/05/2012 – After visiting the two cairns near Cam Loch we headed over Cnoc an Leathaid Bhig then descended east to this cairn overlooking Loch Awe. This is a good one. Great condition and a good place to put a cairn with a fine view of the big hills north. Well worth a visit. After a while we headed east to A835 and the next Chambered cairn near the bridge.
18/05/2012 – There is something a bit exciting about looking at an OS map in the morning and picking one of the many chambered cairns in this area to visit with no idea what remains till you get there. Will it be worth the effort? In this case the answer was definitely yes. We parked at a good spot (NC 2296 1211) on the A835 and followed the track to the shores of Cam Loch. Leaving the track, once past the deer fence, we headed east over the rise to the two cairns resting on their own little knolls. The Chambered Cairn is the pick of the two with some lovely stones. The other cairn is only a short distance away. What struck me most about them both was the choice of stones used. Fantastic colours with both cairns containing some great ordinary pipe and trumpet pipe rock. Great start to a walk.
14/05/2012 – There is parking and a signpost pointing to the broch in Polglass but we parked at the Burial Ground (NC 0364 0614) and made the short walk along the coast. I really liked this one. Not in great condition though as a number of buildings have been added over the years.
14/05/2012 – Parked at jetties (NB 9952 1077) just past Old Dornie after a stunning 16 mile drive down a single track road off the A835. The cairn is just a short walk south along the coast or if you have time via the little hill Meall Dearg, with it’s great view from the top. The cairn is a bit worse for wear to be honest but the view from it is worth the trip.
12/05/2012 – Parked (NH 1054 9679) on the bend of the road to Rhue, just off A835, 3 miles north of Ullapool. Main hut circle is 50m to the north, on the slopes of Meall Mor. Easy to make out, 10m diameter. Another smaller circle is just north of this. Settlement also has many clearance cairns. One of the circles was marked out for a dig when we visited. Best thing about this site is the view across Loch Broom. What a place to live. If you have time, it is worth a little walk to top of Meall Mor.
06/05/2012 – Not many places to park round here but space for a car at start of track to Braeside Auchmachar (NJ 9430 5011). We headed SW along the track then up hill on first path through wood to top with it’s pretty impressive long cairn. Great views from here to Bennachie and the Cairngorms. Just a short walk east to the remaining stones of this circle. Had a little problem with cows in the field but they eventually moved away so we could approach the stones. Only two stones still standing, both nice. Could be a few more hiding in the field clearance. Look out for cup mark on stone next to gateway north east of circle. Better circles than this one in the area but still worth a visit.
29/04/2012 – Parked in a different spot to Les, mainly because I can’t park a car to save my life. About 700m SE along the road there is a nice spot at the entrance to Cairnshee wood for a car (NO 73129353). Don’t really know what to make of this site. The Druid stone is a good big stone and at the time I felt the second stone didn’t quite look like a good fit for a flanker but it’s hard to tell with them being so far apart. Interesting place, worth a visit. The weather was good today.
29/04/2012 – Same route as Drew to get to the circle. Parking tricky at entrance to Binghill house so we parked a little south where the houses are (NJ 85400203). Not to keen on the big gates with Private on them to go through but had no problems. There is something about a circle when it’s now in a wood I really like. Sunny and with not much leaves on the trees yet it could still reach the stones. Binghill is a great little circle.
28/04/2012 – Had to wait forever for the sun to come out but worth the wait as the circle looks great in sunshine.
15/04/2011 – Parked at the Loch Turret Dam and headed NE uphill to track then north along track to Cairn Choinneachan. I really like this one and the view is pretty brilliant. Good weather, touch windy. Carried on walking with a loop of the loch via Auchnafree Hill, Ben Chonzie and Carn Chois. A good day out.
14/04/2012 – If you happen to be in the area, look out for this erratic boulder reputed to be one of Fingal’s Putting Stones. It is near the top of Meall Clachach, north of Uamh Bheag and cannot really be missed.
14/04/2012 – Good car park (NN 71111608) opposite church in Glen Artney. We headed south up Beinn nan Eun then west over Beinn Odhar to the cairn and trigpoint near the summit of Uamh Bheag. The cairn is grassed over but the chamber is still visible. Headed back to the car via Am Beannan. Good weather if a little cold. The views from the cairn are very good.
21/01/2012 revisited 07/04/2012 – Parked car at NO 69929164 and headed south on the old drove road the Stock Mounth. We set out to look for a possible ring cairn on top of Blarourie Hill (no luck) and hut circles (found but not very exciting). On the way up Blarourie Hill we came across this circular enclosure (centered on NO 70255 90252). The enclosure wall is made of stones with a small trench on the inside. It is about 50m in diameter with a small cairn right in the middle. There are at least another 3 enclosures nearby, one of which also has a cairn in the middle. They are hard to make out on photos but can be seen quite well on aerial photos on Google.
24/03/2012 – I came across this stone circle purely by chance. I was in Bordeaux for a few days with work and had a couple of spare hours, so thought I’d have a look around. Wandering round Jardin Public, I was surprised to come across a stone circle in the middle of the park, in amongst all the people relaxing & playing in the gardens on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
This isn’t the circle’s original site, apparently it was moved to Jardin Public from from Lervaut near Lesparre-Medoc in 1875.
This place is definitely worth a visit and very easy to find if you’re in the area.
Mrs T
25/03/2012 – Slightly different approach than Drew. I parked on B992 at NJ 61092171. Headed west on the Gordon Way which leads all the way to the cairn at summit of Knock Saul. Lovely sunny weather today and the walk is a good one. Better, I think, than the approach from the Suie carpark west of hill. Cairn is a good size and has a great view of Tap o Noth. It’s worth mentioning the Gordon Way. A 11.5 mile linear walk from Bennachie Vistor centre, east of Mither Tap , over the Bennachie range then Knock Saul, Suie Hill to Suie Carpark. Nice walk but probably needs two cars unless you want to walk back again!
16/03/2012 – Good parking in Lamington at NS 97833091. We walked along road to Baitlaws then took track west to Lamington Hill. After a visit to the summit with it’s single earthen bank enclosure we had a look at the two cairns situated on the west ridge of the hill. Cairn 1 is at NS 9929 3041. Cairn 2 is at NS 9942 3043. Cairn 1 is 10m in diameter and the pick of the two. Great view of Tinto from here. Very wet day.
16/03/2012 – Parked at Halmyre Mains hall (NT 17444919). Walked NE on road and took the track around the nursery. Headed SE on track up hill. Nice walk past cultivation terraces on the NW face of the hill marked 358 on OS map. Through now felled wood and we made the final climb to cairn on summit of Wether Law. The cairn is nothing to write home about but good view to the Pentland Hills from here. It rained on and off.
15/03/2012 – After visiting East Cairn Hill we walked the short distance here. West Cairn is not quite in the same league as East Cairn. Still pretty big but grassed over with drystone dykes and a trigpoint on top. Easy to combine a visit to both cairns on a walk from either side of the hills. We finished our walk by going over Byrehope Mount back to the car at NT 12635461.
15/03/2012 – Last time I visited the Pentland Hills it was sunny with blue skies all day. Today it was cloudy, cold and windy. The weather did pick up towards the end of the day though. Parked at cattle grid (NT 12635461) just before Baddinsgill Farm. Headed east up Mount Maw then followed ridge to East Cairn Hill and it’s cairn, west of summit. This is twinned in a way with the cairn of West Cairn Hill, 2 kms away. East Cairn is a big round cairn. Pretty impressive and well worth a visit. Very good view from it as well. If you have aversion to modern cairn ‘improvements’ don’t look in the top. It now has a path up the cairn and the centre has stone seating in it. Not good. After something to eat we headed off to West Cairn Hill.
14/03/2012 – Howburn Digger is right, this place is a cracker. In an area covered in hillforts, if you were wondering where to go, you could do worse than start with this one. Very good access and the location of the fort is fantastic, over looking where Biggar Water and Holms Water meet the River Tweed. The fort itself is protected by a chevaux de frise and just north is the remains of a settlement. A very good site indeed. Easy to lose a few hours here.
14/03/2012 – Good walkers car park in Broughton at NT 11973745. We headed NE along path to col between Clover Law and Broomy Side then north along ridge to the cairn on summit Pyked Stane Hill. Nice cairn this. It was a bit cloudy today and windy but the views from it were still good. Looped back to car via Penvalla and Trahenna Hil. Good area for walking.
13/03/2012 – After a coffee in Biggar we set off for Tinto in the hope that the cloudbase had risen by the afternoon. As we got to the car park, north of Tinto (NS 96423741), we could see that it had and the cairn was quite visible. Good path all the way up the north side of hill to top. We were accompanied some of the way by a little white dog from a nearby house. It seemed quite happy roaming the hill path on it’s own. The cairn is big and it’s anyone’s guess how long it must have taken to build. Tinto is a special hill, a must visit.
13/03/2012 – Good place to park south of Goseland Hill at NT 07203440. Short, steepish walk up to trigpoint then 500m NE to cairn. The cairn is pretty small but has a nice vantage point, looking NE to Broughton Heights. Quite overcast this morning. Headed back over Goseland Hill to car and a coffee shop in Biggar.
12/03/2012 – Parked on outskirts of Peebles (NT 25953922). Followed old drove road SE to Kirkhope Law then south to Birkscairn Hill. Easy going under foot and the sun popped out now and again to say hello. Cairn is at summit. Big but very low to the ground (apart from modern cairn). It looked like it was made up of giant skimming stones. Great 360 view. Odd place to have a cairn but good view of it from the settlements on Dead Side. We carried on to Dun Rig then looped back via Hundleshope Heights to the car. Nice walk, bit cloudy.
11/03/2012 – Parked car at NT 23763715. Headed up through trees to summit of Cademuir Hill (416m) then west to first hillfort, the Whaum (NT 23523794). This is more of a complex. A little hard to make out as most of it is grassed over. Next we went SW up to the highest hillfort, Cademuir Hill 1 (NT 23043748). Wow, this one is big and great views down steep southern slope. Then on to the slightly lower hillfort, Cademuir Hill 2 (NT 22473708). This is the pick of the three for me. Coming from the NE you have to cross a chevaux de frise before climbing over the best walls on the hill. Great forts. great hill, great walk.
11/03/2012 – I’d been looking forward to visiting this well for a long time. No antiquity but anything connected to fairies is good with me. Parked at Traquair village hall (NT 3308 3458) and climbed Minch Moor via the Southern Upland Way. The well is very near the top. Many coin offerings there. Lovely view. It didn’t disappoint.
10/03/2012 – Parked car in A702 layby (NT 10904752). Took signposted path to West Linton and half way there headed to top of Mendick Hill. Fine view of the landscape these three cairns are set in from here. Descended NW to first cairn, 450m NE of Upper Cairn. A lot smaller than the other two (3ft high). Grassed over with disturbed centre. Next we visited Upper Cairn, a short tussocky walk away and then on to the Nether Cairn. This one is brilliant. Followed track to Garvald than back to car. The weather was not great but still had a great day. Thanks to Gladman for his photos of this cairn which made me make the visit here.
07/07/2009 – Visited this hillfort a few years back. Parked at NO 04124045. Climbed west up path to King’s Seat then on to Craig Obney hillfort. Nice feeling of middle of nowhere about this one. Went north and followed Inchewan Burn back to car.
20/03/2011 – Parked at NT 70545604. Walked west through gate and followed track which leads up this steep hill. The cairns are very overgrown and hard to make out. I remember more about my knees giving me grief that day to be honest than the cairns.
21/03/2011 – Room for a car at NT 57943722. We walked along track towards Cowdenknowes Mains than SE up Black Hill to fort. Great little hill. You can see why they built a fort here.
20/03/2011 – Good parking at east side of bridge over Whiteadder Resr (NT 64576421). We followed track north then east to Gamelshiel Castle. Bit of a pull up from here to get to the cairn on summit of Spartleton Hill. View’s changed a bit since Martin’s fieldnotes, big wind farm to north now.
19/03/2011 – Parked the car at Ranger Centre (NT 23426311). Good path leads west up steep hill then SW to cairn on summit of Carnethy Hill. This is a big cairn with a great view. We continued on to Scald Law, the two Kips and looped back over Black Hill to car. Great day out with lovely weather for this time of year.
20/02/2010 – Parked at NT 24956697. Walked west, taking the path towards Allermuir Hill. Cairn is near summit of Caerketton Hill. Great view from it of Edinburgh. Stopped for a coffee in the ski centre on the way down.