thelonious

03/09/2018 – Afternoon walk up to the high point of Coll. The view from Ben Hogh is just wonderful and a must visit place when on Coll. It’s an easy enough walk from the Hebridean Centre to the top. As well as the view you get an added bonus that the summit has a kerbed cairn. Trig has been plonked in the middle of it though. Kerb still showing best on the north side.

A fine place for a brew and bite to eat. Remember to walk a little way north to the rocking stone as well, it’s fantastic.

(The actual top of Ben Hogh is some 500m SW of the trig and cairn)

02/09/2018 – Canmore describes this as a probable ground-galleried broch or oval dun. It’s in a fantastic location and was probably my favourite of the sites on Tiree that we visited.

We approached down the hill from Carnan Mor. The weather was proper rubbish at this point. The two of us made a very wet climb up the craggy rock to have a look round the dun. Nice entrance and walls still in place. It’s definitely a site to sit down and spend a few hours at but the rain just got the better of us and we had to move on all too soon which was a real shame.

The view out to sea and along the coast is great. The walk east to Hynish from here is very good.

02/09/2018 – The cave of Calum the tinker or something like that. Named after a traveller who used to stay here when visiting the island.

Canmore have this as a megalithic tomb and describe it as a maybe ‘earth-fast dolmen’. I’m not so sure.

Still if you are in the area it’s worth a look. The bay and the hills behind are very nice for a stroll.

01/09/2018 – We approached the dun from the south. It’s a lovely walk along the beach. There’s a parking area to the south. Turn off the road at NL 9419 4428.

Not much to see of the dun. Very grassy. A few stones still showing. The walk’s nice though.

01/09/2018 – Good parking at the end of the road to Vaul. There’s a trigpoint there too if that’s your thing (I like trigs). The broch is just a short walk to the west, easy going.

Dun Mor broch is really very good. Gallery and steps still in good nick. Scarcement ledge on inner wall and a nice guard cell as you enter.

Location is strong on a little knoll. Fantastic view out to sea.

I liked the site very much.

We walked on to see Clach a’ Choire after. Well worth a visit too. Underfoot was OK but it took a little longer than I thought it would get there. Lovely area.

08/06/2018 – On route from the Isle of Bute to Aberdeen we decided to stop by and visit Rossie Law hillfort near Perth. I’d looked at the this one on the map many times and had been wanting to visit.

Parking at the start of the track to Tarnavie on the B8062, we started the walk uphill on a decent track. We both felt like zombies. This was on the way back from a fortnight of walking and we were so tired.

After a mile or so the track turns south. We left it here and crossed the Banekist burn to walk up the Slack, which is on the south side of Rossie Law. Gets a little tricky here as the south of the hill is scree. We approached this through the trees and then headed west round it to make the steep final climb to the top. Not too bad and quite fun.

The summit area is large and pretty flat. The surrounding wall quite far down off the top.

It’s a good fort this one and the views are great. After resting a while we headed back to the car.

It had been a long 14 days away and I knew I was done.

07/06/2018 – Last full day on Bute and we had a tricky decision to make. Where to go? It was a choice between heading north to visit 4 chambered cairns on the coast or heading to Scalpsie Bay and have a walk over a few tops with 1 chambered cairn. Both looked good but we went for Scalpsie Bay, just for the walk really.

Early afternoon found us back at the car and in need of a coffee shop. The one at Ettrick Bay was so fine we decided to go again. Parking at the south end of the bay we walked along the lovely beach to get there. It’s a great area for a stroll or paddle in the sea.

Refreshed I looked at the time, it was just past 3. Still thinking about the cairns to the north we started walking the coast road towards them. To visit all four cairns would have been about 8 miles and than another 1 to get back to the car. I was tired already from the morning visit to Bicker’s Houses cairn so I thought the walk to see any was too far. An hour later we were closing in on the first cairn. Bit stupid really as my feet were killing. I did like Glecknabae cairn though.

The next cairn wasn’t far so on we went again. Up hill now, it’s well signposted. The approach to the Carnbaan cairn is lovely through a wood. The sunlight through the leaves and branches was so nice.

When first getting to the site the size of it didn’t immediately become apparent. Probably like most visitors my attention went straight to the central chamber, it’s great. It’s only after you start walking about does the size and length of this long cairn reveal itself. It’s massive with chambers at both ends as well. The setting in the trees is lovely but the undergrowth hid things a little. Tricky place to photograph too.

The cairn is positioned close to a stream where just on the banks is a massive stone. I wondered if this was once part of the cairn just a short distance away.

It was getting late now and the car was a long way back. The last two cairns would have to wait for another trip. Always good to have a reason to come back. My feet moaned most of the way back. A long day out and I was sore by the end but well worth it. Tops cairns round here.