thelonious

28/01/2017 – I posted a photo of this cairn a few years back but to be honest I remembered little of the cairn and the photo seemed to only show a little bit of it. I’ve been wanting to go back and have another look for a while.

Starting from Edinburgh we took the 101 bus to Silverburn. From here we had a grand walk taking in Gladman’s cairn on South Black Hill, Scald Law, the big cairn on Carnethy Hill, the little cairn on Turnhouse Hill, CastleLaw fort & souterrain, Allermuir Hill, this cairn on Caerketton Hill and finally the Hillfort on Hillend. Finished a long day at the Ski Centre for a cup of tea and then took the bus back to Edinburgh.

A good walk over the tops and a bit snowier than I thought it would be.

Three of the four cairns we visited are on Canmore. South Black Hill isn’t but as Gladman has mentioned elsewhere, it really looks and feels the part. This cairn on Caerketton is smaller and has a fence running through it. Good views on a clear day!

There are many routes and paths to link up the tops and cairns in the Pentland Hills. Pick any, you can’t go wrong. A magic day.

25/12/2016 – If you are in the area Lunt Meadows nature reserve is worth a visit for a little leg stretch. Site of Mesolithic settlements (see link below). Car park and decent track round. Good place for owls if you get lucky.

25/12/2016 – We went for a walk at Hightown on Christmas Day, just down the coast from Formby and its famous footprints. The beach is quiet and it’s a nice stroll to where the River Alt meets the sea and then along the coast. An ancient trackway was discovered here in the 90s and radiocarbon dated to Early Neolithic. Don’t think there is much to see of it now. Still worth the trip to see the ancient submerged forest in a fine layer of peat. Trees (mainly birch I think) and plants (Royal ferns?) lay in the peat, still soft to the touch. Such beautiful shapes and I did find the place quite moving. Great views out to sea. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

19/11/2016 – It’s a funny old hill Pressendye. A decent size (just over 2000ft) but it can be easily overlooked, sandwiched between lovely small hills like Bennachie to the east and wonderful Morven and the big hills in the Cairngorms to the west.

The usual approach is from the Tarland side, south of the hill but today we thought we’d try from the north for a change.

Cold start to the day. Car said minus 5 as we parked not long after sunrise at the beginning of the track into Loanend Plantation (NJ 5112 1276). The track goes west through trees. After curving round Beadshallock Hill it gets a bit vague but nothing too bad and then becomes more distinct again up Scar Hill. From here the view of the landscape opens up as the track heads across The Socach to the top of Pressendye.

I love this top and the cairn is nice. We sat down for a sandwich and brew alongside it. The ground was a little chilly to be honest but still the rest felt good. Very peaceful place and the frost on the heather looked lovely in the low November sunlight.

I guess like most upland cairns the walk there is as important as the cairn itself and luckily the way up is good for this one. Got me thinking as we walked, about the folk who had travelled this hill before me to place this cairn in such a nice location. A fine day again on Pressendye.

12/11/2016 – Posting really just to give a different route up than Drew’s. It’s no better or worse but more options are always good, access wise.

We parked opposite the lovely church at Tullynessle, east of the hill. It’s a nice walk west along a tarmac road to Terpersie. As the road splits at NJ 5482 2007 (good parking here too and close to Corrie cairn stone circle as well) we turned left to cross the Esset Burn and followed the track past Dubston. From here it’s just a case of keeping to the track as it climbs Fouchie Shank (hut circle half way up) to the top of Lord Arthur’s Hill. For a longer walk, cross the burn just before the start of Fouchie Shank and head north along the old right of way past the disused quarry for a long loop round the Correen Hills to the Lord Arthur’s Hill.

The cairn is just east of the trigpoint. A modern shelter has been built on top but the cairn footprint is still visible. The top is lovely. Great views all round from Bennachie to the east and west to the Cairngorms. The Correen Hills are usually a quiet place to visit and you would normally have the cairn to yourself. It’s a lovely spot to sit and while away a few hours.

21/08/2016 – Been back home a couple of weeks now since my trip north. I’ve been feeling a bit sad the last few days as that’s probably it trip-wise until next year. Woke up this morning thinking I should visit a nearby site to cheer myself up a little. Not a great time of year for visits to RSCs on farmland as a lot are in crop so we picked Loanhead as the parking’s good and there are no access problems. I don’t think I’ve been here in the summer before, I always think of it as a cold place. The sun on the stones made them shine out against the lovely greens all around and the whole setting reminded me a little of the cairns at Clava today. The stones of the circle were bigger than I remembered, especially the recumbent. I guess everyone does different things to blow the blues away. Saying hello to old stones works for me :-)

05/08/2016 – After a visit to Creag a’Bhlair we strolled over to the edge of the forest with Carn Liath chambered cairn just inside. Luckily the fence has a good few gaps in it but after that, the last 40 or so metres to the cairn is quite tricky because of wind fell and maybe a little unsafe but we got there in the end. Really good cairn this one. High sides with the passage and chamber visible and intact. The whole place had a feeling of calm and stillness in its clearing, surrounded by tall trees. As this cairn is a bit in the middle of nowhere I thought we would have it to ourselves. Turned out not to be the case, a million midges also decided to visit the cairn at the same time. We didn’t stay as long as we would of liked.

05/08/2016 – Between the chambered cairns of Craig A’ Bhlair and Carn Liath are these great hut circles and field system. I don’t normally add these but I do like the circleyness of hut circles and the one at NH 7377 9968 is very fine indeed. Inner face of the wall is visible and the surrounding field system can be made out. Nice place.

05/08/2016 – Started from the train station at Rogart. It’s a nice walk down the lane and then uphill to the top of Creag a’Bhlair. Just a little past the top, the chambered cairn comes into view on the south side along with an opening of the landscape. Coming from this direction, looking down on to the cairn, the setting really reminded me of another cairn Creag An Amalaidh, just a few miles farther south. Craig A’ Bhlair chambered cairn is a good one. A large mound of stones with not much in the way of a chamber showing. The placement below Creag a’Bhlair with the ground stretching out to the south and a good view east to Loch Fleet is just lovely. Great area to spend a day, ambling about in the sun.

04/08/2016 – Just west of the stone rows is this lovely little stone circle. Be good to know the timeline of all the sites on this hill and how they all relate to each other, if at all.

04/08/2016 – Hard to go wrong in the Strath of Kildonan. Pick anywhere along its length and you are going to bump into the past. Today we chose Learable Hill. Stone rows, stone circle, chambered cairn, standing stone, cup marked boulders and lots of hut circles – that will do me. Normal way up, crossing the river and the train track south of Suisgill Lodge. It’s just a short walk up hill after that. Nice cairn and standing stone but I’d come for the stone rows because let me tell you, I just love stone rows. They really are one of the great mysteries of this island’s prehistory, at least they are for me. Multiple rows are rare and this hill has plenty. Brilliant stuff. I think I once read of them described as ‘miniliths’, great word. It rained petty much all the 5 hours we were on the hill but it didn’t much matter. I could of spent all day just plodding round these stones looking for alignments (real or imaginary). Top site and there’s even as a bonus a stone circle there as well!