31/03/2023 – Hill of Tara. First stop of a busy day of stones. This ancient site is good. Quiet today and nice views even on a grey day. I didn’t read much about the place beforehand so didn’t know about the Mound of the Hostages passage tomb with its fine rock art until we got there. Really nice surprise. It’s a good one. You can’t go inside but the view down the stone lined passage is nice. There’s a lovely big stone on the left with some nice rock art. Swirls and circles from what I could see. The Hill of Tara has a lot going on. Grassed over earthworks with a standing stone at the top, the Lia Fáil (Stone of Destiny). Probably should have read up more before my visit, though there are good information boards at the entrance. It’s an important site.
thelonious
21/03/2023 – Tuesday evening on Bennachie. Bit of a chilly wind but thankfully dry. We had tea on top, watching the sky go dark. Stars were good tonight. The view is across to Oxen Craig, where we were heading. It was a good twilight. Bennachie is a special place.
03/03/2023 – Friday evening walk to Hill of Christ’s Kirk. Reached the top after sunset and a dark stroll back after tea. Not much to see of the fort, that’s Bennachie in the distance. It’s the land of the RSC round here.
25/02/2023 – Trig to Trig walk after sunset. Nice quiet walk though a little chilly at times with the wind. My headtorch lights the trig and tor at the centre of the fort. It’s an unusual non-tapered trig without flush bracket. The granite tor that the walls of the hillfort surround is great (unless it’s a windy day!). We had a sit and brew before heading down. The feet were glad of the rest.
24/02/2023 – Day off. Visit to Tap o’ Noth hillfort. Rain mostly held off which was a bonus. Quiet walk. The interior of the fort was looking nice today.
24/02/2023 – Vitrified section of rampart also the top of the hill. I love vitrified hillforts.
21/02/2023 – Evening visit to Bennachie. The entrance to the hillfort on Mither Tap is great. Big walls either side. Not too windy on top thankfully. The walk over to Oxen Craig after felt dark tonight.
11/02/2023 – View across to Kerloch from Monluth Hill. After sunset now. It was going to be a dark walk across.
11/02/2023 – A quiet walk to Monluth Hill and Kerloch. Visit after sunset. After windy walks the last few weeks, it was finally much calmer. Temperature was OK too. We’d not visited these two before in the dark. After sunset by the time we reached Monluth Hill. We had a sit and our tea here, watching the sky go dark. Nice view across to Kerloch, our next stop, silhouetted against an orange sky.
Monluth Hill is only 377m high but it’s in the middle of a forest so a great feeling of just us and the hills this evening. It’s a good walk to get here from where we started. The way was dark now between Monluth Hill and Kerloch. Jupiter and Venus looking after us in the night sky as we plodded on.
Finally made the top of Kerloch. I was happy to get here and have a sit and a brew. Bit tired today and the feet were grumpy. Night time now. The cairn was a welcome sight, lit up by our headtorches. It’s a fine cairn, worth a visit just for the view really.
The track up Kerloch from the east is still as rough as ever. Trees down too, so maybe not the best way up at the moment. It was a bit tricky in the dark.
28/01/2023 – Scurriestone near Ballater. Where Glen Muick meets Deeside. A nice stone to start the day.
07/01/2023 – Walk to Cairn William. We started from the south today. Meant we could visit Whitehills recumbent stone circle and also the wonderful Luath’s Stone. Cloudy to start with but a bit of sunshine in the afternoon. Mild for this time of year. I love this big lonely stone.
07/01/2023 – Approach to the big stone. That’s Tap o’ Noth in the far distance.
07/01/2023 – Whitehills Stone Circle. It was looking good today. Quiet which was welcome.
31/12/2022 – It’s been a while since anyone posted a photo of this one so here’s a sunny winter snap. Last walk of the year, cold but the sunshine and stones were worth it. I like it here.
27/12/2022 – Chilly morning walk before the snow and rain. Looking over a hut circle to the large cairn beyond. 23m in diameter, the cairn in the Slacks on the outskirts of Aberdeen is a good one.
28/11/2022 – Looking over the cairn to the Northern lights and the Plough above. Cold on the hill tonight but no wind so felt OK. The night sky was very good.
30/08/2022 – Evening visit to Tap o’ Noth hillfort. Bit cloudy but the view north over the vitrified walls was as good as I’ve seen it. The Caithness hills, 110km away, stood out really well. Big Morven in middle, the 3 tops of Scaraben to its right. Also far left Ben Uarie in Sutherland.
14/08/2022 – Gouk Stone on a sunny Sunday afternoon. 3 metres of loveliness!
01/07/2022 – Heading down the east side of hillfort. Not much to see this side, just great views. Why didn’t they build walls this side? Anyone’s guess really.
01/07/2022 – Summit area of Ben Griam Beg hillfort. Mist starting to lift again.
01/07/2022 – Stone structures between the first enclosure wall and second wall.
01/07/2022 – Looking over the first enclosure wall to Meall a’ Bhuirich. Just a fantastic view from here.
01/07/2022 – Round stone structures outside the enclosure wall. Ground is steep here.
01/07/2022 – It had been a long 12 years since we were last here. I haven’t planned a revisit, yet here we were, plodding up the hill again. We were staying in the nearby Garvault Hotel for a few days (sign above the door stating it was mainland Britain’s most remote hotel). It’s quite a unique place and well worth a stay. Nice folk who live/work there. Main reason we were here was for the walking. If you like lonely quiet landscapes, this is the place to be.
Starting the day from the hotel we took the track north towards Loch Coire nam Mang. Our destination was Meall a’ Bhuirich, the hill behind the Bens Beg and Mor. As it was the last day of the trip and we didn’t have to save the legs any more, we decided to detour and head for Ben Griam Beg first. Seeing it, with it’s misty morning hat on, as we rounded the loch, the pull proved too strong.
The walk round the south side of the two lochs to the base of Ben Griam Beg is a bit of a bash. I was tired before we even started the climb. Even Mrs T was finding it hard going today and she’s stronger than me. It had been a long week. Still up we went, plod, plod. It’s only about 200m gain until you reach the first of the stone structures. We were glad to get there. I don’t remember having a good look round on our last visit. We were in no rush today so decided to have a proper look this time.
I’ll put up a link to a plan of the enclosure complex below. If you go, it’s worth taking with you. The hillfort is big. – Ben Griam Beg – plan of enclosure complex canmore.org.uk/collection/1401493
Just before you get to the first big wall at around 450m, there are a series of round stone structures and low walls. I found these the most interesting part of the complex. What were they for? Hut circles? The ground is so steep here, hard to believe they were homes. Aerial photos on OSmaps or Canmore show these off nicely. Next we crossed the first big stone wall. It’s about 500m long, protecting the south side of the hill. Big stones used for this one. Another 100m gain, passing more stone structures, and we reached the second wall. This is fainter but leads to a third much bigger inner wall that surrounds what could be described as the principle enclosure at the summit. There is a broken trigpoint at the top, 580m – making it the highest hillfort in Scotland.
It was a misty day and the cloud was down over the last 150m gain. I liked the peace it gave the top and enclosure. We weren’t here alone. Two lovely ptarmigan were walking the walls. Not sure I’ve seen them this low down before. A nice surprise.
We had our lunch by the trig. Apart from the mist, the weather wasn’t too bad. Little wind and just the odd shower passing through.
We headed down the east side and then south to visit Meall a’ Bhuirich (nice hill) and then back to the hotel via Ben Griam Mor (the last climb was tough, my legs were done by this point).
It was a fantastic day out. Just us and the hills. The hillfort is a WOW and I was so happy to have got a second chance to visit. I hate saying an out of the way site is a must visit but this hillfort really is. It just happens to be a little bit in the middle of nowhere. There are train stations not to far away and the drive is easy. The walk up isn’t too bad, I was just tired that day. Probably not one for bad weather though.
The whole complex is massive. It must have taken many people to build. More like a hill-city than a hillfort. If you get a chance, it’s well worth the trip. My favourite hillfort, I think so.
29/06/2022 – I was a little grumpy at this one. I hate rushing sites but we’d sent longer than expected down the road at Kinbrace stone rows (quite right too as they’re great). So it was a quick bash from the road to have a look. The way across is a bit hard work but we got there. Stones are tricky to see until you are almost upon them. The more you look, the more you find. Most are pretty buried. Very good location with hut circles and cairn nearby. Just wish I’d had more time. Nice site, well worth a visit. Our last stone row on a fine day out along the River Helmsdale.
29/06/2022 – Cairn, River Helmsdale and Ben Uarie beyond. We were doing OK for time until this one. Just had to sit and spend some time here. Great cairn in a lovely landscape.
29/06/2022 – Kinbrace Multiple Stone Rows. The larger terminal stones.
29/06/2022 – Kinbrace Multiple Stone Rows. Looking over the small cairn to the fan shaped stone rows.
29/06/2022 – Cnoc Ach’na h-Uai’ is just a little hill with not much gain but it’s got a hillside packed with prehistory goodies.
Good parking at NC 82244 32015 (old quarry) on the B871. It’s a single track road to get here but fine to drive as lots of passing places. After having our sandwiches in the car whilst waiting for the rain to pass, we headed up the hill in sunshine. We visited the trigpoint at the top first. Worth it for the view and lots of Great Sundews about which I don’t think I’ve seen before. Next we walked back down to try and find the stone rows. Proved easy enough. Huts circles and a cairn nearby. Also the stone rows are next to the old road. Got me thinking about just how old the road could be.
The stone rows are good. Plenty of stones still here. Fan-shaped multiple stone rows, maybe 80 stones in 10-11 rows. There’s a small cairn in the NNW corner. Really lovely location for this one. Great open views. Looking from the cairn through the middle terminal stone, my gaze seemed to lead straight to Ben Uarie (this hill seems to keep putting in an appearance). We spent quite a bit of time here just walking about and looking, it’s an area that gets you wondering. I really like stone rows and this site is great.
After looking at the nearby cairn we were going to head back to the car but I could see Cairn Richard on the horizon and I’d seen Gladman’s photos on TMA so knew it was a good one, too good not to visit so off we went.
29/06/2022 – The stone rows have gone due to the road widening. 77 stones were recorded.
29/06/2022 – Nothing to see of this one now sadly. The stone rows are gone as road improvements have destroyed the site. Canmore does mention six stones remaining in 1981. There are a few near the bottom of the road widening that are a maybe.
29/06/2022 – Double stone row. Stones are quite large compared to other stone rows round here.
29/06/2022 – Double stone row leading to cairn/enclosure on left of photo.
29/06/2022 – There are five known stone row sites near the River Helmsdale. Six if you include the one at Loch Rimsdale. We were heading up the Strath to Garvault so decided to spend the day looking at stone rows on the way.
This first one is just a little higher up the hill than the cairn at Torrish Burn. Easy parking and access.
It’s a bit different to the rest round here. A double stone row leading to a cairn/enclosure. It’s an odd one. Quite a narrow space between the two rows. Not really functional. Worth a visit if you are passing.
Weather was a bit rubbish. Raining whilst we were there.