LesHamilton

D27 Borger viewed from a Drone

Wiebe de Jager has filmed D27 Borger, Netherland’s largest hunebed, using his DJI Phantom 2 drone fitted with a GoPro Hero 4 video camera.

The video can be viewed on YouTube.

Visited: May 25, 2016

The scant remains of Dun Tom na h-Uraich stand on the very lip of the sea cliffs at the point where the A855 turns west towards Duntulm at the far north of the Trotternish Peninsula.

The site is barely 50 metres northwest of the remains of a prominent stone-built structure—the remains of a wartime radar station—on the summit of Tom na h-Uraich hill: an imposing landmark, seen from the road. Parking is available just a few metres past this, and a good track leads to the top of the hill, a superb lookout point.

Very little of the original stone walling of the dun remains, most of it almost certainly having been robbed in centuries past to build field dykes.

Visited: May 25, 2016

Located on a mound, rising 25 metres above the Kilmaluag river and about half a kilometre due east of the tiny community of Conasta, Dun Hollan lies close to the road at the point where it makes a sharp right-angle turn to the west. Here, a field gate leads to a path that makes towards the dun.

From the west the dun shows as a gentle rise above the surrounding moor, but once its summit is reached it is clear that it is a signiicant elevation, plunging steeply towards the river beyond. Very little remains to be seen, but the southern half of the mound still retains the grassy saucer shape that characterises numerous dilapidated duns. Several original stones peek through at its southern end, and the grassy bank trending round the southwestern margin probably conceals more of the foundation course.

According to Canmore, stones visible on the northern part of the dun are in fact remains of ancient field dykes that were built over the mound.

Dun Smail stands on a prominent mound, immediately adjacent to the last house to the west in the small community of Clachan, less than a kilometre south of Staffin. There is little remaining of this dun except for intermittent remnants of a wall near the top of the mound.

The mound is easily accessed from the west, where it is a gentle stroll to its summit, which affords splendid views of the Quiraing.

Visited: May 27, 2016

Very much neglected because of the magnificence of the Dun Beag broch close to the roadside near Struanmore, the Fort of Dun Mor, 800 metres to its north is well worth a visit, and not just for the amazing aerial view it provides over the broch lower down the hillside.

From Dun Beag, Dun Mor lies across a heathery moor, but easy walking can be found by following grassy tongues. The fort is well defended on all sides
except the east by vertical 20 metre crags, but is most easily ascended by gentle slopes from the northeast.

Clearly the one weak point in its situation, the entire eastern edge of the fort is marked by a huge tumble of largely fallen masonry, about 2 metres high by 5 metres broad, that must once have been a wall of considerable proportions. In several places, the original stonework is still in place to a height of two courses.

At its southern end, the tumble gives way to a grassy bank which continues above the cliffs surrounding much of the perimeter of the fort, with footing stones of a former wall peeking out of it.

Visited: May 25, 2016

Dun Druim nan Slochd is perched atop an impressive rock buttress overlooking the Flodigarry Hotel.

Little remains of this fort save for a wall, four courses high, which marks its northern boundary. On all other sides, there is a severe vertical drop.

Access to the site might at first appear problematic, but is straightforward from the ridge frm the north. Walk north from the Flodigarry Hotel until you reach a gate marked ‘SEASCAPE’ the name of a private property beyond, protected by an electric fence.

Immediately adjacent, to the north, is a farm gate, which is your point of access. Just make for the ridge using an obvious walkers’ path, then head south till the dun wall appears. Although there is little of the dun remaining, it is a superb site, affording sweeping views of the Trotternish Ridge and Skye’s eastern coast.

Visited: May 23, 2016

As you walk towards Greshornish Point following the eastern shore of Loch Greshornish, you encounter, after approximately two kilometres, a steep rocky eminence, almost cut off by the sea. Oval in shape and girdled by steep cliffs, particularly on the north and east, its summit slopes significantly from north to south. A tumble of fallen masonry marks the western rim of the summit, although several sections of original walling, several courses deep and up to a metre in height can be identified, as can the entranceway.

You can read much more about Dun na h-Airde on Canmore.