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Down the road from the hostel at Kershader we had heard about the remains of another broch at Cromor. The broch again was in the middle of the loch and again pretty unaccessible. It looked good though, you couldn’t see it from the road, instead we had to clamber over a hillock to sneak a peek. I again marvelled at the sheer wealth of history on these amazing islands.
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There are all sorts on the Western coast of Lewis. Most are ‘blink and you’ll miss it places’ such as the unsignposted Loch an Duna Broch, the remains of which lie on a small island linked to the mainland of the loch by a ever more waterlogged causeway. Theres another one on a loch just a few miles up the road. The loch at shader, itself overlooked by the remains of a chambered cairn known as Steinicleit.
Opposite Steinicleit (which could date from 3000BC) past the loch is the huge monolith of Clach an Truseil. An absolutely huge stone which now, I was reasonably surprised to note had a picnic bench not too far away from it.
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There are all sorts on the Western coast of Lewis. Most are ‘blink and you’ll miss it places’ such as the unsignposted Loch an Duna Broch, the remains of which lie on a small island linked to the mainland of the loch by a ever more waterlogged causeway. Theres another one on a loch just a few miles up the road. The loch at shader, itself overlooked by the remains of a chambered cairn known as Steinicleit.
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Dun Carloway is the most impressive broch in the Western isles and next to Mousa Broch in Shetland probably the most impressive in Britain. It was here that we stopped off first.
I love brochs they're great, you can fight your way through wind and rain to get to them and when you finally get inside you can fell sheltered and safe. Most brochs originate from the Iron Age and were fortified farmsteads. Brochs could house people and animals inside and keep stores for weeks maybe even months. Dun Carloway dates from the 1st century BC and is situated on top of a hillock overlooking its manor. A wonderful place
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Now we all know that Lewis is one of the places to go if your interesting in antiquity and stone circles etc. Lewis plays host to Callanish a wonderful place which evokes mystery and wonder. But Lewis also offers so much more, stone circles, brochs, duns, menhirs, Vikings, blackhouses, scenery and water lots and lots of water.
We wandered first to the impossible to pronounce Cnoc Fillibhear Bheag. The ground was marshy and the rain had started to pour down. Not that we were too bothered; to wander round all the Callanish circles had been another main point to the trip.
A path links Cnoc to another circle a couple of hundred metres away known as Cnoc Ceann a’Gharraidh. A place with an equally long and difficult name and which boasts quite a cool triangular stone which we took the opportunity to shelter behind whilst the wind threatened to blow us into the bog. Callanish could be seen in the distance its stones like needles sticking up from the ground.
I had been there once before again in 1996, but my friend had not. I had been impressed with its size and complexity then and now my feelings remained. What went on here really? Why was it built? All these questions penetrate your head as you weave your way through the stones.
It was 8pm by the time we got to Callanish, a good time it seems as all the crowds had long since left. A couple who were also wandering around told us that they had been there earlier that afternoon and the place was just heaving with a combination of tourists and druids. Druids! Of course! The summer solstice was only two days away. Not that we’d be here for that unfortunately, we had a tight schedule to work to. Maybe next year…
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We wandered first to (the impossible to pronounce Cnoc Fillibhear Bheag). The ground was marshy and the rain had started to pour down. Not that we were too bothered; to wander round all the Callanish circles had been another main point to the trip.
A path links Cnoc to another circle a couple of hundred metres away known as Cnoc Ceann a'Gharraidh. A place with an equally long and difficult name and which boasts quite a cool triangular stone which we took the opportunity to shelter behind whilst the wind threatened to blow us into the bog. Callanish could be seen in the distance its stones like needles sticking up from the ground
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We wandered first to the impossible to pronounce Cnoc Fillibhear Bheag. The ground was marshy and the rain had started to pour down. Not that we were too bothered; to wander round all the Callanish circles had been another main point to the trip.
A path links Cnoc to another circle a couple of hundred metres away known as Cnoc Ceann a’Gharraidh. A place with an equally long and difficult name and which boasts quite a cool triangular stone which we took the opportunity to shelter behind whilst the wind threatened to blow us into the bog. Callanish could be seen in the distance its stones like needles sticking up from the ground
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Harris is a peculiar place, full of extremes. On the west coast are beaches which surely match the finest on earth, yet on the east and in the north, the landscape is barren and rocky. Stanley Kubrick in filming his masterpiece 2001 A Space Odyssey used the rocky terrain of Harris as a double for Mars. Testament indeed to the out worldly nature of the place.
Across one of the beaches on the west side there is a signpost directing the traveller to a place known as 'The Macleod Stone'. An impressive monolith perched on a hilltop looking out over to Taransay, the island made famous by the BBC's Survivor programme.
To get there is no chore although the beach does seem to stretch forever and apart from sinking in the soft sand and leaping over the odd channel it's a pleasant trip. However, this is Harris, a place renowned for its unpredictable weather. As we reached the stone, the wind started to howl and the rain buffeted down. We took our pics and struggled back to the roadside fighting the elements.
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On the way to the ferry we passed the standing stones at Eyre. Looking out over the loch they shared a field with a rather large group of inquizitive cows who seemed to take pleasure in following us around. We walked briskly up to the stones, lingered for a minute until the cows had lost interest and then walked briskly back.
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Eventually we ended up in Glencoe and were blessed in the fact that the set for the latest Harry Potter has been built up on the hillside. You can see Hagrids House, another construction that looks like it could be a passageway of somekind and, surprise surprise, a makeshift set of standing stones.
After trying to sneak onto said set for a better look our plan was scuppered by one of the many security guards manning the site. Well, at least the view wasn’t too bad from the road. The cast and crew by the way had taken the weekend off from filming, lucky them.
Ah well! Onto the famous Signal Rock! The Signal rock has a rather macabre history as it was from here that the signal was sent in 1692 to start the massacre of Glencoe when members of the Clan Campbell slaughtered their hosts the MacDonalds whilst they slept in their beds.
The rock is to be found by following a path away from Glencoe town into a wooded glade. About a mile from the Harry Potter set is the rock and atop the rock midgies reign supreme. It must be said any trip to this part of Scotland must come complete with lots of insect repellent.
As we rushed back along the path to the car, my eye caught a funny shaped rock just off the side of the path partly obscured by undergrowth and merging in quite well with the other rocks in the area. It looked like a standing stone although there is nothing to indicate this on the OS map. A puzzle indeed but it didn’t look like it should have been there so I took a couple of pics and have submitted accordingly, take a look and see what you think.
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Eigg is the second largest of the small isles after Rum. The other small isles are Canna and Muck and none can be easily accessed by car ferry. On Eigg an island made famous by the fact the locals were able to buy back the land from there stay away landlord, this is a problem.
The island is the most populous of all the islands with a princely population of 78. There is a four mile road stretching from the port at Galmisdale to the small village of Cleadale on the north of the island. A car ferry would encourage more visitors to the island and encourage more people to come and live there. It would also enable someone to get all the disused rotten junk away from the island. Eigg is a stunningly beautiful place but it really is threatening to become disfigured by the sheer amount of fly tipping which seems to be going on.
The standing stone of Eigg is not to be confused with the monolith at the harbour commemorating the islands takeover by residents. This menhir stands proud looking over the new ferry terminal construction but the stone marked on the OS maps was about two miles further inland and pretty much in the centre of the island.
Walking there was pleasant and not strenuous, this stone was certainly easier to find than the one supposedly on the island of Rum, it was just off the side of the road, its always nice when they are so conveniently sited don’t you think?
After posing for the obligatory photographs we set off back along the road in the hope that it wouldn’t be too long before we reached the farm in which we were staying. After about half a mile we came upon another stone which didn’t look like it should have been there at all. This was smaller than the previous stone and was tilted at an angle. I again took some photos and named it the Eigg lesser stone ;-)
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A splendid site just south of Jedburgh on the A68 at a little hamlet called Rochester. The old Roman fort of Bremenium is a 20 minute walk away but it is not for this that the visitors come.
Brigantium is a series of reconstructions from sites discovered in the local area. You can see cup and ring marks, a stone circle, a bronze age burial cairn and an iron age farmstead as well as various roman reconstructions.
By far the most interesting part of the site however is the Hunters Rock Shelter which is the only part of the site which is likely to have been really used by mesolithic hunters and gatherers. Whilst excavating this area flints were found at the entrance of the natural rock shelter and certain slabs of stone appeared to have been placed.
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This lone menhir stands on the tiny island of Eigg in the Inner hebreides, it is situated just off the roadside in the middle of the island.
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I saw this whilst on the path heading towards the significantly more famous 'Signal Rock' from where the Glencoe massacre was orchastrated.
Signal rock is just under a miles walk from the road running through Glencoe and the path runs through a wooded glen.
I spotted this stone just off the path on the way to Signal rock and thought it looked a bit out of place.
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The island of Harris is blessed with many fine sandy beaches. The Macleods stone is signposted from the road and is situated atop a hilloch looking out onto the bay of Traigh Lar.
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The remains of a galleried iron age dun in the middle of Loch Chromor. It's pretty much at the end of the road to nowhere and once you reach it you need to clamber over a small hill to see it. One should imagine that there was a causeway to the island originally which has long since disappeared.
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Just off the A858 at Bragar in North Lewis lay the ruins of a collapsed broch. The broch is situated on a small island on Loch an Duna and is only just accessible by a causeway. It has a diameter of 16m and in its heyday might have reached a height of 3 metres.
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At 19 feet high, the Watchstone was once one of a pair of standing stones which guarded the causeway leading to the Ring Of Brodgar.
Although it will never really be known what the purpose for the Watchstone ever really was. It has been speculated that it could have formed part of a ceremonial link between the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Brodgar ring.
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The Shetland Amenity Trust and the University of Bradford have for the past 8 years been excavating a site in the south of shetland known as old Scatness.
The site slap bang next to sumburgh Airport and only a couple of miles from Jarlshof is a truely marvellous find.
The focal point of the site is the disovery of a 4m high Broch which is surrounded by the remains of an Iron Age village. Carbon dating points to the broch as having been built around 400BC. Later the site was used by the Picts and the Vikings.
Further evidence suggest that the site was in use during the bronze age with pottery discovered at the site thought to have been from then.
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Mousa Broch is the finest example of a 2000 year old Iron Age tower or broch anywhere. It stands 13.3 metres high and dominates the landscape of the small island of Mousa just off the Shetland mainland.
Accessibility is only by boat and it is thought that the only reason it still stands so proud today is because it would have proved too difficult for past generations to sail over and steal the stone.
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I enjoy touring and visiting all different parts of the country. Scotland holds special appeal especially the areas of Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles.
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