We set out in unseasonably warm and bright weather this morning along the track which leads to Loch Lunndaidh, through the forestry and out onto the open moorland to the west of Golspie, determined to reach the remains of old settlements strung out along the northeast shore of the loch (see previous post
here), but before we could reach it....
....we came upon the first archaeological remains I have located since arriving in Golspie, a short section of wall which appeared to go from nowhere to nowhere - which didn't prevent me from feeling exceedingly excited about it.
We followed the estate track until....
....we came to Loch Lunndaidh. The loch today is a Scottish Water reservoir held back by....
....an earth embankment, so the original lochan must have been much smaller and lower.
The first of two hut circles marked on the Ordnance Survey map just above the dam wall ('1' in red on the above map) were quickly found but, far from being what I had expected - small circles of rock typical of shielings - these were big, the lower one (above, picked out by the stronger growth of heather) was 15m in diameter, while....
....the upper one was slightly smaller. This suggests that they may have been Bronze or Iron Age, and occupied by family groups. In this picture the upper one is in the foreground and the lower one is arrowed.
There were other structures around, including a long section of meandering wall, and there are further structures marked on the OS map, so there is plenty to keep me amused as we explore the area in the new year.
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