Once beyond the dam and spillway at the north-eastern end of Loch Lunndaidh the track is blocked by one of the fences erected to exclude the red deer from the new forestry so, to proceed further towards the old clachan of Lochlunndaidh, one has to resort to....
....what in our Rhodesian days was called bundu-bashing, with the difference here that a false step can result in one going up to one's knees in a cold and very muddy bog hole.
However, it was worth the bunds-bashing for two reasons. Firstly, at last, there were signs of deer, not that we saw any or, for that matter, much in the way of wildlife except for....
....a solitary stonechat and a small flock of goldfinches.
The second reason was that it offered something familiar, something that has been part of my Scottish life for at least ten years - a bit of archaeology. There wasn't, nor did I expect to find anything new but the signs of human occupation in the area were everywhere. This is one of many field cairns, piles of stones created over the millennia when the land was cleared for planting.
The area also has numerous hut circles, round platforms edged with boulders which formed the bases of tepee-like dwellings dating back over 2,000 years. This one, easily visible because heather seems to thrive on it, is about ten metres in diameter.
One aspect of these huts which intrigues me is that they often seem to have been sited to maximise the view, resulting in them being very exposed to the weather. Either the builders thought an occasional bit of gale damage was well worth the view, or the area was heavily forested, or the climate in those days was far kinder than it is today.
No comments:
Post a Comment