Dunruchan

Me on a Stone

Well, ladies and gentlemen. I'm back in the wilds, running amuck in the mountains with the Hill Man of Clackmannanshire.

I am currently snuggled up on the couch with a dram of Canadian whisky (the Canadians make whisky! Who knew?), absolutely knackered, but totally proud of myself. Have a MASSIVE grin on my face.

We took a pootle out to Dunruchan, near Crieff in Perthshire. It's a standing stone complex. We first walked up from the road towards this beauty.

On the dark patch in the distance, which is burnt-back heather, was a second.

Once you arrive there, you look to the left and find three more. The first one towers over a shallow pit.

The second is much shorter and fatter. More of a female stone to the male erectiles... oo-err. At first I thought part of it looked like an eagle's head, now I think it looks more like a mitten or a squashed nose. Think I'll stick with 'The Eagle Stone' though, sounds slightly more majestic.

Wonderful shot from the Eagle Stone to the second stone.

Then the one I was standing on, which looks like it's pulling a face.

 

That was the main site. There was so much going on. Lots of little mounds denoting a large complex, though there's very little written about it. The landscape is incredible, with snow still on the hills. I managed to figure out the panoramic on my camera. If you click, it should enlarge.

 

(click to enlarge)

Then came the fun part.

"What's that?" I asked, pointing to a far off hill.

"Not too sure," said Paul. "Probably a survey point."

"Could we walk to it?"

"Uh, yeah."

"How far is it?"

"Closer than you think. Probably about twenty minutes."

In me time, I'm thinking more like an hour...

I've really missed the land. I was bouncing like a newborn. My whole body was energised and I needed to do something with all that energy. I've often looked at hills in Scotland and wondered how hard they would be to climb. It's not easy to judge the distance between spaces when there is so much space. 

I decided that yes, I really, really did want to climb up that hill to see what the possible ordinance-survey-point-suspiciously-like-a-monolith actually looked like.

It may not sound like anything incredible, but I am truly proud of myself. Whilst Paul held back to take more pictures, I made it down fields...

Across the road...

And up the incredibly steep other side, all in around 35 minutes, plus a stop for breath halfway. I saw a rabbit, red kites, and numerous deceased and bleached sheep bones.

There was a minor moment of panic when I lost sight of the stone and tried to convince myself that I had, in fact, climbed up completely the wrong hill. Then I couldn't work out which end of the hill it was on... I realised how extremely easily people must get lost in the mountains.

Thankfully, my nose stayed true. I picked a direction and within a few moments this came into sight...

The photos don't really do it justice, but the drop, and the surrounding snowy mountains, were incredible.

(click to enlarge)

So, I climbed a hill. Big woop. I probably need to explain this sense of incredible achievement a little further.

Firstly, it comes from spotting something and going off to find out what it is, to find that it is actually something worth going to find. What a view!

Secondly, it comes from doing this by myself. I knew that I was always safe. My friend Paul is a bit like Mick Dundee. If I'd fallen, become lost, or wandered into trouble, I knew that he was watching me and he would have found me. I wasn't in danger of going too far wrong. But it was such a sense of exhilaration, pitting my wits against barbed wire fencing, rocky escarpments, sinking morass and my own lack of direction. When I finally made it to the top I burst out laughing, took a picture, then collapsed on the ground for a snooze.

Finally, I've known Paul most of my life. He contributed hugely to my formative education, and a little part of me (quite a big part, actually) has always looked up to him. I've always been the one following him up hills, and occasionally falling down them. I am grinning at the moment because today, I feel like I've earned my wings. He openly admitted that he was astonished at how fast I made it up the hill. Managing to impress someone whose opinion you truly value is an awesome feeling.

I am absolutely buzzing. Something's sparked back into life today. My heart, my head, my flesh - all connected. Such a savage and enchanting part of the world. And I feel like being savagely enchanted.

Seriously, who knew?