Adamnan’s Cross

Whilst up in Glen Lyon, Paul and I went for a wee amble.

Some pictures of things we found...

 Dam...

It's Glen Lyon.

 A big ol' cairn.

Never quite seen Kitty from that angle before!

Mist coming down yon mountains.

Adamnan’s Cross - I'll let Paul explain that one if you follow the link.

The story begins: "A terrible plague swept through Scotland in the seventh century. It reached the Vale of Fortingall and so violent was its ravages that all the inhabitants were wiped out.."

The landscape surrounding it is beautiful.

We stumbled upon quite a few ancient sites. You can read about them on The Northern Antiquarian, but one that was particularly interesting was a ruinous rubble once supposed to be a fort belonging to none other than the great giant Finn McCool!

Those of you who know of the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, will know that he was the famous giant who built it. Yet it would seem that he also kept holiday homes in the glens of Scotland. This being one.

It's called Caisteal Mhic Neill - read about it by following that link.

It sits by a river.

On the other side of the road is an old kiln.

In the shadow of a rather large hill.

And a little way up the road, a field which I spent some time exploring due to a large cave formed by several boulders.

It doesn't look as impressive in pictures, but you can crawl inside and up through the rocks. I managed to stand on top of the one on the left, where there was a ledge. I lay there, looking up at the sky...

The views of the glen were lovely, too.

That second one is back down towards Finn McCool's Castle, by the river to the left.

There were some other impressive boulders in the field.

One of which I've dubbed the Psychedelic Stone. It's covered in thick waves, unlike any other there.

There's one in the Valley of the Black Goddess that is completely covered in garnet. Again, unlike any other stone around it. On a normal day you wouldn't even know, just a rock with chicken pox. Apparently though, when it rains and the sun hits it, it glows red like rubies.

Finally, a drive home down a very bumpy road, past a pipe that stretched an entire valley, and some lovely skylines...

Finn McCool's Pipe?

Adamnan’s Cross

The Stag

Just returned from visiting a lovely cunning woman in the hills around Glen Lochay, the longest of the Scottish glens. In ancient etymology it is Pictishly related to 'crooked stones' or 'great stones', bordering the Valley of the Black Goddess, where our friend lives. In this rare moment of internet access, I shall share a few pictures.

Percy Rabbit Reclining in a Grape Vine

She has an incredible vine growing in her porch, full of ripening grapes.

Back Garden

Beautiful painted pictures on hide. Middle Eastern, perhaps? If anyone has any information about what they depict, I'd love to know.

  

Gentle-spirited Pip guiding us along a walk by the river, and drinking from the stream in her back yard.

Sun on the River

Harvest has begun as we pass Lughnasadh.

The hills look on:

Waterfalls

I've been climbing waterfalls.

A six hour bimble in the hills. Pulled myself up a boulder, hopped across a stream, slid down deer tracks, followed in the footsteps of a mountain goat. Unlike my friend, I have no sense of balance, but the gods also blessed me with no sense of vertigo either. I may be about to fall down a gaping crevasse, but at least I won't feel dizzy before it happens.

Skinny dipping in freezing mountain streams. Best day ever (since Tim Minchin).

Discovered that if you lie against a waterfall you become one with the waterfall. Press your face against it so that the water drums down your body and pulls at your hair - but creates a small pocket of air around your nose and mouth, so you can still breathe. You can stay like that for as long as you can take the cold.

And it is cold.

All the might of the mountains roaring down against your body, naked as nature.

I truly think I found paradise.

This land is filled with Urisks and fairy forts. 

Nekkid Lady

Forth Valley

I shan't waffle on. There's nothing I can say that the landscape can't.

Stone Roses - Waterfall.

Fairy Forts

Before we ended up in the church, we went for a frobble around something a little more sacred - by ancient standards.

This area was once a pictish stronghold. The trees over the other side of the, now incredibly busy, main road mark an old hill fort.

On the side of the stone facing it, you can still make out some of the carvings.

In the field opposite is another.

Then, a drive away, is a fallen erectile. The landscape is littered with these wonderful objects.

I know I post a lot about stones:

Tinkinswood

Carahunge

Rollright

Stanton Drew

Feel free to walk away yawning. Some people don't gerrit, there's plenty else to read on t'internet.

But if you do gerrit, check out my friend's website: The Northern Antiquarian. He also wrote The Old Stones of Elmet: "A total guide to the archaeology, folklore & geomancy of the ritual stone sites in an old Yorkshire kingdom." 

Ilkly born and raised, he's now moved north of the border. If there's awt you want to ken, share, discuss or question - get in contact through his site, or through Facebook.

Headstones

Went for a drive today and saw a very old church. I love old churches, like the Norman church at Quneington. Not because I particularly care for churches, but because I love the stone carvings.

Up here in Scotland you find a particularly strange headstone carving. Surrounded by beauty such as this:

There is a rather crude, but extremely to-the-point symbol:

I first saw them in a church in Auchtermuchty, but they seem to appear all over the region.

Reminds me a little of the baby in bandages over in Horka, in that it looks rather more pragmatic than picturesque. 

Also plenty of Celtic Crosses - the knotwork symbolising reincarnation and the continual cycle of life, death and rebirth, neatly sewn into another religion's symbol of death as ascension. Cute juxtaposition. 

And, finally, an incredible symbol - what appears to be an eagle pinning down something like a swan (seems to have a long neck). Truly entertaining as my friend introduced me to Game of Thrones, and we've been watching it solidly for two days. Though it would also work well for the Hamleighs in Pillars of the Earth. 

All of this at the foot of an old Cailleach mound.

There is little question which of the two has more life in it.