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I usually write about
weapons for "The Family Tree" but those who know me also know I have
written several articles about the adventures Chris and I have in our
travels so I thought I would do one for this fine publication and start
with Kilmartin Glen.
We are both over 60 and
like to tell about what we are able to do as senior citizens with our
senior’s citizen aches and pains. First we usually travel in the winter,
it is less expensive and the places we go are not crowded and we rent a
car so we can travel the single track roads where the big tour buses
cannot go and our pictures are of the scenery, not pictures of a bunch of
other people taking pictures. We can also stop when we want to and stay as
long as want to.
Kilmartin Glen is a few
miles south of Oban and is the heart of Dalriada, where the Scots first
landed and started a kingdom. The area is best known for its pre-history
sites with the earliest known site dated about 5,000 BC and the place to
start a visit is the small village of Kilmartin and the museum next door
to the Kilmartin Church. In a 6-mile radius from the church there are over
350 known sites, which you can visit. Chris and I only spent 1 day in the
glen but a week would have been better.
The church still holds
service about once a month by a roving minister but it is always open and
contains one of the largest collections of early Christian grave slabs and
crosses as well as grave coverings from the days of the Vikings and
Templars.
About ½ mile south of the
village is a car park where you can take a 1-mile walk and see as well as
go into a large unusual standing stone site. Next are two stone circles in
Temple woods, which are either burial sites or ceremonial sites. This puts
you on the old road which was probably used 5,000 years ago as it passes
by 5 large cairns which were probably used as burial sites, two of which
you can enter. Anytime I am walking very far a do use a cane and by being
careful I was able to climb on and into these cairns.
It was on this old road we
met the sweet 80 plus lady that walks about 1 mile from her home to the
village to get her Sunday paper. Visiting with Scots like her is an added
bonus to any of our trips.
We completed our circuit
back to the car passing a couple of more sites. If we had followed the old
road further we would have passed several more cairns, standing stones and
Carnasseme Castle but my knee said it wanted to rest.
We drove a short distance
further south to Dunadd which is believed to be the fortress site of Picts
and a later Iron Age fort. It was here that legend says the first kings of
Scotland were crowned using the Stone of Destiny. On top are the carving
of the footprint, the Pictish boar and a large bowl believed to have been
part of the crowning ceremonies. The fort is a pile of rocks left by a
glacier in the middle of a marsh where you can see for miles in all
directions from the top. By using my cane and taking is easy I had no
problem reaching the top. The sun was shining and Chris and I were the
only ones there and what a magnificent uncluttered view.
Next we wanted to see some
cup and ring carvings and the biggest and best were at a place called
Achnabreck a few miles further south. A short distance up a gravel road is
a small car park, which buses can’t traverse (about 6 cars size). From the
car park there is a paved pathway which is about 500 meters up hill to the
cup and ring site. It is steep at times but again by not getting in a
hurry I had no problem getting to the site. The three rocks at the site
are covered with hundreds of the cup and circles carvings. What are the
cup and circle carving? No one knows. We met at least 6 people out for
exercise with their dogs and/or children. One of the walkers suggested we
go on past the carvings to the top of the hill and what we found was a
bonus for the day. There was a park bench where the view held us for a log
time. Mountains on the right across the glen had the clouds working their
way down the valleys and corries. To the left of the mountains was a sea
loch with a small village at the base of the loch and to the left of the
village was more mountains. Highlighting all of this was the sun
occasionally peeking through the clouds as it settled down behind the
mountains.
Chris and both agree that
this was one of the best days of our many trips to Scotland and the isles
but the day was not over as we had another adventure trying to find
Scotland’s oldest castle but that is another story.
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