september 17

Day 17

Woke up early and worried about time. I had to get to the Tourist Information Centre before 9:00 to get into the tour that would go around the coast until the very north of Scotland (without Orkney and Shetland). On the tour it was included visiting some of archeological sites, that I was interested. Actually, I was more interested in that than in anything else. Although not booked, I managed to join the tour. I always states that I don’t like tours. I mean, it’s not for me. If I have the time and the means I’d rather go alone. Nothing personal. But I must agree, this time it was a good tour, although it wasn’t focused in archeological sites. I could see a lot of places that I would not without the tour.

I could see some of the places where are some archeological sites, but not actually went there. This is taking a tour.

Dornoch Cathedral

We did a short stop at Dornoch, and I had some time to visit the tiniest cathedral in Scotland. There are not too many cathedrals in Scotland actually. This was founded by Saint Gilbert, Bishop of Caithness in 1224 by his own expenses, and was consecrated in 1239, though most of what is seem today is not actually from this time. The building was reformed at least two times, and there is a lot of XVIII century there. It is really small for a Cathedral, and its most interesting feature are the corbets around the building. Not many, enough to give some of those medieval feeling to it.



I always think medieval allegories funny somehow, although I suspect, it was not intended to be funny. Surreal figures are all around the cathedral, with special attention to a boar like figure, a Green Man in the entrance, and some other quite mysterious figures.

Cairn Liath

My first good surprise of the day was the Cairn Liath, or “gray stone” in Gaelic, a Broch well preserved close to the sea. It was the first Broch I saw, and they look a bit with the Irish round fortress from some time later. The difference is that the Broch are smaller (would be enough room for a family, but not much more) and taller.

The Cairn Liath was 10 meter high, though today we see less than half of his original height.

The walls are quite wide, making it a very difficult place to assault. There is only one entrance, and some paths you can use to climb to the second floor, if you don’t want to use the stairs there.

Originally it would have wood stacks around supporting a light roof, making it a kind of shelter, again resembling the Irish early medieval age fort.

Cairn Liath stands in front of the sea, in a very important position, needless to say, but originally it should look even more, as there were no roads close to it.

We followed our way to look after some deers – that never appeared, visited some lost ports and obscure villages, until we get into a not less obscure road to Camster Round Cairns.

Camster Round Cairns

These chambered tombs are amongst the best preserved in Britain, and date from the Bronze Age. The site is known since the 19^th century and have been visited – and expoiled- since then. In the interior were related to have some pottery and bones when in 1856 some antiquarians break in the chamber. There is an older round chamber and a longer one, with two entrances, related to this first.

They look quite the same style: a stone wall with an entrance, and a round cover of loose stones, in the case of the first cairn, and a long round structure in the second. The site has been restored, so now there is a concrete ceiling, although the stone walls are all there.

The passages are narrow and it is difficult to enter. One has to crawl at some points, in two of the three entrances. The passages take to an internal hall. There are some slabs inside, suggesting three spaces or altars, but in a small area. I was informed that the site faces the solstice of the winter, like Newgrange.

When they were build the site was much warmer, and farming was taking place in the area. It seems that through time the weather got colder and wet, making it difficult the farming as the forest died and the soil lost nutrients. The area I which the cairns are located are soft and boggy. They are located in a high and isolated area, close to what is today a pine forest (reforested area).


As we went over the coast I could locate other two Brochs that unfortunately we could not stop. We went to John O' Groots, quite close to Orkney, and we could actually see it!
Tomorrow I will try go to some Inverness favourite: the Loch Ness. As I arranged to stay in a hostel for another two nights, I believe I will try to reach Orkney for at least one day by plane. Not sure if it will work, but I am here, have the time and some money. It is the end of my travel, so I could not imagine anything better. Let’s see how it will work.

the monster of Inverness