september 19

Day 19

My travel is getting close to the end, and sometimes I feel a bit tired. Today I got really relaxed and took some time before waking up. As today I had no time pressure and I was a bit tired, I woke up 8:10. At this point I realized I really need a break from myself.

But well, I had to change accomodation, so I did, and decided stay one more night to book myself in a tour to Orkney. That’s right, I could not leave without a try. So Monday morning I will joint the tour. It will be a bit too short, I guess, because I’ve been through the north coast, and Orkney is quite far.

After that I had the idea to hire a bike for the day, so I went down to it. My idea was going to Clava burial chambers, also called Balnuaran of Clava where there are a great concentration of burial chambers a few miles from Inverness.

I had a map, I had a bike, so I went there. It was not easy, but I made it. First I had to get to the big hill where the Jacobites fought their last battle. After that the road go downhill to a valley and there is the Clava chambers are.

Balnuaran of Clava

Clava is a complex of several burial chambers, and other stone monuments without precise meaning. There are many sites around Clava that cannot be visited because it is in private lands. Of course I’ve been searching for them.

But Clava itself is very interesting. The three main constructions there are some of the best of their kind. They resemble the ones I’ve been visiting the previous days: Corrimony and Camster Round Cairns. There are three main round cairns, two of them burial chambers, and one of obscure significance, apparently used for ceremonies. There is indication that this central cairn, which contains no entrance had distinct stones of colors, creating colored areas. Other stone circle nearby from a distinct period has color patterns given by the nature of the stones. This are the first use of color I’ve seem so far.

There were sucessive occupation of the cairns aswell constructions from later periods. The main burial chambers did not host more than one person inside, which is very unusual. The chambers again are aligned to the winter solstice.

Both burial chambers have stone circles around then and both have kerbstones in the base. In the third cairn the circle of stones make the same structural role. This cairn also features two long barrels that ends in two menhirs in opposite sides of the circle.

The two burial chambers have collapsed, so no one is chambered nor keeps its original passage. Both have some cup marks, but there is an special kerbstone in the first chamber which contains more of those cup marks than all the others in the whole area, located in the opposite side of the entrance.

Around Clava there are other sites of interest, like a standing stone, some cairns and rocks together. Not far from this notable amount of stone monuments, there is another site that deserves attention, called the Milton of Clava is a burial mound with a standing stone in front of it. As the other Clava monuments, is positioned along the river. Just beside it there are remains unexcavated of what is supposed to be an early medieval church. There is a standing stone that alignes with the stone in the cairn.

standin stone

Milton of Clava

Druid Temple

After leaving the Clava, I decided look for the Druid Temple that I had lost the other day. It was not easy to find it, as it is sited inside a farm, behind it.

I entered there with my bike, and nothing happened. Until now entering in private proprieties has proved not to be a problem in Britain, and there goes more than two mounths.

The Druid Temple is one of the most disturbing places I’ve been so far. At first sight simply make me totally confused. It is the most strange stone circle ever! The stones are very close one to each other, like they’ve been kerbstones from a round chamber. I’ve counted 25 of these stones.
Maybe it was a "Cairn" still in process, that was left, or assaulted later. Inside there is another stone circle like an altar. Outside other stone circle, much wider. There is a clear entrance to the inner circle. The whole site looks a bit abandoned. Trees and weeds are everywhere. So it makes the site even more confusing for the eyes. But the place has something like an atmosphere that makes it very pleasant to be, on the top of a mountain looking the city and the sea below. This should been an even more fantastic site when the Druid Temple was constructed.

Leaving there I’ve been looking for other places without luck until I decided go back to town. I still been to the Saint Andrews Cathedral just to look after the sculptures, and actually found what I was looking for: a Green Man. It was definely a great day.