GoStL2SotH 16 October 2012

from the Gulf of St Lawrence to the Sea of the Hebrides

16 October 2012

The North Atlantic Arc Home

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Tuesday 16 October 2012--Hazy morning, rapidly clearing. I briefly consider going back and rephotographing some of yesterday's sights, not knowing whether the damaged memory card will be recoverable. Decide ultimately that it wouldn't be good use of my time. If I've lost a day's photos, I'll live with it.

Set out first to see a standing stone and a stone circle in a field between Hough and Moss. The flat field is pretty wet, and the standing stone, a few feet tall, has its own little moat. All of the stones in the circle are fallen. There is evidence of a cairn, and perhaps some other structures, beneath the turf. It takes a lot of imagination to make much of this site.

I tromp off down a dirt track to the westernmost tip of Tiree, looking for Dùn Hanais, marked on the OS map. I pick the wrong fork and end up on Tràigh Hough, a happy accident--it's a lovely beach, with some weird undulating rock formations. Cross up over the headland at the southern end, and find myself on a beach composed of wonderful round cobbles. I could spend a month on this one, picking over stones. Content myself with building a small cairn, and then walk up the next point, where the dùn is. It looks to me like an unexcavated broch...not much to see, really, and not at all photogenic [thus none below].

Beyond that is Tràigh Thodhrasdail, maybe the prettiest yet. Or maybe it's just the golden afternoon light. I have it to myself. I linger for some time, knowing my day, and my stay on Tiree, are almost done. As so often happens, I'm just beginning to feel the island's relaxed rhythm as the time to leave approaches.

Reluctantly, I ascend into the dunes. The ruin of Kilkenneth Chapel is somewhere in here. The dunes are fenced off in lots, and I'm guessing which is the right one. I'm two fences away, so have to trudge all the way to the road and come back the other way. It's a curious place for a chapel; apparently they had some trouble keeping people buried in the shifting sands. The burial ground is long gone, with just the walls of the chapel nestled in amongst the dunes.

Drive back to the B&B and watch the day fade. Away tomorrow.

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