Passage tomb, Peakeen

What a day - just returned weatherbeaten and exhilarated. A day of walking and archaeology; a day we have been trying to do for three weeks now but each time we arranged something we were beaten back by gales. Today the sun was shining and Finola and Robert arrived, Fortified with croissants and strong coffee we headed off to Peakeen Ridge to examine the passage tomb up there and inspect an odd hole that seems to have been carved right in the inside of the tomb. We  needed expert advice and F and R are experts. The wind was incredible up here but the views were immense. We peered into the tomb (see extra for how an expert goes at it) and emerged none the wiser. Very odd - a perfect round hole about 9 inches across, almost certainly manmade. Was it placed here later for some reason? Anyway, the passage tomb is the oldest monument so far discovered on the Sheep's Head going back at least 4000 years. It's in a spectacular position and although much collapsed still pretty impressive. It's also certainly derelict so will do nicely for today's DS5 challenge, now hosted by sdg92 and Maisiebeth.


Onwards down teeny potholed lanes to investigate an anomalous stone group on a hillside with huge views out to the sea. A radial cairn, a collapsed tomb, field clearance? More food for thought. We passed four hardy walkers sheltering against a wall eating their sandwiches. They were doing an impressively huge hike. Onwards towards the end of the peninsula for a look at the rock art son#1 had  discovered recently - cup marks on the side of a massive rock. They looked like authentic cup marks but there were so many of them and it was the wrong kind of stone that we reluctantly concluded they were natural. Either that or we'd discovered something incredibly significant.

Home to leek and potato soup and smelly cheese, and a warm up! Good day.