Ballymeanoch Stones and moon

The weather forecast for today was good so we decided that this would be a good day to visit Gigha. We travelled south to Tayinloan to catch the ferry, The Loch Ranza, for the 20 minute crossing to Gigha. The weather wasn't as bright as we hoped but thankfully it was still dry and we walked to the Achamore Gardens. These gardens were the work of Sir James Horlick (of the bedtime drink fame ) who owned the island from 1944 to 1973, these are now community owned ,as is the whole island, and are really lovely,particularly the walled garden. We spent a lovely time here and walked up to the viewpoint which affords great views across to Islay.
After the gardens we visited the ruins of the 13th century Kilchattan chapel. Saint Catan was a 6th century Irish missionary who settled in Bute. Some restoration work had been done on the beautiful lancet window of the chapel and some strengthening of the walls. There are also some 14th century carved grave slabs belonging to the MacNeill clan within the chapel. We didn't visit the nearby ogam stone.
We then headed back the way we came for the ferry back to the mainland. The weather had started to brighten and after a short stop in Tarbert we headed back up the Kilmartin Glen to visit the Dunchraigaig cairn and the Ballymeanoch stones,which were looking lovely lit up by the late afternoon sun.We then retraced our steps and walked past the cairn to visit one of the best examples of cup and ring marked stone slabs.
The light was fading fast, producing a beautiful sunset, as we headed back to our little cottage.

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.