From Inside and Outside

Posted on 10/09/201631/08/2016 by Alastair

With a final look across the landscape from inside Cairnholy chambered tomb and a last look back at its standing stones, we descended back down the lane through woodland to the car. If you are ever in Galloway, StillWalks Scotland and enjoy the neolithic era of burial architecture, this is a site worth visiting. Don’t let bad weather put you off, it’s worth it in the rain as well as the sunshine.

Looking out

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Looking out

Stone Character and Looking Inside the Tomb

Posted on 09/09/201631/08/2016 by Alastair

Looking at the second chambered tomb of Cairnholy on my walk this week in Galloway, SW Scotland and facing east (approximately), the covered chamber takes on the appearance of an oriental character in stone. I don’t speak Chinese or Japanese so have no idea if the chamber’s form seen from this angle actually does resemble anything in those languages, but it seems to have an essence of it. However, I imagine this is completely coincidental.

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Cairnholy 2

Posted on 08/09/201631/08/2016 by Alastair

Continuing up the hill on my walk this week we found the second Cairnholy chambered tomb site. There are not so many standing stones arranged around this burial chamber but the profile of it against the cloudy sky made for a strong composition.

Cairnholy 2

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Cairnholy 2

Cairnholy 2 entrance

Cairnholy Landscape

Posted on 07/09/201631/08/2016 by Alastair

Having said that the weather could have been better on my walk this week, today I am posting the proof. The view from Cairnholy chambered tomb on the Galloway coast in Scotland would be pretty good if it weren’t for the clouds and rain – but there you go, that’s Scotland (or perhaps I should say the UK) in these days of unpredictable seasons.

On a more positive note, the landscape did not loose any of its atmosphere or colour as a result of the weather and it seemed to make it easier (though I don’t know why it should) to imagine people there in neolithic times.

Seaview

A Place to Lie – Neolithic Chambered Tomb

Posted on 06/09/201631/08/2016 by Alastair

It was tempting to lie down in the neolithic chambered tomb at Cairnholy but it felt like it might be dishonouring the place somehow – I would also have had to have been quite short. My walk this week to visit both the tombs at Cairnholy was well worth it even though the weather was coming in around us by the time we were up there. It didn’t stop me trying a few different perspectives on the standing stones at the entrance to the tomb but raindrops on the lens did create a bit of a challenge.

Cairn holy chambered tomb

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Cairnholy chambered tomb

My Walk this Week – Cairnholy

Posted on 05/09/201631/08/2016 by Alastair

My walk this week’s actually taken a couple of years ago but as I am going to be in the same area again over the next week or two, it seemed a good time to post about our visit to the chambered tomb of Cairnholy in Scotland. I don’t have any field recording from this walk so I am afraid there will be no soundscape this week.

The weather on this walk could have been better but was not so bad to stop us going and the walk up the small road towards the ancient site was very attractive in itself.

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Cairnholy woodland

Cairnholy

Leaving the Cliffs Behind and Reviewing the Walk

Posted on 04/09/201625/08/2016 by Alastair

leaving the cliffs behind

Although I said I didn’t do much field recording on this walk, I did manage to capture the sound of the wild wind there that day and if you listen carefully you will also hear the sound of a buoy bell ringing two or three times. The buoy floats just offshore and now and then was tossed roughly enough by the wind and waves to sound out faintly through the roar of wind and sea. Be warned – I have added the sound of the old fog horn to the end of this soundscape but there is an amusing ending to it if you care to listen.

Nash Point Soundscape

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Nash Point Lighthouse

Nash Point

Nash Point Layers

coastal pavement

Pavement Perspective

Roundstones

Sand expanse

leaving the cliffs behind

Nash Brook

Content of the Cliff

Posted on 03/09/201625/08/2016 by Alastair

Nearing the end of my walk this week from Nash Point to Monknash on the South Wales cliff-lined coast I have arrived at the mouth of Nash Brook and a place where the cliff tops come down to beach level. Looking at the content of the cliff it is easy to see why they are no longer the towering structures I have been enjoying along the rest of the walk. Although the durability (or lack of) in the layers and blocks of the cliffs can be seen in the structures and curves in photos below, the geology seen in this first image is much softer and in part explains the small valley from which Nash Brook flows.