Monday 29 August 2011

Camera hiccup

It was one of those rarer moments this year - I had some spare time, Cupar was happy with Sue, and the weather was good..... I could go for a walk!

I plotted myself a route which involved a bit of farm track and some off-track walking which took me to a remote inland loch, a few ruins (I love exploring ruins!) and finally, to one of Skye's bronze age souterrains - this one reputedly difficult to find, as it is just inside a forestry plantation.

All was well as I made my way up the track, and after a mile or so, approached a lovely stone built sheep pen - disused, but in good order. Out came the camera for a picture, and the screen read: 'recharge battery pack'... I muttered a few words that I wouldn't type here... Now what was I to do? Return home and not have my walk, or continue and not have any photos? I chose the latter, and am pleased that I did.

The loch was beautiful, and so, so quiet. The ruined farmstead stood solid and silent, but close to a splashing waterfall. The house is overgrown, roofless, but with walls still standing about 5 feet high. There's remains of a barn alongside. It was possibly inhabited well into the 20th century - I wonder who lived in such a remote spot, and how they lived their days?

A little further on, and with guidance from my magic little GPS 'sat nav' I found the souterrain. Wow! This would have been built some 6,000 years ago. The tiny entrance tunnel is in perfect condition, and leads into an underground chamber - possibly more than one. To get inside would mean crawling on one's stomach - definitely no room to crawl on hands and knees - so I just looked in awe from the outside.

I've ordered a spare battery pack for my camera now, so won't be caught out again. And I'll be retracing the six miles or so of my walk when I get the chance, so some photos will follow...!!!

3 comments:

Worcestershire Turnip said...

Sorry to hear that Richard. That's happened to me a couple of times in the past. I'm off to Ireland at the end of next week, and hope to get to some of the remoter parts. I will make sure I take some spare batteries, but fortunately they are AA, so quite cheap.

Pete

Richard Dorrell said...

Hi Pete! Have a great trip to Ireland! Any chance of some Green Squares for Geograph?

Worcestershire Turnip said...

Hi Richard

Thanks Richard. Where I will be in County Clare, seems to be surrounded by lots of green squares, so provided not too much climbing is involved, I hope to do my duty and bag a few!

I need to get one of those mobile internet dongle things, so in the dark evenings I can amuse myself by uploading pics. Well that's the theory, but I suspect with the travelling I'll be too exhausted to do a lot! We shall see.

Cheers, Pete