The Adventures of Hjalmar Bjorge - Season 3, Episode 10

The Continuing Adventures of Hjalmar Bjorge

Season 3 - Episode 10 of 10 - Mull to Oban

Exploring the Isles of the West Cruise    June 2-11, 2018

Sunday, June 10 – Island 16 - Mull 

The last full day of the cruise started with a slow motor below the high southern cliffs of the Ross of Mull. Around noon we came to a stop below Eas Criarichan - a waterfall that tumbles 600 feet to the sea, where we spotted an eagle’s eyrie on the cliff-face; the eagle soaring high above. From there we headed east below Gorrie's Leap and Carsaig Arches. Then the anchor was dropped in Loch Buie where we went ashore for the last walk of the cruise.

Carsaig Arches

Carsaig Arches

Our walk would be a long one, as Mark, Anna and Karen were going to take the ship around to Loch Spelve, where we would meet up with him in the afternoon. We'd be covering some five miles on the walk, but since the ship had to circle around the Laggan Peninsula, Mark had 20 sea-miles ahead of him to get to Loch Spelve.

Even though it was a Sunday, the tiny post office at Loch Buie was open. After a look inside we passed a monument to the coronation of Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902.

Debbie at the Post Office

Wolfgang at the monument

On our way to Moy Castle we took a peek inside the beautiful little church of St Kilda, a church dedicated to a saint that never existed – although one of its stained glass windows does depict a Saint Kilda.

The St Kilda Window

The pastor here, in the 1920s, was Thomas Hannan, author of several classic island books such as Iona: And Some Satellites (1931), and The Beautiful Island of Mull (1926). Even though the church dates to 1876, the site had religious significance long before that. When they were digging down to lay the church foundations they discovered this cross stone (possibly 12th century).

From the church it was a short walk past Loch Buie House to reach Moy Castle.

Loch Buie House

Moy Castle

Moy was the home of the Maclaine chiefs of Mull from about 1400 to 1752. It is a shame you can not go inside, as the ruin is dangerous. But I was fortunate to have been given a tour in 2003. The highlight was seeing the pit-prison: a bottle-dungeon half filled with water.

Moy Castle pit - but no pendulum

Moy was a focal point of the 1947 movie I know where I'm Going (see this I know where I'm Going website). You can find more on the castle, along with pictures of its interior, at this link.

A quarter mile due north of Moy is the Lochbuie stone circle. But to get there we had to circle around the grounds of Loch Buie house, as they don't want tourists tramping through the estate. So instead of a pleasant quarter mile hike through green fields, we had to make a two-mile circuitous road walk to the circle.

Loch Buie Stone Circle

To me, this elegant, and almost complete stone circle, rivals any other in Scotland, including Callanish; both in its stunning setting and, especially, its lack of tourist crowds. Before we left the circle we posed for a group photo. (Missing from the photo is Wolfgang. No, I didn't lose him; he'd decided to stay back near the road where we'd be commencing our three-mile walk to Loch Spelve.)

As we'd been walking we noted a few “Beware Adders” signs and, sure enough, an adder was spotted. But it was not a danger, having been run over by a passing car.

Adder road kill - Vipera Flattus? 

After an hour's walk along the shore of Loch Uisge we reached the head of Loch Spelve, where Mark and Anna picked us from the beach. After our long walk it was good to relax on deck with a cold beer. Even better was looking forward to dinner and a quiet night at anchor in the calm waters of Loch Spelve.

Monday, June 11 – Back to Oban

Our quiet night ended when the engines roared to life at 7am. By 8:30 we were in Oban, and after a massive brunch said our goodbyes. This was my 12th voyage on Hjalmar Bjorge, and it was one of the best. We were fortunate in many ways: exceptional weather, good company, great food, and excellent care from Mark, Anna and Karen. In total we managed to set foot on the following 16 islands – a record for any trip I’ve been on before:

Eileach an Naoimh, Belnahua, Scarba, Eilean Mor, Gigha, Cara, Nave, Oronsay, Erraid, Eorsa, Inchkenneth, Gometra, Ulva, Lunga, Iona, Mull

I enjoyed sailing with all of you, and hope to see you again. I will definitely be seeing Nigel and Wolfgang as they've signed on to next year's North Rona cruise. (NB: As of July 25th there is still one spot left for a male sharing a cabin.) And Hazel, I'll see you on next year's Ireland trip (which sold out almost as soon as it was advertised). If anyone has suggestions for islands to include in a 2020 cruise please let me know. 2019 should be great, but I am looking forward to 2020 in oh so many ways...

On the Brownie's Chair
Front row: Debbie, Clare, Michael, Wolfgang
Second row: Liz, Nigel, Dave, Jane
Top Row: Mike, Hazel
(Photo credit: Brownie)

Calanais VIII

Usually, when I tell someone I've spent time on Lewis, they'll ask if I've seen the Calanais Stones. When that happens I'm always tempted to ask, Which Calanias stones?  There are about twenty sites: Calanais I, II, III, IV, V, and on up to XIX (see this map). There are even more sub-categories; for example there is a Calanais VIIIa.  For all I know there may even be a Calanais XIXf. All these site have more descriptive Gaelic names, which you can find here.

When I visited the unusual stone setting above the Great Bernera Bridge last July, I did not know at the time that it, too, had a designation: Calainis VIII. (It also has two Gaelic names: 'Tursachan' and 'Cleitir'). This site is unique in being an arc of standing stones; stones that stand like a megalithic shield facing the mainland across the narrow gap between Lewis and Great Bernera.

There is some thought that one of the purposes of this site was as a Beltane sunrise marker, halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. See this CANMORE page for a description of how this worked in conjunction with stones a mile to the northeast.  It is a complicated site, one that also includes outlying stones that mark extreme moon rise locations.

I learned something astounding while reading about Calanais VIII. About three miles due south, on the side of Beinn Fuathabhal, is a rarely visited stone circle; rarely visited because it's two miles from the nearest road. From inside this circle, which is at an elevation of 500 feet, all of the Calanais sites are visible (see this page). It sounds like a hike worth making, and one I plan to do next summer. 

Carraig Mhic a' Phi - The MacPhee Stone - Colonsay

John McPhee opens his book 'The Crofter and the Laird' with a description of how the MacDonalds hunted down Malcolm MacPhee, the last MacPhee chief of Colonsay: 'captured him, refused him mercy, saying that a man who had never showed mercy should not ask for it, tied him to a standing stone, and shot him.'

Coll Ciotach MacDomhnuill (AKA Colkitto) captured MacPhee in 1623 near Eilean nan Ron (Seal Island) at the far southwestern tip of Oronsay. He was then tied to a standing stone near Balerominmore (perhaps the big marshy farm?), a stone that would become known as Carraig Mhic a'Phi, and shot. The stone is now a pilgrimage site for all the MacPhees who visit Colonsay.

In 1623 the stone was 8-feet-tall, and stood about 30 feet northeast of its current location. Sometime after MacPhee was shot the stone fell and broke. In 1977 it was pieced together with iron straps and erected in an enclosure. (Unfortunately it was mounted upside down.) 

Cill Chatriona - Colonsay

One of the best walks on Colonsay is the trek to the beach of Traigh Ban via Balnahard farm. Traigh Ban lies at the north end of Colonsay, and is a six mile (round trip) walk from Kiloran Bay.

To get there, climb the track that ascends north below Carn an Eoin, the highest point on Colonsay. From the top of the road the summit of Colonsay is easily obtained by making a small detour to the east. A little farther on another detour is well worth the effort; a short side trip down towards the sea to visit St Columba's Well.

St Columba's Well

From the well, return to the track, and then carry on to the north. After a mile you'll pass Balnahard farm, and in another half mile you will come to the end of the track above Traigh Ban. On the hillside here lies the old church and burial ground of Cill Chatriona, (I've also seen it referred to as Cill Cairine and Cill Cabrine.)

Cill Chatriona

All that's left of the church are low walls of rubble, as the site was pillaged for stone in the 1870s. Although there is not much of the church left, there are two interesting stones here. One is a beautiful cross, its black stone polished to a glossy sheen by centuries of cattle using it as a rubbing stone.

Cross/Bovine Scratching post

Another cross once stood here; an elaborately carved stone with four holes in the head (see this RCAHMS page - the cross was given to a museum in Edinburgh in 1881). I'm not sure what the holes represent, and the only other holed-cross I know of is the odd three-holed cross of North Rona. 

Another stone of interest that is still here is Clach a'Pheanais - the penance stone. It is tilted, four feet high, aligned east to west, and one of several penance stones in the Hebrides. See the February 28, 2013 post for a photo of the Penance Stone on Canna, and see this RCAHMS page for more on Cill Chatriona.

Colonsay's Penance Stone

From Cill Chatriona it is a short walk to the beach of Traigh Ban. Unfortunately, I have no photos of the beach, as I ran out of film shortly after visiting Cill Chatriona. That visit was back in the pre-digital days, when I'd pack a bag of 20 rolls of film whenever I visited Scotland, and then try my best to ration them out over a three-week period. Occasionally, on a hike like the one to Balnahard, I'd forget to take an extra roll, and so there are several sites in the islands I've visited, but returned without any photos. 

I don't miss those film-days. Especially the week-long delay after a trip waiting for the film to be developed, only to find out, on far too many occasions, that many of the photos were either under or over exposed. That said, one of the best investments I've made is a film scanner, as many of those film-photos were poorly printed, and when I scanned them, and printed them myself, they turned out much better. An example of that is the next photo of the church on nearby Oronsay. The original print from the developer was dark and disappointing, but the scanned negative turned out much better.

Photo of Oronsay Church from a scanned 35mm negative

The Berneray King-Stone

There are several inauguration stones in Scotland. The most famous is the Stone of Scone; stolen by Edward I in 1296, and placed under the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey until it was returned to Scotland in 1996. Although there are many who believe the stone Edward took was a fake, and that the true stone is still hidden in the Hebrides.

The early rulers of Argyll and the Islands had their own inauguration stones, with a footprint carved in them where the King-To-Be would place his foot. Dunadd is the best known of these, and if you make the easy climb to the top of the hill you will find a footprint. But if you put your foot in it you will not be following in the footstep's of kings; for the true stone-footprint lies under the concrete replica that caps the hill, lifted in place by a helicopter.

I've only heard of two inauguration stones in the Hebrides, both of them associated with the Lords of the Isles. The best known was on an island in Loch Finlaggan (Islay); but you can not put your foot on it these days, as at some point in time it was destroyed. The other Lord of the Isles' stone is on Berneray (Sound of Harris). The Berneray stone is near Cladh Maolruibhe (the burial ground of St Mealrubha), which lies atop a hill called Beinn a' Chlaidh (see this RCAHMS link for more). The site is easy to find as it has an eight-foot-tall standing stone.

Berneray Standing Stone - Pabbay in the distance

The Berneray Stone

One-hundred meters southwest of Cladh Maolruibhe is a jumble of stones that may have once been a large cairn. In amongst them lies a large slab with what I thought at the time had the form of a footprint chiseled out on top. It was not much of a footprint, appearing to have flaked away over the centuries. My boot fit, sort of, and so I celebrated my inauguration with a can of beer. 

Update April 27, 2021: I learned in 2021, many years after the visit described above, that the actual footprint stone lies  at NF 9116 8059, some 90 meters east of the stone I found - see this link. So I can no longer clam to be Lord of the Isles.

The Footprint Stone - or so I thought

A close fit - only off by 90 metres

The Blathaisbhal Stones

This linear setting of standing stones lies on the northwest shoulder of Blathaisbhal of North Uist. The stones are aligned with another standing stone some three kilometres away in Bealach Maari, the low pass between the hill of Maari (to the left) and the distinctive hump of Crogary Mor (to the right). There is said to be a cave of gold atop Crogary Mor. When I climbed it I found no gold, but the view over North Uist and the Sound of Harris was something to treasure.