A hidden delight and well worth a visit

[martin.h]

Having had a good week in the moutains up until this point Denise and I thought it would be nice to have a day of relative inactivity before the long drive home on Saturday.
Having looked at alternative walks in the area our daughter Louise, being an avid historian with a big interest in ancient sites thought a visit to Caisteal Grugaig Broch would be a good trip to make, so we decided to have a nice relaxing saunter and take advantage of the sunshine.
We set off in Louises little car, Letterfearn bound, and found the small parking area opposite the post box, I think that parking here could get a bit cramped if residents need space, but we were lucky and found it empty apart from one car belonging to the house next to the layby.
It was a lovely day, plenty of sunshine and warm. Walking on the road towards the turning circle proved there were no alternatives to the layby, but, much further on, when you leave the houses behind, there were possible parking spots where you could leave a car and it not be a problem to others or other road users.
The views over the Loch towards Eilean Donan were great, with the backdrop of the mountains, the water and, strangely, the road, made it feel quite atmospheric.

Eilean Donan, a view of the castle a bit differant from the usaul side

Over the Loch

Behind were the Sisters who were good to us the day before, we could see our route and how close sister No 5 was, it made me feel we should have visited her, ah well, maybe some other time.

The Sisters

We arrived at the boat house which was undergoing renovation work,it's a bit scruffy looking at the moment so no piccy's. Soon after, we went through the gate, here, the walk took on more of a rural aspect with trees, shrubs, wild flowers and plenty of birds flitting in and out of the bushes. Not so much further on we crossed the Burn, and soon after the Broch came into view. At first, it looked like a low stone wall but the closer we got, the more brochlike it became, you walk up a small incline to get to the Broch itself, when you get there its quite well preserved, the entrance is low but obvious and is capped by a triangular lintel.

The entrance

The entrance again, I'm not sure, but I think that triangular lintel is a rareity amongst Brochs.

The entrance from the inside, or should that be the exit?.

You can go through the entrance and, once inside, you see the main living area and also access to the passages within the walls, if you go through the obvious "doorway" to the left of the main entrance when you're inside, it gives you the chance to get higher up on the walls to get some really nice views across the Loch.

Views from the walls

I wonder how much contact the builders of this Broch had with the people in the Brochs in Glenelg, being so close they must have been aware of one anothers existance, it really interests me.
After a few photographs and a relax in the sun, we set off back to the car, taking our time.This was an enjoyable outing made better by the glorious weather.

Views on the way back

Looking a wee bit threatening, but it came to nothing

We had planned to do the Saddle this day, but in a way, this was just as entertaining, and it still leaves the Saddle on the agenda, a good excuse to come back to Glen Shiel, if you need an excuse!!!!.

[rockhopper]

Always find these sorts of structures interesting and thinking about the past times when they were built.
Can remember first visiting Carloway broch at Uig and thinking the same thing - similarly when we've visited crannogs and burial cairns - cheers

[martin.h]

Thanks rockhopper, we've visited a few of these ancient sites around Scotland and they do hold a special interest. If you haven't already, you must visit Skara Brae on Orkney and Jarlshof on Shetland, the similarity is amazing and they are so well engineered.