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Starts: 09:30
Ends: 13:30
Cancelled due to lack of bookings
This prehistory walk is based on two easy Forestry Commission trails taking us by Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age features. Interpretive commentary, including wildlife. Walk level 1. Meet at Ferrycroft Visitor Centre, Lairg where there are also displays and food.
Children accompanied by adults welcome
Wheelchair accessible (morning only)
Free/Donations Welcome
Bring a packed lunch
Bookings preferably by email to:
Ramblers Association (Sinclair Dunnett)
Phone 07710 678395
Email zubrow@btconnect.com
More details:
Joining trip:
(a) There is car parking at the Ferrycroft Centre;
(b) A train departs Inverness at 0700, arriving Lairg 0849; stops at many stations en route. The leader will normally be on this train. From Lairg station it is a walk of just under two miles to Ferrycroft Centre.
South trains depart Lairg at 1512 & 1835 hrs.
Features:
Morning: Ferry Wood Trail. The main prehistoric feature on this trail is a broch which, admittedly, has seen better days. However it is a very pleasant forest walk, including ponds and wood sculptures, and accessible to wheelchairs.
Afternoon: Ord Hill Trail. This walk is nearly all on hard-bottomed path or track wide enough for a Land-Rover. The ascent to the top of The Ord is a few hundred feet.
If you have even a passing interest in the archaeology of the north of Scotland you will have noticed the legend Hut Circle (or Circles) on many OS maps; you may have searched for these, with little success. Happily, ten or fifteen minutes into this walk we come on a hut circle which shows most of the main features quite clearly; further on we come to a burnt mound.
The path becomes a little steeper after this, as we ascend to the Ord South and The Ord North chambered cairns. Ord North is usually regarded as the more important of these two, but Ord South has also some striking features. There are fine views from here on the proverbial clear day, including Ben Klibreck.
The Ord North is not in the same league as Newgrange (north of Dublin), West Kennet Long Barrow (Wiltshire), Camster Cairns (Caithness) or Maeshowe (Orkney) but is nonetheless a very significant passage grave. We will have Henshall & Ritchie’s Chambered Cairns of Sutherland (1995) with us for a detailed description of the cairns.
We return to Ferrycroft by the same route.
Strong shoes are adequate for both walks if it is has been dry for some days before the outing; however if there has been significant precipitation in the days before, ankle boots are advisable.
To appreciate all the features of Ord North requires walking over uneven stones and a walking stick is strongly advised for this.