East of Caim

We walked this morning to the east of Kilchoan - visible in the distance - leaving the car by the silage storage area at Caim and following the track which, at one time, was the connection between Kilchoan and Camas nan Geall. It's an area rich in local history, visible not least in the old walls that criss-cross it.

While some, like the larger one here, were built in the 19th century when this area was cleared to become part of a sheep farm, most, like the one that runs down to bottom right, belong to the age of the clachans: we crossed the land belonging to two, Choiremhuilinn and Skinnid, and passed the sad remains of the latter along the track.

As we climbed into the southwestern foothills of Ben Hiant, and after, with some difficulty, we had scrambled over one of the high, locked gates in the modern deer fence, we looked down on a site which is possibly far older than the clachans. On the knoll in the near distance....

....is an oblong of stones, some of them quite large.  Had it been circular, it might have been a bronze or iron age hut circle, but its shape is intriguing.  To the right of it is a stone wall which, to judge by its grassed-over condition, is also old; it can be traced for some distance both up and down the slope.

The wind has gone round into the north today, bringing a chill feel and a succession of clouds to cover the sun - but it has remained dry. By the time this picture was taken, looking back to the northwestern entrance to the Sound of Mull, we were high above the....

....twelve cages that comprise the new Marine Harvest Maclean's Nose fish farm. We sat to drink our coffee and watch as....

....the Emma C and the Coastal Hunter did a dance far below us.  The Emma C, right, is often used to bring in feed to the fish farms, and this is stored in the structure to the left, a SeaCap. These are built by a Scottish company Gael Force. We hadn't seen the SeaCap here before, so perhaps it was towed in today by the Coastal Hunter.