Taynish NNR

A good walk out round Taynish NNR. There are three waymarked trails which we joined up to make a longer walk - first the Woodland Trail, then the Coastal Trail and finally the Barr Mor Trail. The trails take you through a variety of habitats...

Lochan Taynish.

Some pieces from the Taynish Art Trail...

The Green Man.

Loch Sween.

The Old Mill.

Oak Woodland.

Birch Woodland.

Dropping down to the end of the Taynish peninsula. 

Some really nice walls go into the sea...

A rather splendid Georgian Piggery. A slab in the floor of the Kitchen in Taynish House covers the burn. Scraps were thrown into this and travelled directly down the burn to the piggery. 

Looking across to the Ulva Islands from Barr Mor.

And across to the Paps of Jura.

A quick stop at Crinan on the way back to look at Craignish Point where we had been yesterday.

One end of  the Crinan canal.

And some splendid advertising. 

Cairn Baan

 A final stop for the day and visit to another carved rock site....

A walk up through the woods...

More superb carvings...

Achnabreck Rock Art continued.....

With the changing light conditions, different carvings were illuminated ....I took far too many photos to just put a couple in a blog, so here are some more.....

And some berries and lichen...

Achnabreck Rock Art

The rock carvings at Achnabreck, are among the most complex found in Scotland. Some of the carvings overlap each other and there are different styles of design, indicating that the carvings may have been worked over a long period of time - they are quite spectacular! Click here for more information.

The walk begins through lichen-laden conifers....

This picture gives a more accurate representation of the forest....

Suddenly you come to an opening in the woodland and the rock exposure. 

Large circular carvings....

These are all at the bottom of the outcrop by the path...

It is well worth climbing the stile and going higher up the rock...

More and more markings...

Then wow!

So many carvings ....more photos in the next blog (I took too many!) 

Kilmartin Grave Slabs

Within the church grounds at Kilmartin, there are many medieval and early modern carved grave slabs. More information can be found here . It's well worth a stop off.

The Burial Isle.

The latest slabs timewise.

The Lion and Unicorn - indicating royalty.

The Poltalloch enclosure.

A Tale of Two Eagles

After some torrential downpours, we got a break in the weather - a good job as Craignish Point is fairly exposed...

Views along the coast. 

Looking back towards the carpark - the path skirts the coast and then goes inland a little to the ridge that leads to the point.

Dramatic light - towards Crinan.

And then a flypast by an immature White-tailed Eagle.

Then it headed off - you can spot it in the clouds towards the righthand top corner.

Looking towards Jura and the Gulf of Corryveckan, between Jura and Scarba. Apparently it's the third largest whirlpool in the world! 

From the end of Craignish Point. Then we turned round and....

A different White-tailed Eagle gave us a flypast - note the huge yellow beak.

And white on the tail.

After that - we retraced our tracks. A good walk, only about a mile to the point, with a clear path - damp underfoot in places.