Arran: Machrie Moor

Arran sits between mainland Scotland and the Kintyre peninsula. We landed at Brodick, on Brodick Bay, which delights in the remains of an old castle, named "Brodick Castle." We found shelter on the opposite side of Arran, at Blackwaterfoot, a tiny place with a couple of nice pubs.

.As far as we were concerned, aside from the stunningly lovely scenery, Arran offers 2 outstanding attractions: the Machrie Moor Stones and the King's Cave.

Machrie Moor is a flat area not far from the road, with no less than SIX stone circles, while the immediate surrounding area comes complete with chambered cairns, a standing stone and more hut circles.

These arrangements of stones, in circles and in lines, can be found throughout the Western Highlands. It has been determined that they are thousands of years old, and therefore, have probably meant different things to different generations of inhabitants. Amazingly, so many of them still stand, in all their spectacular grandeur.

Compared to the Kilmartin Temple Wood array (more on this later), Machrie Moor is an unadvertised backwater, with an inadequate wee space for cars, and with little more than one of those informative plaques at the site itself. But make no mistake, this is a very impressive site in itself.

It's as wonderful as Stonehenge, but without the crowds!