A Giant Stone Toadstool...
Posted: Thursday, 05 July 2007 |
The weather certainly wasnt great today, Thursday 5th July, but I was looking after junior for most of the day so we needed to do something. Hadnt been to Croggan beside Loch Spelve for a while, so decided to give it a go.
The sign at the Lochbuie junction reads Lochbuie 8 miles, Croggan 8 miles. These just HAVE to be the longest 8 miles anywhere. Great drive though. I really like it in winter when the snow is on the hills.
From near Croggan there is a path round part of the coast and the Giant Stone Toadstool was round there.
Here are pics of it:
Junior approaches:
Iain posing beside the stone:
It appears that the rock forming the "stalk" is much softer than the "cap" and the toadstool has resulted simply from different rates of erosion. You get this sort of thing elsewhere, where they are known as "fairy chimneys" The Cappadocia region of Turkey has some crackers. Do a Google image search for Fairy Chimneys and see what comes up!
Back to our own fairy fantasy:
Just beside it, a very obvious dyke runs across the shore. Young fellow beside it for scale:
The geology of this area is fascinating - there are serious numbers of dykes cutting across this part of Mull. One of the dykes which runs near here extends all the way to Cleveland in the north of England. The famous "Cleveland Dyke" has been studied in detail and papers published on it. One of the studies gets quoted as:
"They postulated that the dyke had been fed laterally from a source beneath Mull, flowing ...in a manner transitional between laminar and turbulent con-ditions’. It was calculated that the magma took between one and five days to reach NorthYorkshire"
If you want some good info on all this, try:
http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/V4Chap1.pdf
A bit technical, but good. Actually, I came across a good quote about scientific papers - sadly it is true in a lot of cases:
"There is no form of prose more difficult to understand and more tedious to read than the average scientific paper" Francis Crick, 1984
Thats all for today - be back soon!
MM
The sign at the Lochbuie junction reads Lochbuie 8 miles, Croggan 8 miles. These just HAVE to be the longest 8 miles anywhere. Great drive though. I really like it in winter when the snow is on the hills.
From near Croggan there is a path round part of the coast and the Giant Stone Toadstool was round there.
Here are pics of it:
Junior approaches:
Iain posing beside the stone:
It appears that the rock forming the "stalk" is much softer than the "cap" and the toadstool has resulted simply from different rates of erosion. You get this sort of thing elsewhere, where they are known as "fairy chimneys" The Cappadocia region of Turkey has some crackers. Do a Google image search for Fairy Chimneys and see what comes up!
Back to our own fairy fantasy:
Just beside it, a very obvious dyke runs across the shore. Young fellow beside it for scale:
The geology of this area is fascinating - there are serious numbers of dykes cutting across this part of Mull. One of the dykes which runs near here extends all the way to Cleveland in the north of England. The famous "Cleveland Dyke" has been studied in detail and papers published on it. One of the studies gets quoted as:
"They postulated that the dyke had been fed laterally from a source beneath Mull, flowing ...in a manner transitional between laminar and turbulent con-ditions’. It was calculated that the magma took between one and five days to reach NorthYorkshire"
If you want some good info on all this, try:
http://www.jncc.gov.uk/pdf/V4Chap1.pdf
A bit technical, but good. Actually, I came across a good quote about scientific papers - sadly it is true in a lot of cases:
"There is no form of prose more difficult to understand and more tedious to read than the average scientific paper" Francis Crick, 1984
Thats all for today - be back soon!
MM
Back on the rocks
Posted: Thursday, 26 July 2007 |
Had a very good few days away in the Cairngorms - got some serious walking done including the Lairig Ghru. However it was a case of back to reality on Thursday with another trip to Iona for some serious broadband and networking work. Beautiful day however and I got some rather nice pics on the way back. Weather was really nice and clear. Anyway, heres a few pics:
The view over to Ardmeanach and Burg from Bunessan was very nice:
Heres a closeup showing the really nice layering in the basalt which makes this area so distinctive. What is known as trap topography (from a Swedish word I believe meaning a step - well named) Oh yes, and the famous Fossil tree is on the headland on the left hand side (cant see it though!)
Moving on a bit up the road, Ben More and A'Chioch looked rather nice across Loch Scridain:
Today was one of those days when the hills simply said "Climb us!" Further up the glen there is some interesting stuff near the old quarry at Craig. The rock in the quarry is for the most part a type of gabbro called Allivalite (named after Allival in the Island of Rum) Some of it is seriously coarse and very large crystals can be seen. There are also numerous dykes and other intrusions cutting the rock:
This one gets referred to as what is known as a cone sheet (which are common in Mull) but the orientation of it doesnt seem quite right - I think it is simply a dyke intruded into the gabbro. It is about 2 - 3 feet across
Further down in the quarry is another thin dyke - this one seemed quite shiny in the sun, beside a holly tree:
Just up a bit from the quarry, Ben Buie looked nice and knobbly in the sun:
A lot of Ben Buie is gabbro, a hard dark rock - what the Cuillins of Skye are made from. It is quite easily recognisable - it appears sort of dark and knobbly - easily picked out against the other rocks. In this pic, the view is sort of "side on". Ben Buie from Loch Buie look much more "pointy" Heres a pic I took of it in 97 / 98 from Moy Castle:
OK, it doesnt look all that summery, but hey, I need a fix of snow every now and again.
Further on, I had a good view down to the lochs in Glen More. Lovely spot!
So thats it for today - not a lot of strolling about but a great day for taking pics. Bye for now!
MM
The view over to Ardmeanach and Burg from Bunessan was very nice:
Heres a closeup showing the really nice layering in the basalt which makes this area so distinctive. What is known as trap topography (from a Swedish word I believe meaning a step - well named) Oh yes, and the famous Fossil tree is on the headland on the left hand side (cant see it though!)
Moving on a bit up the road, Ben More and A'Chioch looked rather nice across Loch Scridain:
Today was one of those days when the hills simply said "Climb us!" Further up the glen there is some interesting stuff near the old quarry at Craig. The rock in the quarry is for the most part a type of gabbro called Allivalite (named after Allival in the Island of Rum) Some of it is seriously coarse and very large crystals can be seen. There are also numerous dykes and other intrusions cutting the rock:
This one gets referred to as what is known as a cone sheet (which are common in Mull) but the orientation of it doesnt seem quite right - I think it is simply a dyke intruded into the gabbro. It is about 2 - 3 feet across
Further down in the quarry is another thin dyke - this one seemed quite shiny in the sun, beside a holly tree:
Just up a bit from the quarry, Ben Buie looked nice and knobbly in the sun:
A lot of Ben Buie is gabbro, a hard dark rock - what the Cuillins of Skye are made from. It is quite easily recognisable - it appears sort of dark and knobbly - easily picked out against the other rocks. In this pic, the view is sort of "side on". Ben Buie from Loch Buie look much more "pointy" Heres a pic I took of it in 97 / 98 from Moy Castle:
OK, it doesnt look all that summery, but hey, I need a fix of snow every now and again.
Further on, I had a good view down to the lochs in Glen More. Lovely spot!
So thats it for today - not a lot of strolling about but a great day for taking pics. Bye for now!
MM
Looking at ruins
Posted: Sunday, 29 July 2007 |
It was a bit of a clan gathering at the weekend so for a ploy we headed off to the west of Mull, to the area south of Treshnish near Calgary Bay for a look at the ruined townships of Crackaig and Glacgugaraidh.
I had heard that these townships were abandoned because of typhoid rather than the clearances - certainly, the houses are in remarkably good shape - the walls stand quite high as you can see in the pics. It reminds me a bit of Shiaba in the Ross of Mull where there are also good examples of what is known in Gaelic as "tobhtaichean" - ruins, which would have been lived in at one time.
Anyway, the weather was great, sunny, bright and with a NW wind, a little bit chilly but very fresh and absolutely no bugs, midges or whatever. Bliss!
This area is well worth visiting - last time we were here was about 8 years ago - hasnt changed a lot, but the old school nearby has beeen renovated and is now a rather fine house. The path to the abandoned villages is near the house. If you do visit, please respect the owners privacy and stick to the well sign-posted path.
Right enough of this, here are the pics.
Typical ruined house - the walls are in quite good nick - note the rounded corners - built like that to counteract the effect of the wind, so I am told!
Another picture of the ruins
This one shows the gable end quite well.
The view out towards Gometra - great coastal views to be had from here. Someone once told me that on a good day, all you had to do was point your camera seaward and "click" - you would be almost guaranteed a good pic. Today was one of those days.
However, occasionally the sky looked a bit threatening. Like in this view to the Treshnish Isles, which look great from this point.
As well as the ruins, there are some rather nice flowers to be found here:
Actually, I went ot take a pic of these, but they insisted....
At that point, the weather improved:
So it was time to head off back to the car. Just a chance for one more detailed look at the ruins:
What a great day that was! Thanks to all of you, really enjoyed it.
See you all again soon
Mountainman
I had heard that these townships were abandoned because of typhoid rather than the clearances - certainly, the houses are in remarkably good shape - the walls stand quite high as you can see in the pics. It reminds me a bit of Shiaba in the Ross of Mull where there are also good examples of what is known in Gaelic as "tobhtaichean" - ruins, which would have been lived in at one time.
Anyway, the weather was great, sunny, bright and with a NW wind, a little bit chilly but very fresh and absolutely no bugs, midges or whatever. Bliss!
This area is well worth visiting - last time we were here was about 8 years ago - hasnt changed a lot, but the old school nearby has beeen renovated and is now a rather fine house. The path to the abandoned villages is near the house. If you do visit, please respect the owners privacy and stick to the well sign-posted path.
Right enough of this, here are the pics.
Typical ruined house - the walls are in quite good nick - note the rounded corners - built like that to counteract the effect of the wind, so I am told!
Another picture of the ruins
This one shows the gable end quite well.
The view out towards Gometra - great coastal views to be had from here. Someone once told me that on a good day, all you had to do was point your camera seaward and "click" - you would be almost guaranteed a good pic. Today was one of those days.
However, occasionally the sky looked a bit threatening. Like in this view to the Treshnish Isles, which look great from this point.
As well as the ruins, there are some rather nice flowers to be found here:
Actually, I went ot take a pic of these, but they insisted....
At that point, the weather improved:
So it was time to head off back to the car. Just a chance for one more detailed look at the ruins:
What a great day that was! Thanks to all of you, really enjoyed it.
See you all again soon
Mountainman
Exploring the hills and coasts of Mull and Iona and occasionally elsewhere, with a close eye on the geology
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