Tour Day 2 of the Wee Folk

Meeting Stones and Water
Might be a good title for the day.  The guests are all in bed.  We wore them out, so there will be no words from them.  I sit by the fire (as seen in yestere'en's post) and recount the Tale of the day.

Aven has been joining us on our tour - in the blogosphere.  Nice to hear from you and know that you are with us, lass.  As many will know, our tours are a bit like a select club of followers, guests, friends.  Like the Cosa Nostra, anyone can join but they can never leave, so you are welcome with us Aven.  Send my regards to your quiet man, John.

To the day...

The posse, ready for mischief

We've been finding out about our guests.  That's Cee Cee in the front in pink.  She's too cute to be trifled with.  She sits in the middle seat of honour in the van, surveying the road ahead and bursting into song and great volume and enthusiasm.  "Dingle beh, Dingle beh, dingle aw duh ay!"

We went today to a place who's name I won't publish here, for the downside of the internet is that search engines can soon rack up a huge amount of publicity for a place, much more than the fragile beauty can cope with.  I'm thinking that if you're meant to find the place, you will.  It's one of Britain's gems and constitutes a huge collection of ancient sites in a fertile glen of Mid Argyll, named after a Celtic-Christian community of the 6th and 7th century founded on the teachings of Martin de Tour.  Nuf said?  You can work it out.

Samantha and I lived in this Glen for 5 years and I spent most of my time guiding visitors around it or with my nose in the archives researching it's history, so I know it quite well.  There are a large number of ancient burial chambers, amongst the many, many attractions.

Cee Cee and Charles make their own ceremony to raise the dead.  They sit in a burial ciste 4000 years old.  The ceremony involved Cee Cee singing, of course.  "Dingo beh, dingo beh..."

The stone circle with it's flooring of cairn stones

We went then to an even less visited place where the roofless dwellings of the families from the 1600s still stand, surrounding and caring for a sacred well that produces the most sweet water.  We spent much time drinking and getting close to this soothing elixir, playing with lampreys and tiny fresh water shrimps ("caterpillars" to Cee Cee) that inhabit the well, like water spirits.
Towering over a byre in the clachan (hamlet) is a most beautiful larch tree, and my favourite image of the day, below.

"Number 3, The Larch"

The final stop of the day was a castle, burnt out 350 years ago.  It's not in bad shape. We climbed two of its towers and gazed the length of the great hall.  Tonight after a wonderful meal from our host, I told the Tale of the man that built it and published the first book in the Gaidhlig language from the castle, to the grandson that lost the place to a bloody feud and vengeful MacLeans bearing torches and daggers.

Worthy of mention is our meal this night.  We are staying in a rather sumptuous estate house with Mathew and Yvonne.  It is a "Dinner B&B" which is a title that does it no justice.  We are staying in the home of two fine people, which we share with them.  Mathew is a most excellent cook.  He prepared a fresh four course meal which was enjoyed in his regal dining room.  Not bad for a man who left of pouring the concrete floor of his new shed not two hours before.  Busy and varied people are highlanders.

Tomorrow?  Oh I don't know, castles?  the ocean? the repository of wonderful creatures?  the capital of an ancient kingdom?
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