After finding the cairn on Droop Hill, it proved to be a frustrating day of climbing hills, finding nothing i.e. three cairns on Banff Hill all gone.
It proved to be a similar story for the cairn on Shakil Hill, slightly to the north of the nearby Gourdon Long Cairn (also known as Bikmane).
From Shakil Hill I got an interesting angle to look at its famous neighbour, worth the short walk to the top, use the gate near the masts. Also from the top of Gourdon to look back and see the top of Shakil.
This place I've wanted to visit for a long long time. So yesterday provided the chance and I took it. The cairn is 46 meters in length. At the North East end it is 14 meters wide and 1.7 meters high by the time it reaches the South West it is only 8 meters wide and 1 meter tall. It has been extensively robbed for it's materials. Large rocks can still be felt underfoot as the cairn is mostly covered in turf and grass. The stunning thing about this place is it's location. To north Gourdon/Inverbervie and their bays, to the south Point Of Bard (Haugh Bay). At times the view was superb then a north sea mist rolled in, the temperature dropped and the atmosphere became very eerie. So back down the hill I went.
The best access to this site is by the following route. South on the A92, thru Inverbervie, past Gourdon and take the first track heading west. This leads up a very steep hill. Keep going until the first crossroads and take the road heading north east. Keep going towards the crest of the hill, the cairn is in the field to east with tremendous views in all directions. Great place.
Summary of features of Gourdon Hill. This long cairn is composed of small rounded boulders and angular stones, covered with turf and whins. The cairn situated on the landform of Gourdon Hill measures 155 ft long by 40 ft wide at the ENE end and 25 ft at the WSW end; it measures as high as nine ft: the monument is much robbed
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Posted by drewbhoy
Posted by C Michael Hogan
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