Overview

With a spirit of adventure you pass along the single track roads to arrive at a tree circled clearing where the Clava Cairns stand grey and intriguing. Not the most wheelchair accessible perhaps but curiosity was a strong enough draw to roll across the undulating turn to take a closer look.

Transport & Parking

Clava Cairns is set away from the main Inverness to Elgin road and requires visitors to negotiate a labyrinth of country lanes; becoming single track as you get closer to the monument. It’s a place where public transport doesn’t call so you do need your own means to get there. The car park is small and created with an impacted pinky orange gravel. Not without a few puddles it’s good enough to be able to wheel around fairly easily. The parking is random with no clearly defined bays. Choose your spot carefully if you need side access to get you wheelchair into the car.

Access

Clava Cairns was never designed for the modern requirements of access but then that’s to be expected being 4,000 years old. The open space nestles in a tree clad glade and is a combination of grassland and more rock strewn terrain. Visitors can choose to go up close and admire the panoramic views or get deeper into the site negotiation the undulating turf and rocks. From the car park you roll about 50 to 100 metres to the outer boundary fence. One of those metal railing styles and probably having historic merit in its own right. A metal sign and old fashioned gate complete the look as you pass into the cairns paddock or is it a field. The surface here does become challenging if you are on wheels or a wee bit unsteady on your feet. You have to plot your course to choose the more grass covered bits in preference to the more rocky outcrops. With some effort you can get up close to the standing lumps of stone and the outer walls of the circular burial structures. With a little bit of jigging around you can line up with the entrance to one of the cairns and see along the entrance passage to the central room like area. The structure has long since lost its roof of stone so it is light and easy to see and then apply some imagination to visual what it may have been like. The joy in this was to be able to get up close and simply be there. The atmosphere was one of quiet and tranquility. The greenery of the grass, the many colours of the trees and the hillside beyond contributed to a great feeling of being out in the countryside and stepping back in time. The imagination working on full steam to think who built these, who was buried here, what battles and skirmishes did they see, who maintained the site and why do so many people still come to take a look?

Toilets

Clava Cairns doesn’t have any facilities other than a car parking area.

Staff

Clava Cairns does not have any on site staff.

Photos