The glorious ring of Sunhoney is less than a mile from the previous RSC at Midmar. Trouble parking - the circle is on Sunhoney Farm and being the shy, self-effacing stoner that I am, I parked over the road in a lay-by at the end of somebody's drive, rather than in the farmyard. Took a circuitous route round the stocked and gated fields rather than the direct route past the farmhouse (metal hinge screeched and set the sheep off). Access is via a single narrow and extremely muddy path barbed off from the surrounding fields. My aquatic hopscotch was pretty good though.
Before I forget, lest my tree climbing skills be overlooked, I ascended to the height of a giant to take this photograph. That's about 9 foot. If you add my own height, that's 14.8 feet.
The circle is complete!! 12 stones in total, including the recumbent, which has fallen flat. More on restoration proposals later (I might make this my career). As is now traditional, I sit on the recumbent writing, eating sandwiches and surveying the circle and its setting for the telltale signs of landscape worship. Like Midmar, Sunhoney's recumbent portal faces a wooded hillside, but peeking over the top is a high peak above the tree line. And what's this aligned opposite the recumbent? Another high peak.
Sunhoney is almost perfectly aligned between the peaks of Greymore and Barkmekin Hill - surely a good thing. Oh and by the way, I didn't sticky note the map to patronise your eyesight; I marked many stone circles, carved stones, castles, supermarkets and places of interest on my OS maps while I was snowed in.
Some light speckles of cloud atmosphere blow down into the circle. This is not falling like rain; it sprinkles like snow. Quickly the clouds above clear and the dramatic shadows cast by trees light up the scene. I consider sketching. Hmmm, it's still quite cold here, and I'm a perfectionist. I won't finish anything. I look for my drawing pen. Shit! Can't find it in any of the 6+ pockets in my coat or rucksack. Oh well, I'll use a biro. Here's the result.
It won't win any prizes but it got my eye in. Truthfully, the key to drawing is looking. Can I be bothered to look? Sure, but how often do I let myself look? I moan about not having time. But come on, it doesn't take forever to look. Whenever I look, I get my eye in. I'm pleased I stuck around to do this. I pack my stuff away, take a few more photos and leave the correct way, still slightly concerned that my car has been towed away or stickered by an irate landowner.
The fallen recumbent. A section of the base has split of. The top is dead flat, the underneath wedge shaped in the traditional way. The flankers are of the "incisor" variety.
Extraordinary heavy metal circle near Aberdeen Dyce airport. One of the finest, most complete monuments of its kind. The growing urbanisation surrounding it cannot hold this druidic temple back.