Thursday, September 24, 2009

The great caves of Bagh an Da Dhoruis, Islay


At the top of the existing beach at Bagh an Da Dhoruis there is a raised beach with a long dry marine cave system. It was probably 10,000 years ago that the sea last surged through these subterranean channels.


We were staggered by the scale of the place as we soon lost sight of each other...


..in the maze of interconnecting caverns. In some, prehistoric shell mounds reveal the eating habits of our ancestors.


Unfortunately for our further exploration, the sun was now dipping fast to the western horizon. We still had an open crossing of 11km to reach our destination. We returned to the shore through yet another cave system on this incredible north shore of Islay.

4 comments:

  1. Fantastic site! Still makes one wonder how homey our ancestors could make the place with the tides flushing through twice daily...

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  2. Hi, it's a beautiful blog you have!
    You can watch a free preview of my guide on digital photography here!
    Thanks and have a nice day!
    Franky

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  3. I expect the reason the cave is high and dry now is because the land has rebounded since the weight of ice age glaciers has been lifted. There is so much of interest to see out there in our boats.

    Tony :-)

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  4. Thanks all. Tony, that is indeed the reason, wait till I post some of the raised beach photos of Jura from later in this trip, quite amazing!

    :o)

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