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| Morven - from the walk to Achanarras Quarry |
The family geologist (every family should have one!) is back in the north on a flying visit...
So, being enthused by his descriptions of possible finds of fossil fish (380 million year old fossil fish in the old red sandstone) we embarked on a 3 hour drive to the famous (in fossil hunting circles anyway) Achanarras Quarry near Spittal in Caithness (ND149544).
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| Information board at Achanarras Quarry car park |
It was a lovely clear day and the drive was a delight - autumn colours across the hills and coastal scenery to make your heart melt...
We turned left off the A9 just south of Spittal onto the A870 and then took a right onto a rough track (after about 1km) to the quarry car park. Both turns had SNH signposts to Achanarras Quarry.
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| Freddie, Rafe and Jim - the walk to Achanarras Quarry |
The quarry is a SSSI and we read the guidance and info board, before heading off up the track towards the quarry - beside the track there were several other information rocks - taking us back through time.
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| Abandoned croft-house near Achanarras Quarry |
There were good views of Morven, a hill we can see from Hopeman, north across the Moray Firth.
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| Rafe, Freddie and Jim - the walk to Achanarras Quarry |
It was only about 1km along the track to the quarry - through a couple of gates and past a forestry plantation - and across a couple of really boggy bits...
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| Achanarras Quarry |
But it wasn't long before we reached the flooded quarry, the banks strewn with quarry spoil.
An icy wind was blowing across the moor, bringing the odd squally shower - and our fist sprinkling of snow this winter! We were glad to see a shed/shelter, with more information boards.
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| Achanarras Quarry |
Very soon, we were rummaging about amongst the rocks - it took a while to get the eye in, but once we started to recognise the signs, we were finding fossils everywhere.
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| Achanarras Quarry |
Mostly they were just part fish and plants, but we did manage to find a few specimens that we wanted to keep. Our resident expert kept us right! It was rather fun - and exciting, not knowing what the next turning of a rock may reveal.
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| Freddie finds a fossil fish - Achanarras Quarry |
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| Achanarras Quarry |
With the sun slipping into the west - the days are shortening fast - we rather reluctantly stacked up our finds (visitors are allowed to take up to 10 specimens each, we had about 10 between us) and headed back to the car.
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| Information board in the shelter at Achanarras Quarry |
It really was worth the visit - we're researching further fossil hot spots!
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| Time to head back with our samples - Achanarras Quarry |
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