Stumbling upon goodies in the country

I love stone circles. They are so interesting because they are so OLD. The Loanhead of Daviot recumbent stone circle is over 4,000 years old. It's called a recumbent stone circle because there is a circle of upright smaller stones with one much larger stone slab that is lying on its sided with two upright stones at each side. "Recumbent" means 'lying down' which makes sense.

Trying to pick it up... hehe

On clear days, there is a great view of Bennachie from the car park at that stone circle.

Our next stop was the GlenDronach Distillery. We took some back roads to get to the A96, and we happily stumbled upon a monument dedicated to the memory of the Battle of Harlaw.

"The Battle of Harlaw was one of the bloodiest battles of the Medieval period in 
Scotland. The MacDonald army under the command of Domhnall MacDonald, the 
Lord of the Isles, was advancing on Aberdeen to defend his control over the Earldom 
of Ross. The Earl of Mar, Alexander Stewart, was sent by his uncle, the governor 
Duke of Albany, to stop them. The outcome of the battle was militarily inconclusive, 
both sides claimed victory despite each having suffered heavy losses. 

The consequence of the battle was to halt MacDonald’s advance towards Aberdeen 
and bring his campaign to an end. The Duke of Albany quickly seized a firm grip on 
the Earldom of Ross and the Lord of the Isles, who had been the chief internal threat 
to Stewart control of Scotland, was forced relinquish his claim in the Treaty of 
Lochgilphead in 1412. Robert, the Duke of Albany, was left in control of Scotland as 
governor for the imprisoned James I. " - Historic Scotland- (More info: http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/battleofharlaw.pdf)

It's getting late, and I'm sleepy, especially after a night of Kung Fu with 60 push-ups, so I'll wait until tomorrow to tell you about our FANTASTIC tour of the GlenDronach Distillery (pronounced, "Glen-drawnuck").