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F IG . 9.12 Mystery stones, Kilchattan, Colonsay (Photo by Chris Stanley,
1982)
of the valley points in one direction to a swamp, a loch and more
hills, and to nothing striking in the other. Thom told me that he
had visited the site but could make nothing of it. Ritchie has found
seventeenth-century accounts of buried structures nearby, but we
saw no marks with the naked eye or in the photos (Fig. 9.12 ).
The rising of the west of Britain after the Ice Age has left
Colonsay with tiers of raised pebble beaches in the southwest,
and Graham Ritchie had asked us to look for Viking grave sites.
However, as we could see nothing and had many more sites to
cover, we decided to press on. Each photo session involved circling
for several passes, banking the aircraft and changing the under-
carriage position to Chris's direction. Although the team became
more efficient as the flight went on, taking pictures was a time-
consuming business.
After we crossed the Strand, the ruins of Oronsay Priory gave
Chris another target of opportunity that provided a spectacu-
lar photograph (Fig. 9.13 ). Although my photograph of the 1940
stone on the strand made a point about its usefulness in misty
 
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