Macleod's Table Balance

This is the third and last balance I made on this day.
In the background you can see the two mountains called Macleod's tables. The Macdonalds and Macleods fought for many generations on Skye so I'm happy to have built something taller than the tables :-)

This particular rock is not submerged at high tide so if anyone pops down to Isle Oronsay near Ullinish I'd love to know if any of it remains. It was build on the 6th April.

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I've been asked by one or two people how to do this so here is some advice that I can give but bear in mind I've only built the three you see in these recent uploads.

1) Start with the biggest rocks on the bottom and get smaller as you go up. For the base of each one I chose a big rock that was well embedded in the beach so it provided a firm base for the build. Also choose one with groves or a depression that can hold the first rock in a stable way.

2) I worked with quite large rocks - starting about 25-30cm wide as I think the weight helped with making things stable but mind your feet in case it collapses when you start getting higher.

3) I tried not to use flat rocks as I think you will agree that the balances look more impressive/impossible if they are rounder. But (and I think this may be the big secret) I tried to find rocks with some kind of indentation/grove on the bottom but were rounder on top. In this way it stacks quite nicely on the previous one but still looks good.

4) When placing a rock you may need to rotate it a bit and move the point where it contacts the one below until you can make it balance. The ones below may wobble a bit but I found that it did not collapse and you could massage it into a stable balance by just being gentle and not committing the full weight of the new stone until everything is stable. I think rougher, more pitted rocks helps with this. If you really cannot get the new rock to balance then change it as you need to keep it balanced all the way up.

5) Finish off with a nice round rock on the top as it helps with the overall impression (study mine closely and you'll see some less round ones in the middle).

I met both my sisters on a different beach a few days after building these and I wanted to show them my new skills but I could only get about 4 stones high. The available rocks were not as varied as those used here and I had real trouble. I think it was because the rocks were rounder and smoother and also because I was pulling them out of the sand that the sand grains were making it slippery and unstable so you may need to watch out for this.

So that's it. Do have a go and mail me when you've uploaded photos of your builds and I'd be interested in hearing your findings. I can't wait until the next time I go to the beach to try out my new fun game.