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This was another wet day, but there was mostly enough wind
to keep the midges off. We had five explorers: Adrian, Benjamin,
John Donaldson, Peter William and Thomas with a lot of adults:
Ann, Catherine, Chris, Craig, John, Pamela and Philippa, plus
three expedition dogs, Bruce, Crunchie and Polly, possibly
the most feet on any expedition (36).
The first target was to reach the fort called Dun Ghallain
- a difficult and rather dangerous access since it is tidal
and the rocks are very slippery. It was hard reaching the
shore but we finally got onto the island without mishap and
had a great view down the loch where we could see the Resipole
Caravan Site and pick out the route we took two weeks previously.
After a rest we crossed back to the mainland, picking up some
interesting shells on the way. Somewhere around this point,
Benjamin (I think) found the lower jaw of either a dog, a
fox or a badger - it was taken home to check. Then we made
our way through some very deep bracken to the site of the
old settlement at Dun Ghallain, although we could only find
one house. We took another rest before making our way back
up to the car.
The next call was to a lay-by in the forest where everyone
looked at an old building with an artificial platform close
by which were probably both associated with wood cutting in
the nineteenth century.
Finally we stopped at Camus Torsa where everyone looked at
three unusual trees: firstly a Cryptomeria japonica next to
the road, showing its strange 'laminated' bark, secondly a
fine Douglas fir next to the road and finally a weird 'upside
down' tree with stems growing upwards from a completely inverted
root plate - you need to see it for yourself, so get one of
the explorers to take you.
John
Dye
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