|
I really thought this was going to be a washout: the weather
was poor, five of the helpers were away and the explorers
had done their Christmas Show the night before. I got ready
anyway and soon after I arrived, Carlo-Anne and Katie turned
up, then Allan, then Ann Marie with Alasdair and Jamie, then
Pamela with Benjamin, Thomas and Bruce and finally Alexandria
and Sarah arrived to make eleven explorers and two helpers.
We drove straight to the picnic site and crossed the road
to look at the Cryptomeria tree and the big Douglas fir, which
everyone felt to experience the hard bark. Then we set off
into the woods, Ben found a sprig of Grand Fir which he crushed
to get the orange smell and one or two others sniffed it too.
Then it was a long slog up to the wayleave where the twins
discovered an old bridge which I hadn't noticed on my 'recce'
trip. After another climb we reached the lower of the old
stone walls and we left the stream and followed it towards
Salen. At the end of the wall we had reached a point just
above the fank we all saw on the Tarbert expedition. Then
we tracked a smaller wall back through some dense forest,
negotiating a tricky heap of fallen trees on the way.
When we got back to the stream we found a good forest ride
which we followed up to the second stone wall. Here everyone
was looking a bit worn so we stopped for a snack before heading
off once more up the stream. We turned when some of us could
climb no farther and returned down the stream to the car park.
Before we left we walked along the shore to the mouth of the
stream and had a look at a boat slip which must have been
used by the villagers in the old days. We did one further
detour to look at the 'upside down' tree (ask them about it)
before driving back to the Pantry in a state of great exhaustion.
In spite of the effort, this was one of the quickest walks
and we were all away from the Pantry well before one o'clock.
John
Dye
|
|
|
