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The best day of the year so far, and the first warm one. It
was a holiday weekend and there was an event in Acharacle,
but we still had thirteen explorers, seven helpers and two
dogs, i.e. Alexander, Alexander D., Allan, Benjamin, Donald,
Edward, Fionn, Jack MacM., James S., John Donaldson, Peter
William, Rebecca, and Thomas; plus: Dot, John Dove, John Evans,
Pamela, Peter, Philippa and Sandra with Brucie and Stan as
the expedition dogs and wildlife spotters.
We drove to the EFG Forest Car Park, which we pretty well
filled, and carefully crossed the road and climbed up to the
fence. We crossed the fence with the aid of a Spanish camel
skin cover and carried on up to the Trig Point, the first
stop for a talk and a breather. It was only a few yards across
the hill to the old Observer Corps Post, which was used in
WWII by local men. There was another talk with a photograph
of the kind of German bomber the men once spotted.
Then we had a long, hot struggle across the moor to Lochan
na Dubh Leitir, which we had seen from the big TV aerial on
a previous trip. After refreshments, all of the explorers
undertook a circumnavigation of the lochan finding, whirligig
beetles, a leech, pond skaters, some tadpoles and a caddis
fly larva. At the side of the lochan there were some tumbled
rocks and we found a possible otter den among them.
We took a slightly different way back and Stan found a young
hind and brought it back to see us, and then very obediently
left it alone when told to do so, but we all got a very good
view, particularly John Donaldson who was very close. Finally
we got to the hills above the road and made our way back via
the fence and the camel skin cover.
The Pictures
There were some very good pictures this time, but for Dé
tha Dol? I picked out Edward's view of the lochan because
it was the best for printing. It is very reduced in size and
it shows the explorers along the shore, the hills behind and
Stan swimming across, and it is really exactly what it looked
like.
John
Dye
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