|
Another good day and another good turnout. There were thirteen
explorers: Abbie, Alasdair C., Alexander, Allan, Chris D.,
Donald, Edward, Joshua, Peter William, Robbie C., Robin D.,
Sarah and Selina; six helpers: Becky, Cathie, Chris M., Dot,
Howard and Philippa. Plus Ellie as the token dog.
This was one of those expeditions with a very wide age range,
our youngest participant (not counting Ellie) was only five
and the oldest was fifteen, so the group tended to string
out along the path. We stopped to look at the old house at
Derrydaff, with cruck slots in the walls, and then carried
on the climb up the hill.
I only had a vague idea of where the possible fort was, so
it was something of a gamble to pick a point to leave the
track and head into the forest. I chose some open but very
rough ground and the explorers made very much better speed
across it than most of the adults, so we all waited at a lookout
point for a break and a wafer. Diligent searching failed to
locate any obvious fort and we made our way down a steep slope
into a lovely little patch of oak woods.
At the bottom of the woods there was a fine stone dyke and
the remains of a small building and ancient cultivation. We
all assembled again and took a course westwards across the
hill to rejoin the track. Once again, some of the young ones
made very good progress, particularly through the young Sitka
Spruce, which was no fun for the taller explorers. We gathered
again at a small enclosure put in to measure deer grazing.
I could see the track not far above us and decided to take
a short cut up a firebreak and in a few minutes we were all
back on the track and ready to head for home. On the way we
found a nice pool with tadpoles, pond skaters and the first
solitary whirligig beetle of the year.
John
Dye
|
|
|
