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Not our most successful expedition, but a good trip nonetheless.
We had fourteen explorers (every time I counted them I got
a different number): Abbie, Alasdair, Alexander, Alexander
D., Alexandria, Allan, Chris, Elliot, Frederick, Jamie, Jan
Hendrick, John Donaldson, Robin D. and Sarah; five helpers:
Andrew, Becky, Chris M., Christina and Philippa. With Cora,
Ellie and Lady to look after us all. We also had Jonathan,
but although he seemed to be taking it all in, he was only
nine months old and wasn't really an active participant.
We had a short detour round the little hill opposite Bobby
Ross' road entrance. Everyone looked at the site of the old
Newtown School and heard about the helicopter which brought
the Duke of Edinburgh and parked on the road. We tried to
walk over the hill but Jonathan's cross-country buggy wasn't
up to it and we cut our losses and moved down to the beach.
My first mistake was not to check the tide - it turned out
to be extremely high, which limited our route to the roughest
ground. I failed to find the old house I was looking for and
when we reached the place where I expected the old spring,
it seemed to have disappeared too!
Nothing daunted, we circled back to the beach and discovered
an old car which proved to be the major attraction of the
expedition for many. We crossed an old field, barely above
the high tide mark and were about to set off round the head
of the bay when I spotted some cows and calves ahead of us.
There was a short break while dogs were retained and put on
leads, the unknown dog left at this stage, taking Christine,
Frederick and Jonathan with him. The rest of us then walked
quietly round the head of the beach and the cattle had plenty
of time to move back to a safe area. It wasn't until I got
to the corner that I saw the herd included an enormous bull.
However, the expedition gave them a wide berth and after we
had passed they all moved slowly back to their original spot.
We stopped on the other side of the stream and had a wafer
break at this point.
I intended to follow a track Elsie once told me about in the
old days. One of her cattle wandered off and she went down
the path and collected it accompanied by her collie and cat.
I was pretty anxious not to pay a return visit to the old
boathouse, which was a tremendous attraction on our last visit
to Newtown but had some shortcomings as an adventure playground.
So we headed off up the hill where we eventually found ourselves
on a fine lookout point. Although I reckoned I could see the
path, I could also see my watch which said we should be heading
back, so we careful traversed the bog to Bobby Ross' fence,
finding a stream full of tadpoles on the way. Once over the
fence it was a short step back to the cars, or a ride for
those who took a hurl on Martin's bike.
After the trip we all drove to Ardsheallach where Gill had
a feast prepared for us. Thanks a lot Gill, it was a meal
to remember.
John
Dye
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