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This was a mild, spring-like day and I was a bit surprised
not to get more explorers, perhaps there were other attractions.
We had only two young explorers: Fern and Rowan, with four
helpers, Claire, Howard John Dove and Sharon; with Honey and
Ellie fastidiously avoiding the puddles.
Most of the puddles were at the beginning and they were worth
avoiding since they had been well enriched by the local cows.
There was much hilarity as several wellies came perilously
close to the plimsoll line.
The mud became less of a problem as we climbed the hill and
soon we were high in the wood and on fairly dry ground. Every
so often we stopped to enjoy the view and get a breather and
let the party get together again. As we climbed we got above
the limit of the oaks and then we got above the birches, which
were the highest trees. Finally we reached our highest point
on the path where we stopped to look at a well-built house
next to an old gateway,
This was the point where we left the path and struck off across
the hill to the stream, which we all managed to cross in spite
of a shoogly stone. Then we had a convenient deer track to
follow to lead us across the hill to the Three Old Maids.
These are three big rocks, which stick above the skyline when
you are in Kinlochmoidart, but they are not at the very top
of the hill, nor are they on the edge of the cliff, well,
not quite. The young explorers were able to see that the outer
two stones were outcrops of the local rock but the middle
was a big pointed boulder carefully placed to line up with
the other two. Under the centre stone was a small cave which
several of us managed to squeeze into, one at a time, so that
we could look down on the loch through the spyhole. Even Honey
went into the cave and had a good look round.
After a break for Tunnocks we crossed the hill and rejoined
the path at a lower level. To avoid the cow muck we took the
path which led past the reservoir and came back to the road
at the East Lodge.
John
Dye
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