|
This was a fantastic warm, sunny day and a pleasure to be
out on the hill. We had seven young explorers: Alex P., Calum,
Fern Frederik, Jan Hendrik, Nicole and Rowan, with three helpers,
Doerte, Gary and Philippa; with Honey and Ellie keeping us
out of trouble.
We started the walk before we got in the cars, since I wanted
everyone to see the grave of Hugh MacNaughton, a weaver from
Tarbert, before they went to the village.
After getting our boots fixed, we set off up the track to
Telegraph Hill, stopping for a look at Richard Livett's wood
processing factory on the way, I wish he had been there to
explain it all.
The next bit was rather tricky since a lot of trees had blown
down since I was last up there and we had to make a few detours
in the wood before we could start on the path to the village.
At least one wellie was dislodged in this procedure but eventually
we all got together and set off between the high trees.
This is a steep path and by the time we reached the village
at the top, there were already some requests for a wafer break,
but the leader made the team push on. Firstly they reached
a little stone house which once stood in the middle of the
forest and is now on the open hill. Then it was a delicate
descent through broken timber and brambles to the house where
I think Hugh MacNaughton used to live, at least it was a well-lit
situation with a flat area in front of the house where you
could put a loom in good weather.
The requests for a break were becoming louder by this time
and we stopped above the little stone house on a knoll for
a snack and some explorers used the magnifying glass to examine
a moss.
Much refreshed, we moved to the next knoll and I explained
how the great numbers of shell cases on the ground were the
result of firing practice by American soldiers during World
War 2. Everyone had a good look but they didn't take away
any of the cases, I look on this site as a war memorial and
try to keep it undisturbed. Many of the lads who fired those
bullets were later to die in France.
Then the expedition started to climb up the hill and into
the wood, through another lot of fallen trees. I had put some
red flags here to mark the path and the explorers were much
better than I at spotting them and following the route. Eventually
we all reached the line of the old road to Glenborrodale and
the boys found a lot of cones they could throw at one another
and became rather boisterous.
We all pushed on trying to ignore the noise and finally reached
the old cattle fank in the middle of the wood. Some of the
explorers remembered it from an earlier expedition when we
had approached it from the other side.
From the fank it was just a matter of following the flags
back down to the village and then walking down the track to
the road before our welcome refreshments at the Pantry.
Not everyone came to the Pantry so I only got four drawings,
some of which were rather difficult to relate to the expedition.
The two best were Jan Hendrik's impression of the cone fight
in the fank and Nicole's view of the shell cases on the knoll.
I know which I preferred.
John
Dye
|
