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The forecast was completely correct, it said we would have
a bright morning with a few showers and a wet afternoon. I
took a chance on us making it across the hill before the rains
came and we did pretty well. It is one of the most difficult
routes we have ever tried and I was very impressed with the
stamina of my young explorers. Once again, they were not numerous,
just Fern, Frederik, Jan Hendrik and Rowan with Claire, John
Dove, Johnny, Philippa and Sharon to help and Ellie and Honey
to keep the deer away.
We parked the cars by the bus stop in Glenuig and set off
up the track to the new water supply. This is a steep and
rocky path and everyone was pleased to get to the top, but
they didn't seem to need a break so we pushed on. We followed
the stream up to the top of the pass and then crossed the
boggy ground on the south side, to miss the worst bits.
From there is was a long soggy slog up the hill and everyone
was getting really weary by the time we reached the top. However,
we could then see our destination so we carried on past the
lochan and eventually reached the shielings.
This site doesn't look like much on the maps, but it is quite
an exciting place with lots of buildings and rock shelters
to explore. The explorers, who had been on the point of collapse,
suddenly found new energy and were running all over the place
looking at the buildings. The favourite building was a circular
hut with a stone roof and we stopped there for a break and
took some pictures.
By this time the weather was looking rather threatening so
I got everyone moving in case we were caught in bad weather
on the high ground. We made very good speed back, pausing
to look for club mosses, which we didn't find although I saw
them there two days before and the day after. One interesting
diversion was an active spring, which the explorers found
on the boggy ground.
Our timing was almost perfect and we got to the cars just
as the rain was starting, it never stopped for the rest of
the day.
John
Dye
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