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This was a beautiful day and perfect for an expedition. We
had nine explorers: Benjamin, Caleb, Calum, Caulay, Fern,
Matthew, Nicole, Rowan and Thomas, with seven helpers: Corinne,
Heather, Maris, Maureen, Pamela, Philippa and Sharon, plus
three dogs: Ellie, Jamie and Roo. This made a total of forty-four
feet on the ground, although we came back with forty-three.
We started off from the school car park next to the construction
site for the new school and I explained how the road to the
school was probably once the main access road to Ardnamurchan
and probably saw a lot of traffic. Then we followed the track
up to the old dump site, now blissfully green and unspoiled,
and across the moss.
Next to the track we found some iron rail which was once part
of a small railway used to get timber out of a plantation
on the hill, we were to come across some more rails later
on. We joined the made-up track leading to the water filters
and followed it halfway up the hill.
We made one diversion to follow a side track and found an
old concrete foundation for machinery and the bases of several
houses. Then we rejoined the main track for a short distance
before turning off at the old sheep fank.
The fank conspicuously incorporates a lot of corrugated iron
sheets, but its best feature was a row of mounds used for
clipping, which several of the explorers could recognise from
similar ones they had seen at Kylesmore.
Following the track past the fank, we found a series of old
buildings and fields, and one large oak which was easy to
climb and was soon festooned with male explorers. All to soon
I called them down and we continued to a super little stream
with more signs of human activity, including a pollard oak.
From the stream we circled through some woodland with lots
of old pines from the original plantation. We stopped for
a break on a high ridge with a good view over Kentra Bay and
then carried on exploring on the other side of the stream,
eventually reaching a lovely birch wood, which had clearly
been managed, possibly for bobbin wood.
At this point one of our male explorers landed badly after
an ambitious leap, which left him with over a mile of painful
limping back to the car. The remaining members of the expedition
passed the time in water-based activities, which made me grateful
they weren't travelling in my car.
The team produced some quite nice drawings. I have picked
out Tom's action view of Jamie chasing Ben round a tree.
John
Dye
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