| The day was not promising and
there were other events for young people that day, so we only
got one young explorer, Robbie L. However, he was well supported
by Maris, Philippa and Robbie, assisted by Florian, a German
fireman over on holiday; plus Ellie and Jamie to guard the
expedition.
When we got to Samalaman Beach it started to rain and by the
time we set out it was really pouring, but you can’t
stop for a bit of rain and we pushed on. We followed the path
round the shoreline picking out features of interest such
as the commemorative tree by the old camp site and the big
lichens growing on the fank. The rain had almost stopped when
we reached the old stone seat, and had to call back Robbie,
who was making very good speed at that point. I showed everyone
the way down to the bottom of the cliff and we looked at the
caves which had walls to protect, or disguise them. Robbie
borrowed the torch and went quite a way into the narrow cave.
We had a chance to examine the second cave, which looked like
a pig house, before climbing back to the path.
After about a hundred metres we reached a little bay with
an isolated house and this time the tide was out so we were
able to go down the beach and see how the bottom of the inlet
had been fitted with a flagstone floor. I also pointed out
a ‘noost’, which is a depression cut out of the
ground to hold a boat securely.
The next stage was a bit of a trial for Jamie, who, like Honey
before him, was not very keen on climbing stiles. We all hopped
over the fence because the stile crossing was wet, but Jamie
rejected jumping too, and looked around until he found an
acceptable crossing point.
From here it was only a short distance to the little settlement
above the shore and we all found a roofless building where
we stopped for our wafer break. In a hole in the tree was
a small chrysalis-like structure and I took a picture of it.
Later on I found it was a Clausilia, a kind of snail called
a door snail. If we find another one I must examine its shell
to see if I can see the door.
After our break we retraced our steps almost to the stile
and then climbed the hill past the sheep dip to the gate and
then the public road, which we used to walk back to the car
and return to the Pantry for lunch.
John
Dye
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