| They said all week we were
going to get a blizzard on Saturday, but all we saw was a
few flakes. In spite of the dire warnings, we got a good turnout:
seven young explorers, Caleb, Calum R., Fern, Robbie L., Roslin,
Rowan and Zack, with eight helpers, Corinne, Julia, Marjorie,
Philippa, Ranald, Richard and Sharon, plus Ellie and Jed to
help us find things. I should point out that we had another
participant, Archie, who watched the whole expedition from
the high viewpoint of a baby carrier.
We started out at the ‘Seven Men of Moidart’ lay
bye, and the first thing we looked at was the old limekiln
next to the road. We walked round to the top to see where
they put the limestone and fuel in.
I had selected the Kinlochmoidart hill since it was sheltered
from the north but the wind had shifted a bit when we started
so I kept to the west side. This turned out to be a mistake
since, after a big struggle to the top of the hill, which
had wind and snow when we arrived, I couldn’t find the
cave and we had to have our wafers in the open. Nobody seemed
to mind the cold and Robbie found a small caterpillar on the
high ground.
The trip back down to the road was considerably quicker and
we had time to spare to go to Brunery and climb to the top
of the wood and see some recessed platforms and the peculiar
boat-shaped cairn at the top. Some of the explorers, with
plenty of energy to spare, went down to the bridge and found
some bits of old pottery before we all climbed into the cars
and went to the Pantry.
Everyone turned out a picture, in spite of putting away an
impressive amount to food. They had clearly built up good
appetites on the expedition - Calum had a party later in the
afternoon and I was assured that the attenders would have
no trouble coping with a few slices of cake later in the day.
John
Dye
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