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It was a chilly, wintry day, I was surprised to see anyone,
but we had six explorers, two Calums, Donald, Fern, Robbie
L. and Rowan; six adults, Gary, Howard, Pamela, Philippa,
Richard L. and Sandra; plus four dogs, Ellie, Mojo, Roo and
Suzie.
We started from the White Gate on the Dorlin road and set
off down the riverside track. There were quite a few goldeneye
feeding on the river and I hoped they would take off so that
the explorers could hear their wings whistling, but they all
stayed put. We located our special expedition gate and all
went through and into the wood. The climb through the wood
is quite exhausting and we reassembled in a sheltered glen
before completing the climb to the top of the Torr Mor. Just
below the top everyone had a look at the glacially marked
rocks above the path.
The Lookout is one of the most tricky approaches of all the
expedition features – in the past very few adults have
attempted it, but this time everyone took their courage in
both hands and negotiated the rocks until we were all inside
(apart from the larger dogs). This is one of a group of lookouts
in the area which all have a similar setup: they all face
the nearest navigable water, they all provide the viewer with
the ability to see without being seen and they all have a
means by which a signal can be shown without being seen from
below. The Torr Mor Lookout is better built than the others,
having a well-constructed stone wall on the north side, and
an entrance, through a cleft in the roof slab, with two steps
built into it.
The Torr Mor blocks the view between the Shielfoot Torr and
Castle Tioram, which may well have been the site of a fort
before the present castle was built. It is just possible that
the Torr Mor Lookout might have been used to relay signals
between the two, alternatively, it might have been manned
by personnel from the Castle.
After getting everyone safely back on top of the hill, and
heaving a sigh of relief, I led everyone along the top to
another sheltered corner of the wood where we stopped for
a wafer break.
Some of the team left at this point to attend a Shinty match
in Fort William, but the rest of us returned to the White
Gate and made another hazardous excursion into the old quarry.
This was operated by the late Paddy Heron in the 1940s when
he was upgrading the Dorlin road for military use. It is quite
the most dangerous quarry I know, and it was a miracle nobody
got killed there. The rock face is very high and crumbly and
it must have needed strong nerves to take the fallen rock
out of the bottom when the rest was barely balancing in place.
We could still see sections of split rock hanging off the
face ready to fall and I was glad to get the expedition back
to the safety of the road.
We still had a little time to spare so we made another stop
at Cliff House, near the old sports field. I explained about
Cliff once being a farm and told some stories about the MacEachen
family who lived there. We had a look at the old water reservoir
and explored a bit of the hill before returning to the cars
for a quick run back to the Pantry.
I didn’t get a photograph of this expedition, but Robbie
managed quite a good sketch of the boys precariously balanced
on the boulders around the Lookout. You can take it from me,
that’s just what it was like.
John
Dye
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