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An overcast day with a continual threat of rain which kept
off most off the time. The explorers were: Charlene, Claire,
David John, Ellen, Iain, John Donaldson, Karen, Margaret,
Robert and Robin plus David, Jean Hugh and Sheila.
Before the expedition started, John gave the explorers a short
instruction in the practices of coppicing and pollarding trees
since examples of both would be seen during the expedition.
We then drove to Arivegaig where we picked up Claire, Ellen,
Karen and Margaret who lived close by. There was another short
break while the explorers heard how to take a bearing using
landmarks to find their way to any point.
We then crossed the bridge and walked up the road to the first
set of old birch trees where the explorers saw how the trees
had been coppiced long ago to give a crop of poles for the
local people. Soon after this they left the road and climbed
an old path up onto the hill to reach their first objective.
This was a large pollarded ash tree probably several hundreds
of years old. We measured the tree and it was 4.2 metres around
the trunk about a metre from the ground (its narrowest point).
We immediately climbed through the birch wood and up over
the hill until we could see the 'Hydro dam'. This had been
built by the estate in the 1920s but had been modified several
times since then. When we reached the dam the explorers looked
at the wire baskets called gabions which were filled with
rocks to extend the top of the dam and then they climbed down
to the outer base of the dam to look at a name inscribed in
the concrete - which turned out to be the uncle of several
on the explorers!
After a break for lunch the expedition followed the path down
the pipeline, stopping to examine the old railway which was
once used to bring materials up to the site.
We then struck off across the hillside to reach the Gorten
burn and the old croft fields nearby. Passing down the burn
we looked at many large old trees and some cultivation strips
in the wood. The final part of the walk down the burn was
across the walled pasture by the stream, with many coppiced
trees along the stream edge.
Before we set off back along the track to Arivegaig, we stopped
to look at the power house with a great torrent of water roaring
out down a chute after it left the turbine.
We all made very good time and got back to Arivegaig before
one o'clock, where the explorers were able to draw their pictures
since it was not raining.
The Pictures
When her group reached the lochan, Claire saw lots of little
fish jumping and she drew these with the hills and woods in
the background. Robert did a view of the dam with several
explorers on the top behind the handrail and me at the bottom
by the valve; he also showed the pollarded ash tree and a
section of rail track with a truck on it. The other features
were personal embellishments. Robin showed the fast-flowing
stream with a boot and a coat being swept along (an incident
I seem to have missed). Margaret Jane showed the dam and valve
with Eenie's name in the concrete and a sketch of the pollard
ash and the power station. Ellen aiso showed the dam, plus
several aspects of the wet walk across the hill. Karen showed
the explorers next to the old rail track. Iain showed the
car with a list of all the participants. John Dye
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