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This expedition took place in dreadful weather - very high
wind and occasional heavy showers of hail, winds of 100mph
were recorded in north Scotland during the morning. However,
for most of the time we were fairly sheltered and we missed
almost all of the showers. Seven brave explorers turned up,
matched by six adults, several of whom had come to see the
archaeological features. The explorers were: Amie MacMaster,
Amy Mulhern, David John, Iain, DJ, Maxine and Robert, with
Frances MacLean, Jean and Ken Bowker and Gordon Barr, plus
Robert and Richard, not forgetting Suzie the Labrador and
Rose the setter.
The expedition set off from the parking place by the Seven
Men of Moidart and immediately started climbing the hill.
Within a few yards we saw an ancient recessed platform and
a rock shelter. We carried on climbing, crossing to the west
and stopped at a large pollard oak tree, which John explained
was a 'cant mark' indicating the edge of a felled area of
woodland. The wind was very wild at this point and John's
hat was blown down the hill, to be rapidly retrieved by Robert.
We continued up the steep hill, covering a large area of bracken-covered
hillside which was probably an old field system. Above this
we reached a very large and well-built recessed platform on
which the explorers stood to have photographs taken. They
then discovered a rock shelter close by and a large rock which
they used to frighten the adults by pretending to slide off
it!
We crossed the hill again to reach the valley of the Mill
Burn, but it was too steep to risk a descent in the slippery
conditions. Instead we kept to the high ground for some distance,
looking at several more platforms, cairns, cultivation areas
and pony tracks - mostly remains of the charcoal burning which
took place here in 1794.
Finally we returned to the low ground and examined the base
of an old hut and had a good look at the limekiln next to
the road.
The Pictures
Maxine did a nice picture showing all of the explorers on
the hill, note her Rangers hat and David John's freckles.
Robert's offering was a rather sketchy view of the limekiln
and a stone wall. Sain also showed the lime kiln with one
of the oak trees and Robert running after John's hat. Iain
also showed the limekiln, with a roof on it, which we had
been discussing, plus one of the pollard oaks. Amie did a
very nice drawing of all the hilis with John, Robert and the
hat, one of the large trees and, right at the top of the hill,
the big triangular rock the explorers sat on. John Dye
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