Expedition 101 - 29th November 2003
Port nan Uamh, Sunart


This time the forecasters did themselves proud, we were confidently warned of driving rain and gales, it wasn't sunny but it wasn't wet or windy either. We got another good turnout of explorers in spite of the weather warning: sixteen explorers, Adrian, Alasdair, Alexander, Alexandria, Allan, Amy, Benjamin, Carol-Anne, Charlie, Chloe, Jamie, JD, Lucy, Peter William, Robin, Thomas; five helpers, Ann, Ann Marie, Craig, Pamela and Philippa and Bruce as the solitary dog.

The trip started at the side of the main road at the Port nan Uamh lay-by and as soon as we could we left the road and threaded our way through the spruce trees to the wayleave. We crossed it by a little flag marker and climbed through some more forestry before getting into the open ground to the west. This was a stiff climb and a few explorers (and at least one other) were feeling pretty hot as we got to the top of the hill.

There are lots of cut trees lying around in this wood and it is a bit tricky to thread a way through so it took us some time before we arrived at the first point of interest - a large exposure of very smooth rock showing some impressive glacial scratches. We spent a time looking at this and then carefully navigated round some more trees to reach a steep little glen which we descended until we got to a recessed platform and some rocks on which filmy ferns were growing. Everyone had a look at the filmy ferns and some nice liverworts nearby before descending a bit further and crossing again onto higher ground.

The next part involved climbing through the oak wood and crossing another glen. On the way we found a strange stone which looked artificially placed and could have been a grave marker.

Finally we arrived at a high point with a fine view over the loch and the explorers had a chance to read some of the features off the map. This was where we had our Tunnock's wafers.

The climb back was a little less straightforward but we all made it back to the first glen and gathered around a little cave. After checking this one out and collecting all the team we went round the rock to a larger cave, the one that Port nan Uamh is named after. The explorers found some shells in the cave and looked at an old bottle with 'LFAST' marked on it.

From the cave it was a short scramble back to the wayleave and the car, but then we crossed and had a look at the old landing place on the beach, where Benjamin found a piece of tile which looked like one of the old Dutch tiles said to have been brought to Sunart as ballast.

Finally we crossed the road again and had a look at the site of the graves of two sailors who had died of fever many years ago and been buried close to the shore.John Dye

   




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