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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