Expedition 123 - 30th October 2004
Carn Mor and the Angry Man


After a string of so-so days this was perfect, even at the end of October several people found it rather warm for hard walking - and hard walking was what we did. A fine turnout of seventeen explorers and seven adults: Abbie, Alasdair, Alexander, Alexandria, Allan, Benjamin, Calum, Chloe, Chris, Elliot, Isobel, JD, John Donaldson, Robin D., Ruby, Sarah and Thomas; with Andrew, Andy, Becky, Chris, Pamela, Philippa and Sandra and four dogs: Bruce, Ellie, Lady and Toby.

I thought I had established that nobody would be using the beach access so we parked at the end of the road, a bad mistake on my part, as it turned out. The tide was falling fast but we still had to take a short cut to get across the top of the beach. The first objective was the hill marked as Carn Mor on the map but locally known as Sappers' Hill after army activity there.
It was a long and weary climb to the top of the hill, but clear skies and a perfect view out to the islands rewarded us. There was hardly a ripple on the sea and the wind vanes on Muck were not turning. Everyone took a rest and a snack at this point and the expedition was recorded on several cameras.

When we all felt ready, we set off down the seaward side of the hill, led by Sandra, who knew the ground. Although it was still damp and slippery underfoot, nobody fell on the descent and we soon got down to the coast. I was the only one who knew how to find the cave so people waited for me and luckily it turned up where I expected it.

Everyone climbed down to the cave entrance and I read a bit about local smugglers and told them about the two big men reputed to use the cave for smuggling. Then we went through the cave and over the treacherous rocks down to the sea. I was somewhat apprehensive but everyone took good care and we got away with only one slightly bashed knee.

Then we followed the old smuggler's track to the next bay, where I think it is likely the MacIans kept their boat. People took another rest here before we crossed a very boggy area and then over the hill to the beach.

When we reached the cars, we found a (justifiably) very angry man who had been blocked from leaving by our cars and was waiting for us to get back. I apologised profusely but couldn't calm him down. This was a double shame since, in spite of all the exciting finds of the day, most of the explorers decided to do a drawing of the angry man. John Dye

   




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