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I expected rain but we got a dry day. We had fourteen explorers:
Abbie, Adrian, Alexander, Alexandria, Allan, Benjamin, Carol-Anne,
Colin Ross, Melissa, Peter William, Robin C., Robin D., Sarah
and Thomas; with Becky, Chris, John Evans, Joanne, Pamela,
Peter, Philippa and Sandra ; plus Brucie and Lady.
We started from Mingarry Hall where the explorers heard a
bit about the hall and the glebe in front of it (there was
a lot of talking in this expedition, not all by me!). Then
we walked through Mingarry looking at each of the old houses
in turn until we reached 'the Avenue'. Everyone assembled
and looked at the spot where the milestone is buried before
heading up into the wood following the line of the perimeter
dyke.
It was a bit tough on the smaller explorers pushing through
the rhoddies, but we soon got to a clearer part high up in
the wood and ended up with a good view over the moss to the
south. There was a general hope for a pause at this point
but I got everyone moving again and we eventually reached
the little cave where the Mingarry schoolchildren used to
go in their lunch break. We stopped here for wafers and a
picture and some of the boys investigated the little cairn
under a big rock, fortunately nobody got stuck for long.
Leaving the cave we climbed down through the woods, across
the Park Burn and into the beech tree glade. From here it
was only a short step down to the road.
Watching for traffic with one eye, everyone walked back along
the road to the old school where they stopped to look at the
remains of the uncompleted convent. Then we saw the site of
the old school spring and the chapel and its surrounding buildings.
We walked on up the hill past John Cameron's house, noting
the funerary cairns at the side of the road. Quite near the
top we crossed into the wood through a gap in the fence and
went to a lovely little glade formerly said to be associated
with the name 'Gillie Buidhe'. We got back to the road by
a far easier route and finished our walk at the ancient house
known as Cnoc Breac, where the explorers heard a bit about
the MacLaren family who used to live there.
This was quite a big walk with a lot to see and I was amazed
that we finished in time to get to the Pantry by 12.15. John Dye
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