Expedition 137 - 9th July 2005
The Singing Sands


This was not a promising day, and just after the schools broke up, so I wasn't sure if we'd get anyone. If we were short on numbers we were long on toughness, three older boys, Allan, JD and John Donaldson and two younger boys, Frerderik and Jan Hendrick, but the young ones evened up the pace by taking their bikes. Just two helpers: Christina and Philippa, with Jonathan riding shotgun in the cross-country buggy, and Ellie and Cora to protect us.
The day was not great and we set off at a cracking pace, to leave more time at the beach. There were not many distractions on the way, fewer ant nests than there used to be, but there were some interesting droppings on the path loaded with bright blue beetle wings. Apart from a few big dragonflies there was little to detain us on the way and we pressed on to the singing sands.
It had rained on the previous night so the sands were silent yet again, but the dunes proved a big attraction to the older three, who did some adventurous jumping down the soft slopes. The other two boys, having left their bikes on the big hill, did some exploring along the beach while Jonathon spent some time in seriously looking at the surroundings. Cora tried to scrounge a wafer, Ellie spent some time chasing waves and I took some photographs of the clubmosses. After a few minutes the sun came out and it got really hot for a bit. Everyone wanted to stay but I didn't want to be late back so we all assembled again.
Before setting off we had a look at a fine old house which we hadn't visited before, not far from the Gortenfearn burn. Then we gathered everything and everyone together and set off up the hill again, pausing to take a look at Tobermory's Cave on the way back.

John Dye


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