Expedition 140 - 20th August 2005
Multiple Expeditions


This was a complicated day. We were trying out as many as possible of the twelve expedition routes to be featured in the new Expedition Calendar. This meant that the explorers, helpers and dogs were divided into teams. It worked out as follows:
Melissa and her dad, Chris, went to the Samalaman Caves.
Thomas and Benjamin went with Pamela and Brucie to Smirisary.
Calum and Nicole went with Gary and Heather and Roo to Egnaig.
Robbie and Alasdair Crawford went with Howard, Johnnie and me to the Three Old Maids.
Fern and Rowan went with Sharon to High Mingarry.
Chris and Becky went to Briaig.
Matthew Evans and Sandra went to Lower Shielfoot.
Maureen went to Camusaine.
Allan, John Donaldson, Robin D. Zander and Matthew Dove went with Jem, Juliet (and Amy), Philippa and Stephen, plus Ellie, to the Fee Donald Mine.
The idea was that everyone would follow my map and instructions and see how they got on. For the most part it worked fairly well, but we uncovered a few mistakes in the instructions and sometimes the ground was a bit difficult. Melissa and Chris found the caves OK but took a funny route back. Benjamin, Thomas and Pamela made incredible time to Smirisary Sands and back with no problems at all. Calum, Nicole, Gary and Heather managed to find the old lead mine near the causeway but had a hard time negotiating the high bracken at Egnaig. Chris and Becky reached Briaig without much trouble but couldn't find all the features on the way. Fern, Rowan and Sharon got up to High Mingarry but couldn't locate the small route up the hill. Matthew led all the way to Lower Shielfoot using the instructions and had no trouble at all. The older boys and the assembled Doves got to Fee Donald Mine easily but it took a long time and they were the last back by a long way.
My instructions for Camusaine were rather faulty - I seem to have had a phase of putting left when I meant right in the instructions. However, Maureen was keen to have another try later.
Which brings me to the Three Old Maids. I left everyone to follow the instructions up to a certain point, when I made a decision and got it wrong! It all worked out all right in the end since Alasdair discovered a fantastic Emperor Moth caterpillar, which we wouldn't have seen but for my diversion.
Since the Pantry was not open that day, we all assembled at Loch Shiel Hotel, who coped incredibly well with a huge group of tired explorers and adults arriving over a long period.

John Dye


Contact the site by email