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With a yet another very poor forecast, we didn't get a bad
day, but not many young explorers turned up: just Caleb, Caulay,
Robbie L. and Sam, more than balanced by eleven adults: Andrew,
Claire, Corinne, Howard, Jan, John, Nicky, Pamela, Peter,
Philippa and Richard. We also had two dogs to keep us in order,
Ellie and Honey, both on excellent form.
We arrived at the church in lots of cars but after a bit of
sharing, it turned into just enough to fit easily into the
Dun Ghallain car park. Before setting off, everyone had a
look at the odd rocks and the pollarded oak tree and heard
a bit about the significance of the site to the local Cameron
families. Then we set off down the track to the stile, thoughtfully
equipped with a dog gate, much appreciated by Honey. We then
followed the left-hand path, which meandered through the woods,
finally reaching the eastern bay.
There everyone was able to see a cleared area of beach where
boats had once been drawn up and I found the site of a house
nearby although we didn't see any well-marked houses at all
on this excursion. We then followed a deer track through to
the next bay where there was another boat slip and a section
of boundary wall. At this point we could see the old fort
and I tried to get a photograph just as it was illuminated
with sunshine but it wasn't too successful. With hardly a
pause we cut across another headland to the main bay where
we reached the perimeter fence.
There was a bit of hunting around before we established a
convenient spot for getting the dogs across and then we climbed
over onto the beach. Fortunately the tide was low so we were
able to cross the slippery seaweed on the causeway and reach
the island with the Iron Age fort. On the way across, several
explorers picked up sea urchin shells, scallop shells and
old fishing floats.
Everyone managed the tricky climb up the seaweedy rocks and
we all assembled on the top of the fort for pictures with
Glencripesdale house in the background. I thought it was a
bit chilly on the top so we all moved round to the sheltered
side of the fort for our wafer break.
When everyone had rested, we crossed the causeway once again
(I was most anxious not to get stranded) and returned to the
beach and eventually back into the woods. Everyone had a good
look at the fine pine trees in the wood before crossing the
sea wall once more and following another deer path back into
the woods, eventually picked up the main path back to the
entrance.
Back in the Pantry the explorers turned out some quite nice
pictures, I have picked out Sam's sketch of one of his brothers
holding a fishing float.
John
Dye
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