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A very poor forecast, like the last expedition, but this time
we were very few, only one explorer, Robbie, with John, Nikki
and Philippa to help and Ellie to find sticks. I decided on
a woodland route to avoid the wind but it turned out to be
quite calm, if a little moist.
We all fitted into the Doves’ nice car and parked in
the roomy new lay-bye. Then we set off up the west bank of
the stream, which was fairly full, with good views of all
the waterfalls. We stopped at several points on the way up
and I took an expedition picture of everyone on a superb recessed
platform with a waterfall in the background, but the light
was not good and it didn’t come out.
The rest of the climb up to the top of the wood was straightforward
and we stopped for a wafer break right at the top. We found
two wood ant nests near the forestry fence and one of these
actually had a few ants standing guard on the top, I didn’t
expect to see them at this time of year. The other nest looked
as if it had been scraped up by a badger.
I decided to take a more direct route down the hill but we
got stuck in some young Sitka, which slowed down everyone
except Robbie and Ellie. We eventually came out onto a nice
clear slope and I took another picture with Laudale in the
background. Robbie looked near to collapse in the photograph
but he actually had plenty of energy left.
When we got back to the road, we had a look at an ancient
holly which was probably one of the ones that people from
Glasgow used to cut for Christmas decorations. It had lots
of fresh shoots growing around its base.
We had a nice lunch at the Pantry, now in Claire’s efficient
hands for the winter. Later on we visited the Car Boot Sale
at Shielbridge Hall and there were all the absent explorers,
busy manning stalls.
John
Dye
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