The conditions were monsoon-like and I really didn’t
expect anyone to turn up – how wrong I was, the cars
kept on arriving and we finally had nineteen people and two
dogs. The explorers were Benjamin, Billie, Calum, Ewan, Davie,
Frederik, Jonathan, Marie, Matthew and Thomas, with Andy S,
Christina, Christophe, Joanna, Mark D, Pamela, Philippa, Rupert
and Simon, ably led by Ellie and Huzal as expedition official
dogs.
I had planned to go to the high ground, but it was too wet
and cloudy so we covered the old track from Glenuig to Forsy,
parking by the pier and spending some time negotiating the
dodgy gate. The track is rather rocky to start with and then
became a matter of pushing through the bracken, so the smaller
members were good and wet in the first ten minutes. However,
the path was mostly firm and easy going.
I visited the track a month before and I was most keen that
everyone should see yet another primitive plant, this time
Selaginella growing beside the path. There were also butterwort
and sundew and the explorers were told how these plants trap
insects since there is so little nutriment in the peaty soil.
As we reached the end of the track, Ben and Tom found a fine
group of chanterelles, which were rapidly transferred to a
plastic bag.
Finally we came to the Forsy Caravan Park and walked through
for a short distance, where I pointed out two old caravans
with clerestory roofs. We negotiated the gate and reassembled
on the main road where we soon got a fine view of the big
waterfall in full flow. The expedition paused for a while
at the site of the old Forsy cattle grid and then moved down
to the shore at the mouth of the Forsy Burn.
The sea was the main attraction of the expedition as far as
Ellie was concerned and she spent a lot of time at the water’s
edge watching the boys skliffing stones across the waves.
While we were having our Tunnock’s wafers, two dolphins
were seen between the shore and Goat Island, the first ever
seen on an expedition.
Then it was a long wet walk along the road back to Glenuig,
with some wild flowers and a few birds to relieve the monotony
(including, unfortunately, a dead siskin on the road). As
we neared the pier, we all saw a seal resting on a rock just
offshore.
Back at the Blue Parrot, some imaginative drawings emerged.
I have picked out Ewan’s nice sketch of the seal on
its rock in the rain. I regret that the conditions were not
right for an expedition photograph.
John Dye
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