Expedition 249, 66th February 2011
Briaig village

 

A nice expedition, with the best weather of the year so far, and a few surprises. We had seven explorers: Calum, Fern, Jonathan, Josephine, Robbie, Serena and Zack with eight adults: Christina, Joanne, Nicci, Pamela, Philippa, Sandra, Sharon and Simon, plus one dog, Ellie. At least, that is what we started with, Christina and Jonathan had to go back early and Pamela walked back along the Silver Walk.

We set out from the small bridge at Blain, going through the gate and up the hill, stopping to look at the fork where an old track led off, and also to see the old alder tree. Carrying on up the hill we paused at the ravine where the explorers could see the first of a series of cultivation ridges that marked the settlement of High Blain. The ridges carried on, past the stile and the turning to the aerial mast, and at that point we could see three deer watching us from the opposite hill.

At the end of the cultivation everyone had a look at a corn kiln next to the path and I was delighted when the explorers recognised another one later on in Briaig. The path got steeper, wetter and muddier as we climbed the hill but eventually we reached the flat grassy part, after which it was a lot easier.

At the top of the hill we paused to look at the lochan and the dams. When we got a little further on we saw there was a whooper swan in the small loch called Loch na Fala. I think the swan was a bit disappointed to see so many people coming up the path, it took off and skimmed past us flying low towards Acharacle and a minute or two later it came back and flew over the lochs again.

When we reached the edge of the loch, the explorers spotted two things: the first was an Emperor Moth cocoon hanging on the heather and the second was a little whirlpool on the water surface above a place where water was draining out. We didn’t stop long but pushed on to the hawthorn tree where the path divided. We turned left and continued up the hill. There were some requests for an early Tunnocks break, but we didn’t stop until we got to the village of Briaig.

Here, once again, some enthusiastic explorers got ahead, and I had forgotten my whistle, so when the rest of the group left the path to go to the village, they were out of sight. However, they must have been keeping an eye on us because they got to the village first, although one lone explorer came in a bit later.

Once in the village we went from house to house, spotting the corn kiln on the way, and having our wafer break in the big house with triangular windows. This gave everyone a chance to catch their breath, before we set off back up the hill, looking at more houses on the way up.

The group were in good shape and we made very good speed all the way back, stopping to look at the first tortoiseshell butterfly of the year by the lochan and the first frogspawn of the year near the top gate.
The only picture I took was on the long hill going up, so once again, not everybody in it. I have put in Josephine’s nice drawing of a game of hide-and-seek in the woods.

John Dye



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