Expedition 262, 25th March 2012
Glenuig Caves

 

The best day since last summer and a most exciting outing; we had eight explorers, Alexander, Fern, Frederik, Isabella, JJ, Jonathan, Robbie and Rowan. Also seven adults, Adam, Christoph, David, John B, John Dove, Mairi and Sharon, plus Ellie as the expedition dog.

Once again the attractions of the pre-expedition mud wallow resulted in an explorer getting fresh clothes before the day had even begun, but we all assembled at Samalaman Beach with no loss of time.

Getting the team off the beach in the sunshine took a few minutes but we were soon away down the coastal path with everyone in good form. The path was still rather wet and there were a few fallen trees to negotiate as we moved along. Almost everyone stopped at the stone seat and waited for me to catch up, and the breakaways were soon brought back for the diversion through the trees and down to the caves.

Many of the explorers came equipped with torches and they quickly moved into the dark cave. One emerged to say there was a human skeleton at the back of the cave, and there might have been, but it was a sheep skull that was brought out later. I was not up to crawling through the tight passage to check it myself.

When everyone had exhausted the possibilities of the cave and associated shelters we climbed back to the road and continued down the path. There was another stop at Aird an Iasgaidh (the fishing point) where the explorers were able to see the little harbour at low tide and I explained where the guide lights might have been placed for night operations.

I was not yet up to a rock climb and we fortunately found an easy route round the hill to a sunny spot near the sea where the Tunnock's wafers were handed round. Before we left I pointed out the glacial scratches on the exposed rock surface.
The next section was a bit tricky with a very wet stile crossing and a lot of treacherous beach cobbles to cross but finally we arrived at the old houses at Poll Beag, which were the furthest point of the expedition.

Returning to the Blue Parrot, several of the explorers drew the rock shelter with its little windows facing the sea. I have picked out Rowan's view of the rock shelter with explorers looking out and me shining a torch into the cave.John Dye




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