This was another odd expedition when I didn't have a car
so we started from Dalnabreac again. We had another big team
of explorers: Archie, Daibhidh, Isabella, JJ, Lexi, Ollie,
Parker, Robbie and Roscoe, plus Adam, Alasdair, David, Fiona,
John, and Simon with three dogs to search the hills, Barney,
Bramble and Toadie.
Once again, we passed the triangle where the tinkers used
to camp and went through the gate to the site of the old rabbit
warren. This time we stopped at a deep trench where the explorers
were able to see the iron pan layer in the sandy soil.
A little further on we stopped at the only tree of the expedition,
which the dogs duly greeted in the normal way. The explorers
saw how there were more branches on the sunny side of the
tree, and also where the bark had been rubbed away by deer
getting the velvet off their antlers, and also by the Langal
cows scratching themselves.
We carried on to the middle of the old croft and had a look
at how the cultivation ridges had been made to run down the
slope of the hill, and then we set off on the long slog up
to the top of the track. On the way up I saw the first lizard
of the year, but it wisely made off before the dogs arrived.
It was a bit of a scramble for me to get down the slope and
cross the burn but the explorers were well in their stride.
We were now on the side of the Flat Hill, which is entirely
made of gravel laid down when the Loch was much higher. We
climbed up carefully to see the dens of the animals on the
hill before continuing to the top for our Tunnock's break.
This hill has been used in the past by countless explorers
for rolling down but this time the rolling activity was rather
reduced, people were happy to enjoy the sunshine, the wafers
and the view.
I had found a pit dug into the top of the hill many years
ago and we all formed a line and walked across to see if we
could find it. I came to the conclusion that it must have
been filled in because we only found a shallow pit.
We went to the bottom of the Flat Hill and looked for the
spring but it was dry, so we carried on and climbed all the
way to the top of the ridge, which was a struggle for some
of us. Once we had all assembled and rested we followed the
ridge back and climbed down to the path, stopping for a chat
with Annac as we passed the house.
This was an unusual expedition since I didn't go to the Blue
Parrot, so there were no drawings to show, but we did get
an expedition photograph on the high ridge.
John
Dye
|
|