Expedition 297 - 19th October 2013
Gorten Waterfall

 


This was another weekend when, after getting gloomy predictions of heavy rain for days, it turned out quite nice. This expedition fell on what I would have called the half-term but which has now metamorphosed into the inter-term holiday. Anyway, I reckon quite a few people might have been away because we had only three explorers: Daibhidh, JJ and Lexi, with Fiona and John to help and Bramble (or Brambles as he is known to his Kennel Club friends), to boldly go where no explorer could tread.

We set off down the Singing Sands track, which was very quiet on this occasion, looking at lots of fungi growing along the verges (we only found one puffball, were we too early or are they less common this year?). I had the binoculars but there were no exciting waders to be seen and the only stop was to look at the finely bedded rocks from an ancient seabed from a time before there were any fossils.
We made a short diversion to look at the Hydro Power House, but it wasn’t running and there were signs that they would soon be putting in some replacement pipes. Then we crossed the bridge and had a look into the little pool which, again, had no tadpoles but a fine collection of whirligig beetles spinning round on the surface.

Then we left the main path and went through the gate to pass Gorteneorn House and steading, pausing to look at some recently planted Azaleas. I mentioned that the TV news had said there was a huge crop of acorns in the south and said there didn’t seem to be so many up here, but the explorers disagreed and soon found an oak tree laden with acorns, many of which were carried away in pockets and may become oak groves in years to come. A little further on we came to the edge of the forestry where the deer had nibbled back some Sitka seedlings to turn them into bonsai Christmas trees.

Last time we tried to reach the waterfall we were held up by a lot of fallen timber and this had been cleared so that we were able to pass through and go up into the woods. We followed a good deer track, which Bramble was keen to point out whenever it got obscure. The going was quite tough through the trees and we crossed to the burn at the first point where a fallen tree had squashed the fence. When we got through I realised we were a lot lower than the waterfall, but I was not the only one voting to stop and have our Tunnock’s wafers at that point.
We sat on a convenient tree next to the burn and I showed the explorers how to use a compass to find their way through the woods. After we had rested, it was a bit of a struggle to get back up to the fallen fence and cross into the plantation and this time I went higher to find some bigger trees with more room to pass. Fiona noticed a green space above us and we moved over to that and were able to pick up a good deer track back down into the wood from which it was not far back to the main track.

We were all pleased to get to the Blue Parrot and find Laura and her girls running the show, thanks a lot.

Everyone made an effort to turn out a picture but I have picked out JJ’s quick sketch of the riverside where we had our break, you can see the burn and the fallen tree lying across it, which we are sitting on in the photograph.

John Dye








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