I usually give
each explorer a notice at the school before each expedition,
but during school holidays, word gets round by e-mail and
the local grapevine. This time we only got one explorer, Alexander,
but I will always go out if one turns up, even if, as on this
occasion, the forecast was awful. We were due for pouring
rain and a southerly gale, but it turned out dry and warm.
As well as Alexander we had Mairi plus John Dove and Phil,
with Ellie and Monty to lead us through the difficult bits.
Although the morning was dry, it had rained a bit during
the night and we parked carefully near the old fank before
setting off through the puddles. Our first stop was a little
wood by the loch where I remembered a bird’s nest high
in a pine tree. It seemed a big nest but I had never seen
any birds using it so we had a closer look. Phil’s good
binoculars showed that the edges of the nest had green shoots
on them and we realised it wasn’t a nest at all but
just a dense clump of twigs.
Last time we were in this wood we encountered a herd of cattle
close by and they were there again, so this time I got everyone
back to the track and the dogs walked past with their noses
in the air while the cattle watched us go by. We carried on
to the bridge and I pointed out the two big silver firs growing
by the burn. Long ago I found a big trunk of bog oak in the
burn and we tried to locate it, but the overnight rain had
filled the burn and made it hard to see the bottom clearly.
We crossed a flat boggy section, while Monty raced around
like a rocket, and carried on to the big memorial. All of
the fallen timber has now been removed and the railings repaired
so the stone cross is easy to approach once more. We walked
right round before Phil found the secret gate in the railings
and we took an expedition photograph on the steps of the memorial.
I decided to try a visit to the house at Cuil to see if we
could reach the flagstone quarry behind, but when we got there,
we found our way blocked by another group of young cattle.
Monty gave a succession of ferocious barks but he didn’t
convince anyone and the cows just looked at him through the
gate.
The last part of the expedition was crossing the big field
to the Green Isle Pier, using the track where I remembered
a coffin being taken across in a Land Rover. We had a look
at the big ash tree before settling on the pier for our Tunnock’s
wafer before the long walk back to the cars.
Once in the Tearoom, Alexander applied himself to a fairly
comprehensive drawing showing, in the middle, the Green Isle
with a cross and its pier and, in the foreground, the other
pier with the expedition on it. He also put in the boat for
taking people to the Green Isle and some gulls flying about,
although I didn’t see them.
John Dye
|