|
|
RAMBLE REPORTS 2009 |
|
|
It was a little “parky” when 15 members met at the Maggot Car Park for our first ramble of the season, but at least we kept dry. Elspeth welcomed everybody and, in the absence of John Orr, Council Ranger, who was unable to join us because of illness, led the ramble. We started by crossing the bailey bridge to the west bank of the River Nairn – to use the disabled facilities – viewing the harbour as we went and crossing back to the east bank by a bridge a few hundred yards into the walk. We continued along the peaceful, tree-lined river bank path for about an hour, seeing on our way many signs of spring including wood anemones and dog’s mercury, both indicating ancient woodland, and the conspicuous butter-bur, whose flowers appear before its leaves. Most of the people we met were taking their dogs for walks, and greeted us warmly. On the opposite bank we saw the house Evelyn had lived in as a child! What glorious views the residents on the west bank of the river must have. After returning to the car park we shared cars to the lunch venue, Househill café and farm shop on the Grantown road just outside Nairn. We enjoyed our pre-booked soup and sandwich lunch, where most of us sat at the same table, which encouraged sociability and merriment. Of course, a number of members made purchases at the farm shop where there was a good selection of chutneys, preserves, pates, shortbread, organic vegetables, etc. We thank a number of people for their contribution to the success of this ramble: Eddie for driving the van; Peggie and others for helping to load/unload the scooters; Evelyn and Mary, volunteers on their first walk with us; Elspeth for leading the ramble and sharing her knowledge of wild life. Ramble in Memory of Michael Findon; Loch an Eilean - 23rd April 2009 We woke to a grey sky; we left home in the rain, and the forecast was gloomy; today would be, they said, the one wet day this week. Would everyone be put off? Not a bit, after all, we knew Michael would expect us to be made of sterner stuff, and we were rewarded with a day that got better as each hour passed. The turnout was the largest we remember.  Before we set off, Peter spoke of the inspiration (let alone hard work) Michael gave to HDR, and in a minute’s silence we remembered all he meant to HDR - and all HDR meant to him. Loch an Eilean was his favourite ramble. Many of us had not done it before and it provided its challenges. Parts were steep and the ground quite rough in places - one short steep and stony descent especially was enough to tighten the nerves. None the less the HDR scooters performed well even if one of the others was a bit off colour and another nearly ran out of power. The woodland around the Loch, mainly Scots pine, offers shelter and tantalizing glimpses of the Loch through the trees, but, on this ramble at least offered little wildlife but the distant song of a warbler. But there is historical interest, especially in the island. The castle was one of Alexander Stewart’s - the Wolf of Badenoch. Although younger son of King Robert II, he was a cruel tyrant who burnt Forres and Elgin because the Bishop took his wife’s side when she left the Wolf. He died in 1394 after, so legend says, playing chess with the devil. His men were killed by lightening and he was found apparently untouched, but with all the nails in his boots missing. But for us it all looked so peaceful as we passed ! We finished off the day with a pleasant lunch at the Cairngorm Hotel in Aviemore. Our thanks to all who made for such smooth organisation, and such a good ramble. It was special indeed. It was especially good to have Marion with us on this memorable day. Beinn Eighe Nature Trail, Torridon. Tuesday 12th May As we gathered at the Nature Reserve car park, only 1 hour from Inverness, we knew that we must be in for an incredible day. The sun shone, the sky was dark blue and the scenery en route had been tremendous. There was, unfortunately, only a small group – 3 scooters and 6 walkers.
We were joined by the SNH Nature Reserve Manager, Eoghain and his assistant Kenny. Their knowledge of the landscape, glacial features, geology, wildlife and Reserve history had no limit. They were also keen to have our feedback on the All Abilities Trail! The trail was very impressive, with wildlife information boards along the way, easily accessible bridges, and even wheelchair friendly picnic tables! The well maintained, smooth path took us out above the tree line where magnificent views of Beinn Eighe and the surrounding mountains could be seen, with a little snow still visible on the quartzite scree at the top. Having stopped for our picnic lunch during the walk, there was time to investigate the Visitors Centre on our return. The Centre (which has impeccable toilet facilities) was full of interesting facts and hands-on displays. It was then successfully tested for access by one of the scooters, ably driven by Marian. But it was too nice a day to stay inside for long….. After loading the van, we completed our outing by travelling 10 miles back to the Achnasheen Coffee/Gift shop for a very welcome cup of tea – outside in the sun. Ramble and AGM at Drumnadrochit on Saturday 6th June 2009 Before the AGM, Martin led an excellent short ramble. He says “As the weather was rather cold and wet, we decided to take the low level walk from Balnain past Loch Letter farm. Five folks on scooters, the able-bodied and the walking wounded enjoyed the ramble with beautiful Loch Meiklie and the hills beyond. We were none the less glad to get into the warm church hall for tea, sandwiches and cakes.” The AGM was most ably chaired by our President Jamie McGrigor MSP. He shared his thoughts that although Michael Findon was sadly no longer with us, his spirit remained among us. He also gave a resume of topics recently dealt with in the Scottish Parliament – European elections, climate change, rural schools, agriculture and fisheries matters. As Sheelagh was not well enough to attend the meeting due to her recent heart operation, Martin read her Chairman’s report. She remarked on our greatly improved financial situation due to donations from the Great Wilderness Challenge and Highland Cross, as well as our fundraising through the Thistle Challenge. This has allowed us to buy 7 new scooters. She thanked Martin for all his work in managing the scooter fleet. A number of Health and Safety issues were discussed, resulting in agreement that a spare scooter would always be available at rambles and that in ‘Rambling On’ more details on distance and terrain would be given for each ramble. The ladies of the church put on a great spread of home-made cakes which were greatly appreciated. Our thanks also go to the Minister and congregation for allowing us to use the hall. A collection was made for the Adopt-a-Child charity. Tain Ramble – 24th June 2009 What a lovely day! It would have been even lovelier if we had seen more of the sun, except that the mist kept things pleasantly cool. We met at Glen Morangie Distillery to avail ourselves of the disabled loos – thanks to them for that. We then drove up to the Forestry Commission Car Park at Tain Hill where the scooters were unloaded for the first time. We did a circular walk of about a mile, up to the viewpoint where unfortunately we saw very little of the view, thanks to the aforementioned mist. Martin assured us we would have seen a wonderful panoramic view had we been able. We all agreed that we would just have to try again sometime in the future. The trees were lovely and there was an interesting assortment of wild flowers. As we left the viewpoint to return to the car park the mist did clear for a few minutes and we got the general idea of what we might have seen. One of the scooters gave a bit of trouble on the way up but seemed to behave itself on the way back. The scooters were loaded into the van, we drove to the Aldie Burn car park, unloaded again then rambled a short distance to a lovely hollow where we lunched beside the burn. (This is probably one of the natural amphitheatres which were used for open-air services when the churches split and one faction was without buildings.) There were a number of birds about including the “grey” wagtail which is in fact yellow!! We completed another circular route and duly returned to the car park, loaded up and went home. There were 16 of us on the ramble with 6 on scooters. Grateful thanks are due again to Martin for the work beforehand and to him and Eddie for driving. It is always more work with the “double” ramble but it was certainly worth the effort. Tuesday 14th July 2009 – Strathfarrar, west of Beauly Most of the group met at the Aigas Golf course as we were unsure of the location of the Aigas field centre. We then drove together to the Aigas field centre to use their excellent facilities at the new Magnus Education Centre. From here we again formed a convoy and drove into Strathfarrar. The rain was not putting a dampener on the day and as Martin and Eddie unloaded the scooters everyone put on their wet weather clothing and prepared for the ramble. Elspeth welcomed the group and introduced us to the ranger who was to participate with us, she was a young lady who had worked at Aigas since February 2009 and her name was also Elspeth.  We walked along the tarmac road throughout our ramble, and along the way saw some red deer who unfortunately were getting ready to make their way to Waitrose. We walked along the Strathfarrar river which Holly (Martin’s dog) really enjoyed and gave us all some entertainment as she swam in the river retrieving sticks Martin threw for her. Not long into the ramble the rain eased and towards the end of the ramble became quite humid and it stayed dry for the rest of the day. As we meandered along we were surrounded by beautiful woodland and various wild plants ranging from those used to make wicks for candles and a form of cheese in years gone by. There were also some fields of sheep and some loose sheep on the sides of the road that were quite inquisitive as to who we were. We were only met by a few vehicles and this caused us no issues as we were able to pull off the road slightly to allow them to pass. We stopped for lunch and the scooters pulled off the road onto a grass clearing surrounded by woodlands and bracken. The walkers in the group sat on the opposite verge; we ate our lunch but moved on pretty quickly as the midges were out in full force. When we finished our ramble everybody was commenting on how peaceful the ramble had been and it had made such a nice change from our busy lives. A huge ‘Thank you’ to all the committee and volunteers without your commitment these valuable days out would be impossible Thursday 6th August – Inshriach forest, Kincraig, south of Aviemore. We met at the Loch Insh Water Sports Centre near Kincraig for use of their toilets. From there we drove just over a mile to a forest gate leading into Inshriach Forest. All nine scooters were unloaded ready for the off. Just in time, our new members Michael and Alison arrived with his scooter in their trailer. Then came the Bryants who had taken a wrong turning and finished up doing a tour of the area, including the official car park for Uath Lochans. Our apologies if directions weren’t clear enough.  We followed forest tracks and paths to the beautiful Uath Lochans, passing bog pools that attracted a variety of colourful dragonflies. Larry shared his knowledge and enthusiasm for these and other wildlife. We made way for one or two groups of walkers and cyclists making the most of what the forest had to offer. As we were a large group we decided to use our walkie talkie radios which hadn’t been tried for some time. Unfortunately we found that although we could receive messages, we couldn’t respond and send messages back. Eddie kindly offered to investigate the problem when we got home. We stopped for our picnic lunch near one of the lochans, enjoying the pleasant surroundings. A few members went a little further on before we all headed back to the cars. We had quite a fright when, as Eddie was loading one of the scooters on to the tail lift, the Luton van slowly took off, heading towards the road. With great presence of mind and agility, Larry jumped into the van and applied the handbrake in the nick of time. The faulty handbrake was reported to Arnold Clark. You can’t say that HDR rambles are not eventful! Our thanks to drivers Eddie and Larry, his first time driving for us, and to Martin for earlier reconnoitring this walk on his bike. Achany Woods at Shin, near Lairg 18th September 2009 We were very lucky with the weather when we all met up at the Shin Falls car park, as it was dry and reasonably bright. There were seven scooters in all, six belonging to the Club, and one to new member Yvonne and her husband Lenny from Nairn who were attending their first ramble. We were also accompanied by Forestry Commission ranger Andrew who was able to share his knowledge of the woodland we rambled through. The track, after we left the car park, was fairly rough and only just about wide enough for the scooters in some points, but it took us up through mixed woodland to quite a height. We had not gone far before we came to a very sharp uphill corner. Each scooter had to be helped round, so we were very grateful to have a strong bunch of walkers with us! A little further on, one of the scooters began to play up and refused to respond to the controls, so its driver was transferred to the spare scooter. What a good idea it is to have a spare, even though it meant Marian had to walk the rest of the ramble, and Larry had the task of pushing the broken one back to the van in the car park. He was surprised to find that it wasn’t all downhill!  After about an hour we reached the top of the climb where there was a clearing, where the woodland just seemed to come to a stop. Andrew explained the history of this area and pointed out the different types of trees we had passed. It was decided not to stay up here for lunch, but to continue back down to the Centre. The path from here was quite steep and rough in places, so our brakes were put to good use, as we slid our way back to the car park. It was warm enough to sit outside the Visitor Centre to have our picnic lunch and to enjoy the shop with all its ‘Harrods’ goods! After lunch we went on a shorter, flatter circuit in the woodland adjacent to the river. Here we stopped a couple of times while Andrew explained ‘coppicing’ to us and showed us how youngsters were taught to use the forestry tools. Although we could hear the river, we could hardly see it. Such a pity so much money was spent on redoing the path down to the Falls, and yet it is still unsuitable for scooters. It was a most enjoyable ramble and we were all most grateful to Margaret L. for her organisation, Larry for driving the van, and Andrew for giving up his day to tell us so much about forestry in the area. Thank you. Culbin Forest on 6th October 2009 Our penultimate ramble of this year was to Culbin Forest. We were blessed with an absolutely perfect autumn day for a ramble so ably organised by Peggie. We had a large turnout of members and were pleased to see Sheelagh and Peter out with us. Although rain had threatened earlier in the day, we had sunshine so that the trees looked stunning in their autumn colours. Most of our people managed to get at least a little way up the viewing platform at Hill 99 and certainly the more able bodied got to the top to experience the glorious views of the Moray Firth and hills beyond. No snow at that time. We were all surprised at how much could be seen and were impressed by the solid construction of the platform, We enjoyed a picnic near the viewing site and were able to socialise for a wee while before making our way back to the assembly point. Thank you Peggie. Daviot Forest Ramble on 4th November 2009 Our final ramble of the season was a return visit to Daviot Woods. We were all so grateful that after days of heavy rain the forecast for a dry day was proved right! Brian the Recreation Forester from the Forestry Commission was able to lead us, and Eddie and Larry had the scooters lined up very neatly and ready for everyone to mount. The Highland Council delivered on their promise to re-open the toilets at the Tourist Centre for us. Unfortunately three people could not manage to book a scooter and were not able to join the ramble - we always are sorry that people are disappointed. After we returned to the car park, we proceeded to the newly opened ‘Dairy at Daviot’ restaurant on the other side of the A9. We were served soup and some very excellent sandwiches and tea and coffee and were delighted that Juliet and Susan, Yvonne and Lenny, and Sheelagh and Peter were able to join us for lunch and a good blether. We left to return to our homes promising to try to meet again at the HDR Christmas lunch in December. |
