28th April 2012 - Day 2 Gold D of E Expedition

Loch Sloy Dam and steep difficult terrain

Anna looking over the map

Tussocky Purple Moor Grass - the bane of any hillwalker

Looking north towards Glen Falloch and Crianlarich

Me at our camp spot and Glen Falloch in the background

Day 2 of the expedition began very cold, but once the sun was over the crest of the surrounding hills it was very warm. The group set of some half an hour later than scheduled, and passed over the side of the dam. However, one of the girls had had a very poor night, and did not feel well enough to continue. We arranged to have her accompanied back to Inveraglus to meet Dougie and decide on a course of action. The other four girls continued as planned, with only Anna and I supervising from a distance. This stretch of terrain, trapped on the steep ground between Ben Vorlich and Loch Sloy is tricky to negotiate with a full exped bag on for those with limited experience, and it would be treacherous in wet/windy weather.

It took the team far longer than expected to cover the ground from the beginning to the end of the Loch, and they were soon over 2 hours behind. However, they were still moving, moral was exeptionally high and both myself and Anna were extremely impressed with how they dealt with any obstacles they came across. They moved efficiently after this point, and started to regain time. The rest of the day was spent on rough tussocky terrain, covered in Purple Moor Grass which is horrible under foot.

We camped in a lovely spot by Lairig Arnan with superb views up Glen Falloch. I love this part of the country, it is steeped in history and legend and it doesn't take much to feel very isolated. The girls got themselves set up quickly, and dinner was soon under way. Again they were quite happy taking advice, and we spent a good session discussing geographical features, how they were formed and good examples for each feature.

The weather was again fine only chilly once the sun had sunk, but overnight the tent froze up again. This time I slept in Anna's sleeping bag to give her a shot of a down bag as she would like to purchase something new. Tomorrow is a short day, only 8km on easy tracks so hopefully we will get a shot at teaching some in-depth navigation techniques so that the girls are confident for assessment.