The Earl and the Sheriff

I was bored at work today (what's new) so went for a wee walk and a spot of Geocaching!

My work is located at Charing Cross in Glasgow so with only an hours lunch break I couldn't really go very far. I started with the Mitchell Library cache which is located near the library entrance on Granville Street. This is a fairly busy area with muggles everywhere so despite hanging around for almost 15 minutes I didn't even come close to being able to search for the cache. Caches like this annoy me as much as the boring old tree root caches. It's no surprise that they go missing so often. Grrr... Will try again some other time...

After abandoning that cache I headed North and uphill to Kelvingrove Park in search of Lord Roberts Memorial : Kelvingrove Park. This time the muggles weren't so bad although there was one wee man sitting eating his lunch but he seemed too engrossed in his sandwich to pay me much attention. The clue for this one and GPS coords really helped as the cache is not right at the monument itself. After a couple of pretend tying and untying of my shoelaces I spotted the cache, however there doesn't seem to be any actual container other than a small plastic bag and even that has a hole in it. Signed the log and quickly replaced *exactly* as found.

Next came Sheriff of Calton Creek which is a cache I went looking for before and failed to find. My GPS was bang on the money this time and after a needless search in someones driveway I played the old shoelace trick once again and nano-tastic there it was! Signing the log proved more difficult as a wee old lady at a bus stop nearby was giving me the evil eye. That problem was solved however when a big red bus came along and swallowed her whole. I thought about giving her a wave but decided she'd probably get off at the next stop and come back to give me a clip around the ear with her brolly.

Finally I'd planned to have another look for the Cameron Memorial Fountain cache but I'd run out of time and had to get back to work. This is another muggle infested cache and I know where the hiding place is but there's never a good moment to go fumbling for the container never mind signing and replacing it. Like the Mitchell Library cache that one will have to wait again until another day (maybe one when Aliens have abducted everyone except me).

2 out of 3

River Ayr

I'm told it's possible to walk the entire length of the River Ayr but on Sunday we only tackled a very short section. Our original plan was to trawl Ayr for about 12 different caches, but as is usually the case when there's four of you (including a 4 year old and a 6 year old who insists on walking at half everyone elses pace) we only manage to look for a fraction of the targetted caches. In fact we looked for a grand total of three and even then only found two.

Our start point was Ayr College from which we took the river-side path pausing at the athletics track to watch some amateur athletics and to have a hunt for Run Forrest Run. This was painfully easy to find, however there were muggles coming at us from all directions. Cache grabbed, we took a seat at a nearby bench to fill out the log before waiting for a break in the endless stream of muggles to replace it in its hidey hole! This was a very nice hand made cache container into which its owner elephantman has obviously put lot of effort.

Next came Chinese Whispers which is another of elephantman's caches. After a good hunt in the target area with a dodgy GPS reading we gave up. Upon reading many of the recent comments it appears this area has undergone building work and was even inaccessible for a time. There have also been a number of other DNFs recently. We'll keep an eye on the website to see if anyone else finds it.

Finally we went in search of Old Craigie which turned out to be fairly simple to find but took us ages! The reasons for this were multiple, first we had little/no GPS signal, next there were muggles everywhere doing a fun run and marshalls wandering around too, and finally the heavens opened upon us soaking us to the skin. Nevertheless we kept looking although some of the places we looked turned out to be at least 100m off target (yet that's where the GPS was pointing at the time!). Finally we were giving up and heading back to the river bank when the GPS signal jumped one last time and I headed off into the bushes on my own to investigate. Bingo there was the cache at last!! This one was full of goodies including two GeoCoins and a Travel Tag. Maybe we should have just taken one and left the others for the next finders but after the drenching we'd had and the effort we'd put into finding this cache we took all three!!

• Kendar's05 Glass GeoCoin
• Cros Ceilteach Geocoin
• Geico Travel Tag

2 out of 3

Fullarton House Estate

The sun was out this afternoon so we jumped in the car and drove down to Fullarton House Estate on the outskirts of Troon. Fullarton House was built by William Fullarton in 1745 on the site of Crosbie Castle. In 1805  it was sold to the Duke of Portland who established Troon and built the harbour from where he shipped coal from his mines in the Kilmarnock area. To transport the coal to Troon, he even constructed a railway line which also became the first passenger carrying line in Scotland. Part of this railway still exists today but today forms a section of the Glasgow to Ayr line.

Fullarton house itself was sold to the council in 1928 but unfortunately they decided to demolish the house in 1966. Today the stable block is still present, these having been converted into flats in the 70's. Where the main house once stood lies present day visitor car park. Two large stone pediments which once stood at either end of the front facade also remain.

Our first target of the day was collected before we even arrived. The Fullarton Woods cache is situated right at the point at which we arrived at the estate so to save ourselves a walk we stopped the car and went to find it. The location is fairly obvious when you get there and sure enough the log was soon signed and we were on our way again.

After a visit to the play park and the nearby grotto (left) we took a wander into the woods again in search of Brusha Brusha (twice a day) which is a strangely named cache with no relation to its name aside from the fact that the cache is hidden in a hole (or cavity) in a tree. The problem here was that we were under tree cover with no GPS signal and there were dozens of trees to choose from. Luckily there was a photo of the correct tree online but even with this it took some effort. Tree located, this one was left for Fiona to search and she soon had the cache.

Finally we took a lovely wander along to the bridle path at the Troon end of the estate and followed it around to a small burn where a small wooden bridge has been built over to another path. Bridge With a View (Candy Cache) was simple to locate and is named after the type of container used to store the log. The view here is out of the woods and over the fields towards Loans.

We had planned to do more caches today but Mrs Super Collector wasn't feeling too great. Instead we headed back to the play park and then home for a night in front of the TV.

3 out of 3

Ayr

Myself and the kids were off today and had a couple of hours to spare so we decided to go out instead of wasting the day in front of the TV. We ended up in Ayr and went to have a look for some caches.

The Royal Scots Fusiliers cache is located at the memorial gardens in front of the South Ayrshire Council buildings. This little garden has always been beautiful any time I've visited it, today was no exception. The cache was well hidden and took a while to find. In the end we took a step back and looked for the obvious and bingo there it was starting us straight in the face.


A short walk away is St John's Tower which, when we arrived, looked as if it was going to be difficult. The grounds are fairly large but we knew the cache was a magnetic nano and we also had the clue. That ruled out most places and after checking the GPS and map we were left with two main contenders for hiding places. Second time lucky and we had the cache. Unfortunately we weren't able to get into the tower grounds for a look around as it was padlocked shut (ooh there's a hint!). We took a look the information signs and through the gate but couldn't do much more.

That was all the caches we had time for today as we had dental appointments to get to but on our way out of Ayr we stopped briefly at the river to grab a photo to complete the Snap the Two Brigs challenge.

Unfortunately we got the bridges around the wrong way in the photo but we claimed it as complete anyway.

2 out of 2 and a challenge too.

Galloway Forest

It wasn't raining today so we decided to take a gamble and go down to the Galloway Forest with the bikes for a spot of Mountain Biking. After a long and twisty road (had so stop for a bit as Fiona was going to be sick) we eventually got there.

The blue run was our target for the day as we've tackled blue runs at Glen Trool  without a problem but today we'd come to Kirroughtree, and the blue run here was different. The path starts from the car park and is immediately steep and extremely twisty (just like the roads down here!). Eilidh was really struggling with the slope and Avril (with Fiona on the Trailgator) couldn't get around the bends. 10 minutes in Avril decided to turn back and head for the green run whilst myself and Eilidh kept going.

There are a few caches around Kirroughtree and our first was to be Penninghame Postcards 2 - The Lade Walk. Simply put, we didn't find it as we had no idea where we were in the forest and no GPS signal. So after a wasted half hour searching we moved on.

Next came Penninghame Postcards which is near the banks of the Bruntis Loch. The clue and GPS reading we had indicated that we should be looking in the forest ten metres from the path. This meant searching amongst the pine trees which, being pine trees, were very sharp and scratchy. Torn and bleeding, I eventually found the cache. Both these caches were placed by Penninghame Primary school and ask that finders leave a couple of postcards. We didn't have any but we did have a couple of home made pictures so we left them instead plus our entire collection of Travel bugs and Geocoins. The next person to visit the cache will be well pleased!!

At this point Eilidh was getting tired and so we decided to head back to the visitors centre and after a rest and a play we took a wander to find Daltamie which was only two minutes walk away. This was an easy find so there was plenty time for another play at the playpark!

On the way home we managed to bag a couple more caches. the first was Cairnsmore View which is right at the roadside but which required us to take a slight detour. The next cache we found in Girvan when we stopped for a chippy. We wandered over to the habour for a seat and when I checked on my mobile to see if there were any caches in the town it turned out Harbour View was about ten metres away! Result!!

4 out of 5

Braehead

As we were up at the Braehead shopping centre on the outskirts of Glasgow today, we decided to look for the caches there.

The first of these Billy From Stockholm was really simple to find as it's easily the biggest cache container we've found yet! The GZ is located just outside Ikea so it's easy to park up and go for a hunt. Just as we were signing the log and admiring Amore the Teddy Bear Travel Tag the heavens opened so we had to shelter under a tree for 5 minutes and wait for it to die down before making a dash back to the car.

Next was Heave! which is on the banks of the Clyde just behind the Clyde Built museum. In contrast, this was the smallest cache we've ever found. Thankfully it was really easy to find. The cache is named for the statue located here which remembers the ship building industry on the River Clyde. The statue itself is quite striking and was a big hit with the kids.

We also planned to visit Ferry Nice Park but unfortunately ran out of time. We'll leave that for another visit!

2 out of 3

To the Bard and Back

It was a lovely day for a change, so when I got home from work I decided to go out on my bike.

I live near Eglinton Park so I headed there first to have a look for a couple of caches in the park that I've not yet found. The first was Jasper's Ice House but when I got there there were muggles in the vicinity so I moved on and left it for another day. Next was G'day Sports ...AKA Farewell Pete and Lainey which is located at the recently renovated Tournament Bridge. Had a good look around but from previous comments left on the website I suspect this is under the bridge. I wasn't about to go swimming today so again I moved on. I'll have better look some other time.


Next, I went out of Eglinton park and followed the cycle path along the River Garnock and over to Bogside. From there another rough path follows the river along the edge of the Garnock Floods wildlife reserve to a railway viaduct on the line between Kilwinning and Irvine. Here I found Bogside after some time hunting for the wrong thing due to a misleading clue. The trick here is to trust the GPS, that is of course assuming you can get a decent signal with the overhead powerlines for the trains nearby. The wildlife reserve here lived up to it's name as I spotted several frogs and even what was either a newt or small lizard (see photo!)

Just along the road from here is another cache with the odd name My absolutely not bogging tresure trove! but unfortunately it's currently disabled as the cache has apparently gone missing.

As this is part of the new town trail a cycle path leads up from here, past the coup and over to Irvine. On the way it passes Bogside Golf Club and just outside is Bumblers Hunt. This one was very easy to find but is at the road side. Care is required as people tend to drive up and down this road as if it was a race track. There are a couple of caches to the West of here behind the Golf course, but it was getting late by now so I decided to finish with another easy one.

The Bard's Boax, is to be found at the Burns Monument on Irvine Moor. The clue for this one explains exactly where the cache is hidden so after quick seat, a drink of water and a fumble the cache was in hand! This is a popular place for muggles and their duggles so take care when fumbling!

3 out of 5

Moon River

It was Friday night so myself and Eilidh (6) decided to jump in the car and go Geocaching to see if we could bag a couple more caches. In the end we logged six in two hours before it got to dark to continue.

The caches we were targeting all formed a trail along the River Irvine and were placed by GoofTroopUk. All except one were camouflaged and a lot of effort has obviously been put in so a huge thanks go to them. I've lived in Irvine for 10 years now and had no idea this walk was even here. That's one of the things I love about Geocaching!

The first cache A Trip Across the River was close to where we parked at the bridge across the river. It took a little bit of a delve into the unknown but after a fumble in the dark we had the cache, signed it and returned it to where it was found. The GPS coords were a little out here but there's not many places to look so not a big problem.

Next came Bramble Ramble another easy find. Following the clue you'll see there's only about three places the cache could be and it was third time lucky on this one. This is the biggest cache in the series and was where we were lucky enough to discover the Remove Before Flight 2010 (100 Jahre ILA) travel bug. Left a lovely little Russian doll in return (see our treasure page for a photo!). Didn't see the brambles though!

Third of the evening was Terrible Two's. Again the GPS coords for this cache are slightly out and like most people we spent a while looking in the wrong place (the obvious place!). It wasn't there so we had a look elsewhere nearby and soon found the GZ. This is a really sneeky camo'd cache. I won't give any more away for fear of spoiling it, but I had already picked the cache up and put it down again without realising!!

Blackberry Marsh was a doddle and Eilidh found the GZ in full view of the path. Without the clue you'd never know it was there however! Very nice camo!! We liked this one!

By now it was starting to get dark. When we got to Summit About This Place we saw that it was in the open, whilst the next cache appeared to be under tree cover. With failing light it made sense to move on as we could  come back and tackle it using the GPS.

On we went to Hand of Nature and as we suspected had no GPS signal whatsoever. There was also very little light. After a short look on the wrong side of the path using the light from my mobile phone we tried the other side and it was pretty obvious we were on target. Finding the cache was a bit more tricky but in the end we spotted it right in front of us. Again this is a camouflaged cache and at first I didn't want to touch it so probed at it with a stick. Log signed, we trekked back to the previous cache.

As it's name suggests, Summit About This Place involved a little climb up a hill. If you're looking to do this there *is* a path, it's just hidden in the grass! After a short look around without success, we dug out the GPS and homing in found the GZ in seconds! Again the camouflage on this is excellent! The clue for this is spot on, we found it by moonlight!!

We really enjoyed this trail. The caches are very well hidden yet are not impossibly difficult. It's obvious that a lot of effort has been put in by GoofTroopUK, so a big thank you to them.

6 caches out of 6

Alexandra Park

We were up at Glasgow Fort today so decided to take a wee detour via Alexandra park on the way home. There are two caches at the park. The first of these is Craig's Easter and can be found just outside the main park entrance on Alexandra Parade. It's in full muggle view so the kids were dispatched to have a hunt for it. Eventually we found it in the first place we'd looked.

On our way into the park we spotted the Saracen Fountain and grabbed a photo to complete the Fountain Photo Fantastic challenge. This 40ft high cast iron fountain was gifted to the City of Glasgow after the 1901 International Exhibition and remained in Kelvingrove Park for 12 years after the exhibition. In 1914 Glasgow Corporation took the decision to move it to its present location in Alexandra Park. In 2000 the fountain was restored to its former glory at a cost of £22,000. After just 11 years it's already a bit of an eye-sore with peeling paint, a pathetic trickle of a fountain and stagnant green water. It's colour has also been changed from blue and gold and is now a rather ugly black and gold. £22,000 well spent? I think not!

Two minutes later we spotted another fountain, this one was in the duck pond so stopped to take another snap.

Next was East Ender's View which as the name suggests is at the top of the hill. Me and Eilidh headed up there whilst the rest of the Super Collectors headed for the play park. The cache clue told us that the GZ was under the roots of a tree, but when we got up there there were dozens of them. I think we looked under every tree but didn't find the cache. I think we found where the cache should be as there was a perfect hiding place bang on where the GPS coordinates were pointing. However suspect this cache has been muggled as we're the third Geocachers in a row not to find it. 

We gave up after a while and headed back down to the play park.

1 out of 2

Wet and Dirty

At a loose end as the rest of the family was out today so I popped out in the van to pick off a few caches.

My first target was A Bridge Lost in Time. I parked up out on the main Lochlibo Road and climbed the fence into the field opposite. Had a quick walk around the ruins of a house here which I pass every day on the way to work. It was nice to have a closer look. Then I headed around the field staying well clear of the coos and into the strip of woods at the rear. By this point I was a bit muddy but that was nothing, now it got *really* muddy. Following the old road (now used by the local farmer) I found the bridge and was rewarded for my efforts.The bridge itself old and crumbling but the stone work is ornately carved and rather interesting. The cache itself was easy to find so I signed the log and took out the GeoEd XYZ - Geocoin. This is our first GC.

After working my way back out to the van I drove up to Pooter's Inn at the Cleikum. Had a quick look around, but there we're a couple of geriatric muggles parked up catching flies. ZZZzzz... Decided to come back later.

Death of an Icon was next which was an easy find but awkward to get to. The "Icon" is the remains of an old car. I had a difficult time getting there on foot, so quite how a car got here I have no idea.

Just along the road is Auchentiber Moss which is the name of this area. When you see it it's obvious why it's named "Moss". The ground is just one huge carpet of moss. After heading into the wood quite some way the ground levels off a bit and has quite a strange atmosphere. It's here that the GZ is hiding but the clue is so vague it could really be anywhere. Despite this I found the cache right away. Beginners luck I think, cos I could easily have been there all day with no GPS signal whatsoever and a million places to look.

Back to the van and back to Pooter's Inn at the Cleikum. No snoring crumblies this time, so I got stuck in and had a good look for the cache but without success. Too many nettles and too much rubbish, I admitted defeat (for now) and moved on.

Next I went cross country to Overton and Warrix thinking that this one would be a quick cache and dash. Oh how wrong I was. Following the GPS led me off track, through a field of nettles, and into a bog. Then I spotted a raised bank as described, but it was across a large ditch guarded by nettles (6ft tall nettles). Backtracking quarter of a mile, I found an alternative route over the ditch and back along the bank. I then spotted an item which matched the clue... on the other side of the ditch (where I'd been before). After a quick sweary word or two I zipped up my jacket, pulled up the hood and took a leap over the ditch into the nettles. Hunted for about an hour on both sides of the ditch but no cache. Sometimes caches seem to be placed to be as little fun as possible to find, this is an example of the worst. There's nothing here to see or learn, just a muddy, boggy, nettle ridden, quagmire. Ridiculous! Major sweary words again and back to the van.

By now I was soaked and filthy, so decided to call it a day and head home, but then I realised I was driving right past a few other cahces so stopped to pick one off. Little Pigs Walk - Fieldview involved a rather pleasant walk along a farm road and over a gate and into what was once an old orchard. I knew I was looking for a rubble pile from the cache description, but when I reached the field I was confronted with a huge heap of rotting manure and hay bales. Thought I would have to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in for a while. Luckily there was no tree cover so the GPS saved the day and led me directly to the GZ. Log signed it really was time to go home.

A successful day out but I could do without stupid caches hidden to be as awful to get to as possible. In my opinion that's not what Geocaching is all about and sort of ruined my day.

4 out of 6 

Going Nowhere

Took a wee walk again this lunch time and had a look for Bridge To Nowhere. Used the "I'm on the phone" trick to wander around looking but couldn't see the cache. When noone was around I had a quick blind fumble and soon had the cache in hand.

Decided to go for one more as I still had some time so I headed down to the river to look for A Ride Along the Clyde - Remembering Cheapside. GPS coords were spot on but I had to wait for ages before I got a big enough gap in the muggles to have a good look. Aside from all the walkers and joggers some guy decided to sit down just along from me to eat his lunch and just as he was getting up to go, someone else came along and stood nearby chatting away on the phone. Thought he might be a Geocacher for a while. After sitting it out looked in the other direction so I had a rumage in the bushes, and grabbed the cache. Log signed I waited for him to look away again and put it back in it's hiding place.

2 out of 2.