Largs

After dinner on Christmas Day I was having a look on the Geocaching website for some good caches to attempt over the Christmas break and I spotted a new cache had been published, Anchors Away. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the trip up to Largs on Boxing Day as we were visiting relatives in Glasgow but this morning I had a quick check on the site to see if the cache had been found yet and it hadn't. SuperGirlie and myself headed out in hope of another FTF.

Reaching Largs, the cache details indicated that we should park at the Largs Marina. We pulled into the car park and headed down the Ayrshire Coastal path towards the given coordinates.

Along this stretch of the path are a series of ship anchors which were on loan from the NATO base at Fairlie Quay before it was closed. There are at least 20 spaced out along the route and most include a small display board which indicates the type of anchor (or sinker).

The cache is really simple to find. There's no clue and none is required. The path is rather busy however and getting the cache in and out was a bit tricky. Luckily noone seems to pay any attention to kids searching for things so SuperGirlies had a good look and spotted the likely hiding place. Unfortunately she doesn't like putting her hand into hidey holes in case there are spiders or other creepy crawlies so it was left to me to go and grab the cache. This was our seventh FTF and I think we were just in time as we seem to have just beaten another cacher to it! Sorry Chenks!

Whilst at the Marina we decided to head up the path towards Largs to have a look for another cache, Back to the 80's.....Fantasy Island. This is hidden on a small island (Bowen Craigs?) which is connected to the mainland by a short sand bank. This is a lovely wee spot for a cache, unfortunately we just couldn't find it today. Curiously, this island seems to be a muggle magnet, whilst we were on it there were no less than 6 other visitors making our search rather difficult. On top of that, our GPS was skipping all over the place. Despite this we searched for a while and if it's still there it must be hidden well. Personally I think it's floated away in the recent bad weather.

We walked back to the car via the Largs Pencil, this is a monument in remembrance of the Battle of Largs on the 2nd of October 1263. This was the most significant battle of the war between Scotland and the Norwegian Viking Raiders in which neither side seem to have actually won outright but which proved to be a turning point in the favour of the Scottish forces. It is now generally known that the scale of this battle has been exaggerated over the centuries, however the Pencil stands as a permanent memorial and is the focal point of an annual Viking Festival held throughout Largs.

The next cache we went looking for was in the heart of Largs town centre. Behind the shop fronts on Main Street lies a quiet old graveyard known as the Skelmorlie Aisle. The name is taken from the only remaining part of an old church which once stood on the site but which was demolished in 1802. When most people think of an Aisle, they think of the central passage down the middle of a church, however contrary to popular belief that isn't actually an aisle. The aisles are to be found at the sides of a church and it is here where private tombs and memorials are often to be found. The Skelmorlie Aisle contains a mausoleum built by Sir Robert Montgomerie of Skelmorlie Castle.

The surrounding kirkyard contains a number of other graves and it was one of these in particular that I wanted to visit today. However, when we arrived we found the gates locked. It turns out that the site is now in the care of Historic Scotland and is only opened by request between March and September. The grave we wanted to visit happens to be that of the Reverend Gilbert Lang. Gilbert was the Minister of Largs from 1756-91. He died on the 30th of December in 1791 aged 65 and was buried in the kirkyard of the church where he had preached for the past 36 years. I would have loved to have seen his grave and will definitely make the trip back here during the summer months as the Rev Gilbert Lang was my Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather. Despite not being able to get into the site, we did manage to find the cache.

Returning to the Front we moved towards the Northern end of the promenade looking for I.H.M. Largs Prom. We were a bit confused when we got to the given coordinates as they led us to a stretch of featureless pavement. After a bit of a hunt we soon found something nearby which matched half of the clue but despite a thorough search (as thorough as you can achieve with so many old aged muggles out for a stroll along the prom) we found nothing and gave up.

By now were were feeling a bit down, we'd tried for four caches but found only two and it was starting to get late. A quick look at the map revealed one last Largs cache to try before heading for home, The Three Sisters.

The "Three Sisters" are three pillars built on Green Hill. These were sighting posts which were once used to locate due North. They were built by one of Largs' most famous sons, Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane as part of an astronomy observatory built in 1808 at Brisbane House. Thomas was born in 1773 into a prominent family and had a distinguished military career before being appointed as the Governor of New South Wales (Australia) in 1820. Under his governorship, a number of expeditions were sent out and a great river was discovered. A settlement was founded at it's mouth and both the river and settlement were named Brisbane.

Brisbane's great love was science and in particular astronomy and after returning to Scotland he went on to be elected as the President of the Royal Society in Edinburgh. He held this post until his death in 1860.

After getting lost trying to find the cache location amongst the maze of wee roads and one way streets in the town we finally arrived at the correct place and parked up. After a quick look at the information board we spotted a narrow dirt track leading steeply up to the "Three Sisters". I hadn't even reached the top when SuperGirlie found the cache and after taking a couple of photos we discovered the steps we should have used to get up there. On the way down we got a wave and a cheery hello from the chap who lives in the house behind.

It was now time to go home but on the way I noticed we were passing I.H.M West Coast Picnic at Fairlie. This is a spot I'd visited years ago and thought it might give us one last find for the day. I'd already told SuperGirlie the clue and as soon as we parked she was off... straight to the cache. She'd spotted where it would be hidden as we drove in (not bad for a 6 year old).


This was a really fun and relaxed day of caching. We took our time and had some fun on the beach too. Not bad for late December!

4 out of 6