Barcraigs Reservoir

After an early morning visit to Kia in Linwood for some warranty repairs on one of the cars I decided to take a quick detour on the way home to grab a few caches. I hadn't really planned for this to be much of an effort but in the end it turned out to be quite an adventure.

First up was A Fine Reserve and after negotiating some rather curious fishermen (or were they anglers?) I quickly reached the GZ. As luck would have it this cache was hiding in the very first place I looked... todays gonna be easy I thought... but no, the next two weren't nearly as simple!

From here, I followed the path around the edge of the reservoir and then along the boundary road until I reached a gate back down to the dam. After dodging some more anglers (who seemed to be attempting to catch birds in mid flight with their lines) I got to the top of a sort of levy or overflow channel and followed the arrow down it to The Green Mile, now where could the cache be hiding? After ruling out a few places where I felt the cache would surely never survive I hunted for a further 10 minutes without luck. Out of desperation I then started checking those places I'd ruled out too. Surprise surprise it was exactly in the place I'd ruled out first! Doh! I thought this was a really interesting spot for a cache and I guess it is technically a waterfall so makes sense considering the CO was Amazo. Favourite point awarded!

My final cache of the day Water Water Everywhere........ was probably meant to be quite simple, just a walk over a causeway and there you are, but the bridge at the far end of the causeway was down (poachers apparently!) so it was the long way around for me. It may not seem much farther around from The Green Mile on the map, but most of the way is ankle deep mud and knee deep bog. Add to that the local sheep and cows who have helped decorate the place with coo pies everywhere and you have quite a challenge to get to GZ. I eventually made it only to find coos hiding in the bushes right where the arrow was pointing. Not being a big fan of the bovine race I was ready to turnabout an abandon the cache but I'd worked so hard to get there I decided they weren't going chase me away. So, armed with a big stick I did my impersonation of Sir Alec Guinness as Obi Wan (when he chases off the sand people) and just like in the film, off they scarpered (the cows, not sand people!). The contents of the cache itself were a little disappointing so I added a few bits of treasure and signed the log (I may have used the word evil a few times which reflected my mood at the time nicely!!). Before heading back the way I'd arrived I decided to have a look at the broken bridge from the other side and yes it's knackered but it's only over a small weir so providing the water level is low it's wade-able using the bridge to hold on to. I did just that and got a bit wet but it helped clean off the mud and coo poo from my boots and troos! Another favourite point was awarded!

Cumbrae

Saturday and it was a lovely day so after the kids clubs were finished we decided to go for a cycle. It was supposed to be Brownie camp that weekend and we'd promised Super Girlie that we'd do something nice to make up for it being cancelled. Our first plan was to head up to Strathclyde park but after a quick rethink we got the bikes on the car and headed towards Largs and the ferry to Cumbrae. I'd never been to Cumbrae myself although some of the other Super Collectors had so this was all new to me and what a great place it turned out to be. Oh and we did some caching along the way!

After a fun ferry crossing we got our bearings and were faced with the choice... left or right. A handy information board showed us the route around the island and as Millport seemed slightly closer to the left, left won. We were hungry!

Our first cache of the day was Stinking Goat which came pretty quickly. After spotting this within seconds I decided to let the kids find it, but after a few minutes I had to resort to giving them clues. In the end I pretty much had to tell them where the cache was and it was a race to get to the hiding place first.

Next up was another goat, this time Green Goat. This cache was being guarded by a couple of divers who were sitting in the layby next to it having a chat. We nearly moved on, but using the kids as cover we had a quick look and came up trumphs! Log signed and back on the bikes I don't think the chin waggers had even noticed us!

Lion King was located at Lion Rock which as it's name suggests is a rock which looks like a lion. From the road this is quite impressive, however when you get close up you can see how much of it is being held together with cement. This cache turned out to be a bit tricky and the coords are definitely miles out. After a long hunt myself and Super Girlie were about to give up and head back down to the road when I happened to spot a rock in a hole which didn't look the same as any other rock in any other hole. Good job I'm not a short arse and I could reach in for a feel. Aha that feels like plastic... and so it was. Hint for others, we found this on the opposite side and opposite end from where our maps were directing us.

Back on the pedals again and we were nearly at Millport when we pulled over and Mrs SC and Super Girlie headed off down a wee path to look for Raiders of the Lost Ark. They were back in jig time so I guess it wasn't difficult but they reported that the log was unsignable. However it was a type of cache we've never encountered before so not all bad!

Once we got into Millport we decided to give the towns caches a miss and to leave them for the next visit. We were hungry and nothing unhealthy junk from a chuck wagon would do. After burgers and hotdogs on the beach and a visit to the local toy shop (they do excellent goodie bags) we headed off again to complete our circuit of the island. and soon reached Deadman's Bay.

Here we found a small memorial garden dedicated to members of the armed services who have died in the service of our country. This is a nice spot and aside from all the walkers and cyclists passing by is quite peaceful. This was another cache which took a while to find. At first we thought it was hiding in the middle of a huge scratchy bush, however after a look around we found an easier way to the middle and after several thourough searches, we finally searched properly and found the cache.

Further along the road we arrived at the coordinates for Shallow Grave. This was one of those caches which seems easy once you know where the cache is but which is amazingly difficult to spot. After looking everywhere I even ventured down to a little stream at the side of the road for a look and found a tunnel! Despite being fairly certain that the cache wasn't in there, I decided to make my way under the road just for a laugh. Once on the other side it was great fun surprising the kids who were wondering where I had gone! Back at the correct spot and after a few minutes I happened to stand in the right place and look in the right direction and spotted something which was silver and shiny. Ah ha!

By now we were all getting a bit tired and hungry again (junk food doesn't really fill you up!) so we decided to skip the rest of the caches we were going to pass and get them another day. That was the plan anyway, but it wasn't long until we were having a look for The Hunt For Red October (I just couldn't go past a cache with a name like that!!). This turned out to be one of the easiest caches of the day as well as the last.

We had a brilliant day on Cumbrae and will definitely be back to hoover up the rest of the caches we missed some time soon but for now it was back to Largs on the ferry and a lovely slap up dinner at the beautifully refurbished "The Waterside" just outside Seamill.

Return to the Trocal Pond

Back in December I visited the Shewalton Sandpits in search of Explore Shewalton Sandpits - Trocal Pond. Despite a long search on that day I came away without finding the cache. It's one of those DNFs which had been annoying me ever since and so it was time to go back for another look.

This time I decided to take a second set of eyes in the form of Super Girlie and it turned out to be a good idea. The reserve itself is a lovely place to visit and is a real haven for wildlife. It also has the added bonus of being next to a golf course and we came away with a few lost balls.

Upon reaching the GZ we were under tree cover which had the GPS flitting all over the place. After five minutes looking on one side of the hollow we widened our search and almost straight away Super Girlie came up trumps!! Brilliant!!

Glasgow Fort

Just outside Glasgow Fort shopping complex is Auchinlea Park and since we were at the shops we just had to go and find the cache which is hidden there.

The park itself is a welcome sight in this area and is a lovely tranquil place. The cache called Retail Therapy was really simple to find but nothing really to get excited about.

Falkirk Wheel

After a great Birthday party in Falkirk we headed to "The Wheel" and as we were there decided to bag a cache Falkirk's Engineering Wonder.

The cache is located near the car parks and despite being hidden in a small wooded area surrounded by a fence was simple as it has it's own style to get across and a clear path to follow. The cache itself was a decent tub and inside were a host of goodies for swaps. Amongst these were some colourful wrist bands from Holland and these proved a huge hit with the kids. Left a few decent items plus a GC.

As well as finding the cache we did of course have a go on the wheel. This is a nice wee boat trip which we all enjoyed and the wee woman who ran the boat and gave us a commentary was brilliant, so funny!!

Barassie beach

Saturday morning and while Super Girlie was at one of her clubs myself and Super Kid headed down to Barassie to bag a couple of caches and had a great time despite the howling wind.

Parking on Rosemount Drive we were soon in the vicinity of Goat Fell Cairn and it was only a few seconds before we found it hiding in a gorse bush. Oh I just love gorse bushes, honest. Why anyone would choose to hide a cache in the middle of the spikiest plant on earth is beyond me. Since there was no way Super Kid was going in for it (not that I'd have let her anyway) it was left to me but despite pulling my jacket sleeve down over my hand for protection I still managed to get an arm full of prickles.

Further along the beach we arrived at A Tour of Ayrshire #4—WEST---- Troon which took a couple of seconds to find (Super Kid did the honours!). This was an unusual container which we liked, although this would have been a great spot for a bigger tub.