Shewalton Sandpits

I'd set off this morning to visit the Shewalton Sandpits Wildlife Reseve. After two unplanned detours on the way I finally made it there!

As it's name suggests, the Shewalton Sandpits is a wildlife reserve created on the site of some old wasteland which was once part of a sand and gravel works. In 1982 the Scottish Wildlife Trust worked with North Ayrshire Council to regenerate the area as a reserve. The site is split into two parts on either side of the Ayr Road at the south end of Irvine.

After parking up at the providing lay-by on the Shewalton Road I headed into the East part of the reserve in search of Explore Shewalton Sandpits - Riverside. This has a number of paths which can be followed. The cache is located on a circular walk around an old pit which is now a pond. The temperatures over night had been sub zero and as a result the pond was completely frozen over. This is a lovely wee walk and is fairly short so is not too much if you're just looking for a short stroll.

Upon arrival at the given cache coordinates I immediately spotted a likely hiding place and sure enough that was where I found the cache. The container itself was slightly damaged however and had been leaking, but I had some supplies with me and was able to give it a dry and a clean and wrapped the entire thing into another zip-lock bag before returning it to it's hidey hole.

This is a great wee location and combines both woodland walk and a nice stroll around the pond. Even in the height of winter there was wildlife here in abundance including water birds, squirrels, robins and a variety of other birds.

Moving on I crossed over to the second cache in the West part of the reserve to hunt for Explore Shewalton Sandpits - Trocal Pond. This area has a huge pond at the centre with a path the whole way around. As is often the case, the cache has been placed at the farthest away point from the entrance to the reserve. Unsure which would be the best direction to go round the pond I just picked one and started walking. Much of this walk is along the very edge of the reserve at the border with the neighbouring golf course. I managed to collect three lost balls along the way.

The path is narrow in places and is fairly interesting, not your normal forest path. Upon arrival at the coordinates I had a good look around but couldn't see the cache. The location is a small hollow filled with pine trees (planted - they're all in rows!) but despite spotting an obvious cachers cairn I couldn't find the cache. The GPS was skipping around a fair bit, but there are a few points surrounding the location where a clear signal can be found so I was able to triangulate a fairly good idea of where the cache should be, I just couldn't find it. Not sure if the cache is there, whether it's buried under the thick carpet of pine needles or whether I just didn't look in the right place but after about an hour and countless jags and scratches from needles, thorns and gorse bushes (and a phone call from Mrs SC to find out why I was an hour late picking her up) I finally gave up.

I'll definitely be back for another go as this is a really nice walk and you never know I might find more golf balls!

Drybridge

I'd originally set out to visit the Shewalton Sandpits Wildlife Reserve but had already made a stop to find another cache Riverside along the way. After setting off again I took a wrong turn and found myself heading towards Drybridge. Always the opportunist I spotted another caching adventure and parked up (near the wheelie bins as advised) to go in search of Where To Go or Vertigo?.

This small village is named after it's railway bridge which crosses the old Kilmarnock to Troon line. The name apparently derives from that fact that the bridge was over railway whereas the nearby Laigh Milton viaduct (known as the Wet Bridge and claimed to be the oldest railway viaduct in the Scotland) was over the River Irvine. The bridge is still here and the line (The first in Scotland, and opened in 1812 to carry coal to Troon Harbour) is today part of the Glasgow South Western Line (or Burns Line) to Stranraer.

The instructions for this cache tell you to follow a path to the right of a seating area which was obvious to see, however reaching it was more difficult that you'd imagine. Over night the roads and pavements of North Ayrshire had become one huge ice rink and I could hardly move across the frozen ground. Once at the path there was more grip and I followed this wee path down past a bench with a beautiful view and arrived at another bridge (not the one after which the village is named) over the River Irvine. This wasn't just any old bridge however, it was a pipe, and at first I though I was going to have to either shimmy over it or scramble along the surrounding lattice work. Upon closer inspection I found there were metal walkways on either side and that there was a way to access these.

After a pause on the bridge to take some photos and enjoy both the view and the experience I continued along the route towards the GZ. The pipe itself at first seems out of place in a location like this but it has a certain magic of it's own. I'm not sure what it carries, where it starts or where it's going but it's certainly a striking feature in the landscape.

It was still really cold when I got to the cache site and after finding the it and signing the log I headed back to the car. On the way back the light was coming in the opposite direction and everything was casting long shadows in the low winter sun. Beautiful!

Down by the river

Today's target caches were both located in the Shewalton Sandpits Wildlife Reserve but on the way there I realised that I was passing another cache which I hadn't yet collected. Riverside is a quick cache and dash located at one of the many bridges over the River Irvine. The location is really nothing special, however, when I got there it was still really cold and everything was encrusted with frosty crystals. The sun was out too in a clear sky making for a beautiful scene. In particular there were a series of fence posts which were steaming as the frost was being melted as if they were smouldering after a fire.

The bridge itself is of a modern construction and looks fairly industrial underneath including the obligatory graffiti. One artist (if you can call them that) had even gone to the extreme of wading out into the middle of the river to sign the bridge supports with his tag. Hmmm, going to crazy extremes to reach somewhere, and a love of signing things... maybe they should take up Geocaching!! To either side of the modern bridge are large circular structure which I suspect are the bases for the piers of a previous bridge. If this is the case then it must have been a lot wider that the current one.

The cache itself was really simple to find using the coordinates and really didn't require me to go all the way down under the bridge. I short scramble up a steep bank and a rummage around some metal work and I spotted the wee blighter.

Post Christmas Lunch

I was out for Christmas Lunch yesterday with some of my work colleagues in the West End of Glasgow and managed to collect a few caches on the way home.

After leaving the restaurant/bar I decided that I was going to walk to Central Station for my train. This was a fair distance, but I'd had a couple of drinks and thought it was a good idea at the time. A few minutes along the road I passed St Mary's Cathedral on Great Western Road which I'd been to recently in search of a cache called A Flock of Gargoyles. I hadn't been able to have a proper look for it on that occasion as there was renovation work ongoing and the area was fenced off. Last night however I had a good look. It was quite dark however and despite spending about 10 minutes loitering around, pretending to be on my phone, and using the shoelace manoeuvre I didn't find the cache.

Abandoning that one I continued my journey and soon found myself passing The Kings Theatre II, another cache I'd looked for previously without success. This cache is really close to my work and has been frustrating me. The area is always too busy during the day to have a good look. Last night I was pleased to see that there were only a few people around. I had a quick rummage in the location I knew the cache should be and found it straight away.

Albany Gone !! was my next target but when I got there it was a bit too dark to do a proper search and there was just too much rubbish around for my liking. I'll try this one again as I pass near hear every day but I'm not keen on this as a cache location.

Next up on my wiggly route towards Central Station was The Lane Under (L1) which I've also tried before. My bus drops me off close by in the mornings so I've done a few walk-by's and I was pretty sure I'd spotted where the container would be hidden. This lane is always too busy during the day and is overlooked by offices so I'd never had a chance to find it and sign the log. Last night however the place was deserted and the cache was exactly where I had guessed. I found a trackable in it too. Bonus!

Finally I nipped down to Waterloo Street to bag the Atrium Court cache. Last time I was here I looked in the wrong place. This time I knew what the clue meant (thanks Wikipedia!) and so I had a good idea where I'd find the cache. Upon arrival at the GZ I employed the shoelace manoeuvre again and spotted the cache right away. It was soon signed and returned to it's hiding place.

Central and then home - 3 out of 5.

Not Proven

Found Madeline Smith in Blythswood Square today on my way to work in Glasgow. I've been to look for it before without success the cache has now been replaced and today it was an easy find from the pavement outside the square.

Stealth was essential. This area is fairly busy with muggles and cars and is overlooked by offices. I pretended to be looking for something in my bag and waited for a quiet moment to snatch the cache and sign it.

The square is currently locked as it was recently infested with a bunch of protestors. As a result the square has now been closed to everyone, idiots! Hopefully it will be reopened some time in the New Year as this is a lovely place to go for a walk or to eat lunch on a nice day.

INTT Mega-Multi - Part 2

After an epic hunt for the answers to the 15 separate stages of the Irvine New Town Trail Mega Multi cache I sat down last night and worked out the final coordinates for the GZ. Supported by the whole Super Collectors tribe I headed to the super secret location this morning to bag the prize and hopefully a FTF!

For obvious reasons I can't really say much about the location as I wouldn't want to give the secret away but we hunted and hunted and then hunted some more and eventually came to the conclusion that either we were blind or that the cache wasn't where it was supposed to be. We gave up and headed to a local supermarket for some breakfast.

After a few email exchanges between myself and Chenks (the cache owner) and a visit to the site by him to verify that the cache was indeed there, it became apparent that something was amiss. As it turned out he'd set the wrong coordinates and had to post new ones on the Geocaching.com website. By now we were off Christmas shopping in Braehead but as soon as we got back I jumped in the car again and headed back to the new GZ armed with a torch as it was getting dark.

When I reached the GZ it was cold, dark and raining but I was determined I was going to find this cache today. Half way there and things got even worse, it started snowing! Thankfully the new coordinates were spot on and I was able to walk straight to the cache.

This must be the most effort I've had to expend on finding a cache so far. That said, despite the bad weather I really enjoyed yesterdays cycle and you never get tired of that feeling you get when you find a cache! Who'd have thought tupperware could be so much fun!!

Thanks again to Chenks for the cache and for getting things sorted out so quickly today!

INTT Mega-Multi - Part 1

It was cold, wet and windy this morning so I decided to head out for a cycle with a spot of Geocaching along the way! Mad? I know, but I'd seen a new cache published recently (Irvine New Town Trail Mega Multi) which no-one had found yet so wanted to try for an FTF on it. The only problem was that it was a Multi-Cache. That means that to find the coordinates I would have to visit several other locations and solve some clues. Easy, well no! The clues to solve the coordinates were spread out around the 19km New Town Trail and there were no less than 15 clues to find.

It had already started raining when I left the house and I was getting cold by the time I reached the first clue (actually number 13 in the set). The clue for this one had me look at a sign for a certain word and count the number of letters. Further on I had to reach a certain place and count the number of people I could see. When I got there I couldn't see anyone (until a muggle and his duggle walked past but I didn't think they counted!), decided the answer was zero and moved on, only to realise I had been in the wrong place! Over to Eglinton Castle and the third clue was soon solved too.

By the time I reached Irvine town centre I was fed up collecting clues and decided to look for a few other caches. First up I looked for Where's the Baileys Gone but there was a queue of traffic overlooking the location so I moved on only to find the trail blocked by a construction site with no obvious alternative route to follow.

After a very long diversion I came back to the bridge and resumed the hunt for clues. Then once again I found my route blocked by yet more construction work. This forced me along a different path where I happened to know there were a few caches I had yet to find. The Meeting of the Waters was easy although I needed to use the torch application on my phone and Get your kicks on route 73 @ Milgarholm was very similar.

At about this point the sun made an appearance so I took a small detour over to Under the Boardwalk. I'm glad I did as I found a nice little loch with a nice trail around it. This cache was quite interesting too although a little on the wet side.

Back to clue hunting and the sun disappeared once again. I'd decided that I was now just heading for home via the remaining clue locations but when I reached clue 10 and I saw I was near Get your kicks on route 73 @ Dreghorn I couldn't resist going to have a look. I'd tried to find this cache (unsuccessfully) before and had managed to lock myself out of the van so I wasn't too hopeful. Today however I decided to trust the coordinates and the clue and sure enough I found the cache within a few minutes.

The rest of my journey was spent solving clues. I'd really had enough by this point. I was cold, wet and and filthy. I'd been through mud and puddles deep enough to submerge my pedals but still hadn't found the Multi-Cache. To do so I needed to take the clues I'd solved and apply them to a formula given in the cache description. To do this, I headed for home.


I've now worked out the coordinates, and verified them but still need to go out and find the cache. It's pitch dark outside and even colder and wetter than it was today so I think that will need to wait until tomorrow... hope no-one finds it in the meantime!

Castlehill Fort - Bearsden

We were in Bearsden today visiting my parents so I nipped out with my Dad (Grampa SC) for a spot of Geocaching! Well it's better than Rivercity followed by Eastenders!!

Our target was the Castlehill cache which is hidden at the site of an old Roman fort on the Antonine wall. I grew up around here and have always known this spot as "The circle of trees" but I'd never actually been there.

We parked on Antonine Road and took a wander up the field to the top of the hill, which, being November, was suitably squelchy under foot. Once at the top a quick scan around and we spotted a large moss covered fallen tree which was what our clue was, however the clue also said that the cache was within two metres of a fence. Since this tree wasn't close enough to any fencing we had another scout around and sure enough there were a group of other fallen trees and branches nearby only these were next to a fence. The cache was under one of these and was well hidden but still easy to find for someone who is looking.

This was Grampa SCs second cache and it was very nice to have a bit of company and a chat. We signed the log and dropped of a couple of TBs before realising we had an audience, however, there was nothing to be concerned about these weren't muggles it was just a couple of huggles in the neigh-bouring field!!

On the way down I happened to glance over towards North Baljafray where another cache is located. This cache named Rare Species is next to a small enclosed reservoir at the edge of a wood in which I used to play.  Even at that distance from where we are I spotted the item to which the clue refers. I'll maybe head up there some other time I'm over visiting and bag that one too.

1 out of 1.

Eglinton in the rain.

I got a tip off from another cacher by the name of AMAZO during the week giving me a hint as to where the Irvine New Town Trail #6 cache is hidden. This was a cache that appeared last Saturday but which I couldn't find. It would have been a FTF for me but after about half an hour I gave up and moved on. Armed with this new information I decided to go back over to Eglinton Park today to have another look.

On approach to the GZ it became obvious that I wasn't going to need to employ the hint in order to find the cache. The container was just sitting there out in the open with no camo or cover. On closer inspection however it was clear that this cache had been muggled, but not by a normal muggle. The bottom of the container had been chewed off, a mouse had been at it. It turned out that not only the cache container, but also a plastic bag inside and part of the log itself had been nibbled too. Signed the log anyway and re-hid. Chenks (the cache owner) has been informed.

Next was a puzzle cache called Little Green Men. The description and hint for this one are encoded so I'd worked them out at home and printed the details off. Trouble is, I'd gone and left the details at home. Armed with nothing but a rough idea of where the cache was I went for a look and checked all the obvious places. After a while I decided to phone home to see if Mrs SC could find the details I'd printed off but she was away out.

There was nothing for it but the brute force approach so I turned on my cachers instinct and took a guess at the general area (using a satellite photo I'd printed out before leaving the house) and started checking every tree, stump, lump, nook and cranny. And after a *lot* of searching I had the cache in hand!

I'd originally planned to head elsewhere after Eglinton to find a whole list of other caches, but by this time I was tired, wet and muddy and it was pouring down. Happy to have found these two caches I headed back to the van and home.

2 out of 2

Geocaching across the Universe

A wee film I had some fun making!