Harbour Point - Part 1

On Tuesday night I spotted that Chenks had had a new cache placed Harbour Point but it was late and the weather was wild outside so I decided to leave it and try for the FTF the next day if it hadn't yet been bagged. Okay that's not true, Mrs SC wouldn't let me out but the first version sounds better!.

Wednesday came and I had about an hour to spare between getting home from work and collecting the kids from one of their many clubs so I nipped down to the given coordinates at Irvine Beach. This is a multicache which means that the coordinates are just a starting point. From there I had to collect some further information and apply it to a supplied formula to work out where the final cache container could be found.

When I got to the beach I headed out to collect the information required. To paint the scene, it was pitch dark, blowing a gale and pouring with rain. There was just myself and I had to hold my mobile which I was using as a torch whilst trying to keep hold of a bit of paper which had the list of information I needed printed on it and on top of all that I had to find the correct information and write it down. My phone has been acting funny ever since, the paper was soaked in about 10 seconds and I could hardly stand up for the wind. Needless to say I got a couple of the figures wrong but once back at the van I plugged the numbers into the formula. This gave a location which was miles away but a tweak of one of figures which seemed to be obviously wrong gave a far more likely GZ.

This led me to a location which was a short distance away so I drove over there. It's difficult to say more without giving too much away but let's just say when I got there I remembered that this place has a bit of a local reputation at night. As I arrived there were a few cars parked up in the darkness and my first thought was that some other cachers had got there before me, oh how wrong. One the started flashing it's lights at me as I came in to park and then another drove over from where it was parked and parked right next to me.

There was no way I was getting out of the van, even for an FTF!! No chance!!! I don't think the van has ever moved that quick before as I rallied my way back out of there!!

West Kilbride - Return to the Multi

Yesterday I was out and about in West Kilbride and amongst other caches went in search of A Wander Around West Kilbride. This is a multicache which involves walking around the town collecting information from various locations and then using a formula to work out the coordinates of the final cache location. Having collected all the answers and coming up with what I thought was a plausible final location I went to look for cache but was disappointed not to find it.

Assuming that I had my figures wrong I gave up and moved on. Last night however I received confirmation from HC67, the CO that I'd been in the correct place. He even went as far as to suggest that I mark the cache as found as I'd done the leg work. Tempting as that was I really wanted to finish the job properly so as we were coming home from a day in Port Glasgow and passing through West Kilbride we decided to make a little detour.

Parking up, we made our way back to the coordinates I'd calculated. It was a bit cold and the kids were all dressed up in their best party frocks and shoes but it was fun in the dark. After a quick hunt we were about to give up went I loaded a little "flashlight" application on my mobile phone. Now we could see again I had a good look around and into any potential hiding places and sure enough it was there, we found it!

Thanks go the CO HC67 for the confirmation of my coordinates and for creating this cache in the first place.

1 out of 1

Greenock / Port Glasgow

We were up in Port Glasgow this afternoon as the girls had been invited to a good friends birthday party. Whilst the kids were having fun me and Mrs SC decided to go for a walk and managed to collect a couple of caches too.

The first of these was rather uninspiring. Located at an old coal depot, a small set of steps led us up from the street to an expanse of tarmac littered with rubbish and rubble and overgrown with weeds and such growing out of the cracks. It was here we found the cache hidden in a section of pipe. There's not much else to say about this one really, although the cache was interesting in that it had an advertisement taped inside it - which is strictly forbidden!! It's ok I won't tell anyone...oops.

Next we headed down to the large Tesco Superstore in Port Glasgow and after a quick sandwich and a drink we went for a stroll along the promenade. This was a nice little walk but was really cold. As usual Mrs SC had forgotten a jacket (she wasn't getting a new one out of me today... I fell for that trick before!) so we didn't go far, just as far as another cache.


This one is hidden at a set of three seats. These are basically great big lumps of marble on which I made the mistake of sitting. The term cold doesn't suffice! Anyway, following the clue we examined each of these and as ever it was the last one where we found the cache... or should I say Mrs SC found the cache (see smug picture below!).

Log signed we dashed back along to retrieve the car and headed back to the party to collect the Kids.

2 out of 2

Irvine

I had an hour and a half to kill this morning so instead of vegging out in front of the TV or computer I grabbed the geoswag bag and headed out to find a couple of local caches that for one reason or another I've never done.

The first of these is a stones throw away from our house, View over Holehouse Farm. The instructions lead you into an area next to a housing estate which originally had a circular pathway around it and a raised viewing area with seating at the back. It's now totally over grown with little remaining of the path and you wouldn't know the seating area had been their unless you knew to look. Leading off from here is a small track which heads into a nice little woodland. The cache isn't very far along this track and as it's name suggests overlooks Holehouse Farm.

Once at the GZ finding the cache was easy but I had a bit of a fight trying to get it open. Once opened however the contents (log and pencil) were found in perfect condition despite it being well over a year since this cache was last found.

My second cache this morning was One Sunday Morning in Eglinton Woods. This is located in a strip of woodland next to the route of the old Long Drive into the Eglinton Estate. Long Drive still exists as a road within the area but this section is now a footpath. Robert Burns and his friend Richard Brown walked in these woods around 1781/82 having crossed the Drukken (Drunken) Steps over the nearby Red Burn. The old Toll Road from Irvine to Kilwinning ran via Higgins House the ruins of which are near to this cache and it was in this area that Burns first considered publishing his poems.

Upon reaching the GZ I found I had to venture off trail and down a short slope. I had expected this bit of the wood to be a bit wet and boggy especially considering the time of year but I was surprise to find it firm underfoot and dry. The area around the cache is amongst the trees and there were new shoots emerging everywhere with some clumps of snow drops already out. If it wasn't for the constant noise from the neighbouring dual carriageway this would be a really nice place. The cache details gave a very clear clue as to where abouts to look for the cache. After a quick look around I spotted where the cache would be hidden and soon had it.

This was a nice little morning out with the added bonus of adding another two caches to the total.

2 out of 2.

Sharon Street - Coventree Gree

On our way home tonight we pulled over at a spot where I knew there was a cache hidden - Coventree Gree. It was pitch darkness outside so I was totally reliant on the GPS to guide me to the cache location. Once there the final find was done by the light of my mobile phone.

Braehead Revisit

We were in Braehead this afternoon so I checked for new caches. Turns out there are no new ones but I spotted that Billy from Stockholm had a TB in it so I went for a grab.

West Kilbride

Saturday morning, and off I headed to West Kilbride to tackle some of the caches I'd planned to look for last weekend.

My first find was R. U. Coming or Going (West Kilbride) which is located to the North end of the town on the Portencross Road. This was a simple drive past. I managed to stop the van right at the cache and found it within a minute or so.

Next came kilbride hide which is a recently placed cache. For this I moved the van further up the road and parked. A short distance away I found a small narrow path. The cache was hidden in a wall along the side of this path and was also a pretty simple find.

Back to the van I then headed North out of town to a small junction with a triangular traffic island. There are two bits of old farm equipment on display here and the cache was there too, Glen goes Tattie Howkin. One thing I hadn't anticipated however was how busy this wee junction would be. After getting a few funny looks from passing cars I put the vans hazard lights on and pretended to be on the phone getting help. That gave me some cover whilst searching and if nothing else help me feel a little less awkward. It took short while to find this cache as it turned out that the clue given was slightly wrong.

Heading back into town I went in look of a parking place but found that the small car park I had planned to use doesn't allow vans so after a drive around I ended up parking at the Train Station (which was deserted). From here I headed over the railway bridge into Law Brae and up the hill in search of Journey to a Hill. This was a nice little walk with some good views over West Kilbride and the cache was simple to find (although a bit damp). On my way back down the hill I spotted a sheep with a crow on its head, but as I went for my camera it flew off.

Back down in town I ventured into the Kilbride Glen. This is a great walk which follows the Kilbride Burn and along it are a couple of caches. The first of these I visited was at the far end of the Glen (I managed to walk right past the other one on the way down). Journey into the Glen turned out to be one of the simplest caches I've ever found, but only because it was strewn all over the place. Luckily the log as still sealed within a separate zip lock bag so was still dry. Gathering up the rest of the debris I reconstructed the cache, signed the log and returned it to it's hiding place (removing a bag of dog biscuits which had probably led to it's being muggled, or more likely duggled).

Coming back up the Glen I found the location of the other cache Tree for Two, however I didn't find the cache. Going by some other logs I found part of it but I think there's a problem with it. Logged what I'd found but will need to return at some point when the CO has confirmed it's still there or has replaced it.

In addition to these caches I also went in hunt of a multi-cache called A Wander Around West Kilbride. This involved gathering a collection of numbers from various locations around West Kilbride and then using them to work out the coordinates of the final cache. This led me to a location that seemed likely but I couldn't find the cache. I logged this as a DNF but after discussion with the CO it seems I was in the correct place. He also suggested I log this as a find which was kind, however I think I'll wait and go back for another look now I know I had the correct location.

I had a nice relaxing morning wandering around West Kilbride and even managed to find a sundial which let me complete a challenge I've had on my list for a while now.

5 out of 7

Seamill

It was the last day of the Christmas holiday for Mrs SC and the kids so we decided to get out of the house and go do something. I'd planned to visit the West Kilbride area yesterday but ended up in Largs so I had a number of caches scoped out ready to visit. Of these we decided to tackle four which are spaced along the coast at Seamill.

The village of Seamill (now part of West Kilbride) is named after the "Sea Mill", one of its oldest buildings. This was a grain mill driven by water flowing down to the sea. Today Seamill is most famous for the Seamill Hydro. This hotel was opened in 1880 as a Hydropathic Establishment where people (probably rich ones)  could "enjoy" hydropathic treatment - the Victorian equivalent of todays Health Spas (but much less pleasant).

Our first cache wasn't on the beach but was in a rather in uninspiring spot on the way into Seamill. R.U. Coming or Going (Seamill) is located at the gates of a yard and buildings owned by the Water Board. Me and Mrs SC were a bit lazy for this one and sent the kids out in the cold to find it whilst we stayed in nice warm the car. It took about 30 seconds and they were back with a very soggy little nano.

Next up we headed down to the beach car park. There are (were) three caches along the beach. The first we went looking for was FFB's Revenge .....In Plain View which is located to the South of the car park. Following the beach we reached a river flowing out to the sea blocking our path. At first we thought that we'd have to find a different way down to the beach further along but then we spotted a small bridge which we used to cross to the other side. Once at the GZ the kids raced off and before we'd even got there they had it. The cache was a little damp but we managed to sign the log and left some treasure.

Returning to the car park we continued along the beach Northwards. At the far end of the car park a wall comes down to the beach and is met by a fence. It is here that the coordinates of our next cache took us, Wee Wicked Hide. We knew this was supposed to be tricky (as it's name suggests) but we found nothing around the location. Mrs SC then came back from a wander along the wall with a lump of foamy polystyrene stuff. In one side a hole had been cut and it had the remains of grey paint in some places. We suspected this was the remains of the cache. When a man appeared in the garden behind the fence with his dog we moved on.

We've since had confirmation that this was indeed the cache. The cache owner now intends to archive it.

The final cache, The Seamill Seals was a bit further along the beach next to a golf course. This stretch of beach has an embankment of huge rocks along it providing protection from errosion by the sea. The area is well known for its seal population (thus the name of this cache) and we managed to spot a few popping their heads out of the water just offshore.

It was here that the third cache was meant to be hidden but after much scrambling over rocks, looking under bricks and into nooks and crannies we couldn't find the it and went to get some lunch.

3 out of 4.

Return to the Greeto

Last week myself and the kids visited the Greeto falls which are in the hills behind Largs. We were aiming for an FTF on a new cache. The walk took us longer than expected as we took the wrong path to start with, and then the weather forced us off the hill before we could find it.

A week on and upon checking www.geocaching.com the cache still hadn't been found. So, despite having planned an all out attack on the caches in and around West Kilbride, I headed back up to Largs to have another go - on my own this time.

The Greeto Water (not quite a river, not quite a burn) descends from the hills of the Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park. Making my way back up the farm tracks which lead to the Greeto the weather was grey, a little windy but dry. Reaching a bend which leads around the hill to the small bridge which crosses the Greeto I veered off the path and took the direct cross country route down to the Greeto falls cache where we'd been last week using the GPS to guide me. Once at the falls my search began and initially I found myself re-visiting all the places I'd hunted before.

Twenty minutes or so later the cache was still eluding me, so I took a seat for a rest and a think. Using the clue, I'd been looking for an over hang and a couple of rocks and had even made my way out onto a number of precarious ledges over the falls. I was ready to give up at this point but being determined to find it this time and not have wasted yet another walk up there I had another look. I decided to look in some less obvious places. There's not a lot of loose stones around the GZ so when I had a wee poke in a small hole on the far side of a mossy bank and found one I knew I had it. This was our eight FTF! We left a TB for the runners up as a consolation. One thing I will point out to future cachers visiting this location is that it is quite a dangerous spot, the cache is near the edge of the gorge but you shouldn't need to take any risks to reach it. Be very careful with kids in tow.

Moving on I made my way up to the bridge where I met a guy out walking. At first I thought he might be a fellow cacher, but he was just out taking photos. Over the bridge I turned to the North and followed the Greeto up stream until I reached another cache Greeto View. This cache was a simple find although I never found the "view". I did however have a visit from a couple of sheep... maybe it was supposed to be called "Greeto Ewe".

From here I was planning on heading back downhill to look for my third and last cache of the day,  Mau See's favour, but as I was keeping to high ground to avoid the boggy areas of long grass I found myself heading up towards to the crags which overlook the bridge. Since I'd already done most of the work I decided to take a detour and headed up to the top to have a look.

Reaching the top I was rewarded with a spectacular view over the Firth of Clyde, both Little and Great Cumbrae Islands,  Bute and Arran in the distance. The wind up here was howling but for the beginning of January it wasn't too cold and I spent some time in the shelter of a large rock having a rest and admiring the view.

Once rested, I spent a short while taking photos (which really don't do the view justice - my camera skills aren't too good) and then went off on a mission to find somewhere to place the Super Collectors first Geocache which I'd brought along just in case I found somewhere of interest. Watch this space for more details once/if it gets published!


Finally coming back down the hill I made for Mau See's favour. This is in a great wee spot which looks right down the Gogo Water to Largs. There are a number of obvious spots to hid a cache but despite searching on both sides of a wall where I suspected the cache to be hidden I couldn't find it. After checking the cache details again, I had another wee look and something caught my eye... I had the cache. Inside I was pleased to find a lovely Robert Burns Geocoin and I saw in the log book that I wasn't the first person to visit the cache today.

To get back down the hill I then had to make my way back over to the Greeto Bridge as there's nowhere to cross at this time of year. As I was approaching the bridge I spotted a couple of walkers with a week dog on the other side also heading back to Largs. It never even struck me as odd for anyone to be way up here just to walk a wee dog like that on a cold wet and windy day.


I was late back by now, really late, over an hour late, and I still had to get off the hill and back to Irvine. Mrs SC was planning a trip up to Glasgow to buy a new phone so I was going to be in big trouble! Picking up the pace I made my way back down the hill as quickly as my tired little legs would carry me and eventually caught up with walkers, passing by quickly with a brief, "hello" and nearly tripping over their wee dog. I jogged the rest of the way down and was knackered by the time I got back the the van.

It was only when I was sitting having dinner in F&B this evening that I realised that the walkers I'd passed were actually the cachers that had visited the Mau See's favour cache before me, The Burton's. In fact they'd visited all three caches.

3 out of 3.

Greeto Fails

It was the last day of my Christmas break so the kids and me decided to go out Geocaching. After a look at possible locations I spotted a new cache had appeared near Largs so we went to find it.

The strangely named Gogo Water runs down to Largs from the East having been fed by a number of tributary burns and streams. One of these is Greeto Water which descends from the North between Wooy Hill and Brown Hill. A track leads up from Largs into this area and crosses the Greeto at a small bridge. Just down the valley from the bridge are a series of waterfalls which are where the cache we were seeking is hidden, Greeto Falls.

The walk to this point took longer than expected and after initially going the wrong way and having to backtrack and start again I finally reached the falls with two very tired wee girls. The weather was also starting to turn so I made a quick search of the area. The land around the river is quite steep and the river itself is set in a gorge so at this point the kids were confined to sitting on a rock. After a short while I hadn't found the cache and with the wind picking up I decided that it was more important to get the kids off the hill.

It's often quite tempting to keep on looking for a cache, it's addictive and coming home empty handed is frustrating. But with the kids in tow you just can't take unnecessary risks. The cache will still be there the next time and at the end of the day it's just supposed to be a bit of fun. Heading back up-hill we rejoined the path and eventually made it back to the car, cold, wet, filthy and more than a little bit tired.