Europe 2012 - Disneyland

Believe it or not there are caches in Disneyland and so we just had to bag some.

Our first attempt was for a traditional cache hidden in a hole in one of the large artificial rocks. The cache details made this sound simple but upon reaching the approximate location the GPS signal was all over the place and the entire place was artificial rocks full of holes. We hunted for a short while but we were wasting good time which during which we could have been queuing so we went and did that for the rest of the day instead!

On our second day in the park we did manage to bag a couple of caches, albeit one was a virtual and the other an earthcache. The aim of the first cache Le Roi Arthur was to get a photo beside the sword in the stone and to send the cache owner the inscription. This actually proved harder than it sounds and I was ready to strangle some ignorant kids who kept jumping the queue (but of course I didn't) and to shout at their parents who didn't seem to care. We eventually managed to get photos, the inscription and approval from the cache owner to log a find.

The Earthcache, Butte - Hoodoo Voodoo - DP/EC56 was a bit tricky and I'm still not sure we got the answers correct but what we sent the cache owner must have been acceptable as we got permission to log our third EarthCache (I thought we had more than that!).

After these we were happy and spent the rest of the time in the park doing what you of course pay to come here to do... we queued!

Europe 2012 - Paris

Holiday time and we headed over to Europe with the car and tent to do a spot of exploring. Our first stop was to be Paris and for this we'd pre-booked an apartment just outside Disneyland.

Upon arrival we were knackered, but that didn't stop us bagging a local cache at the Val d'Europe shopping complex. Geoshopping Val d'Europe was a simple find despite the vast amount of concrete surrounding the GZ. The was our first cache outwith the UK and our first in France.

By the next morning we were feeling a bit better so we got the sun cream on and headed into Paris on the train for a spot of sightseeing and of course some Geocaching.

One of the reasons we like Geocaching is that it often brings you to places where you'd never usually go, on other occasions it shows you things which you'd never noticed before. Cimetiere de passy (paris) did a bit of both. We've been to Paris many times, and therefore have wandered around the area of the Trocadero, but until we went hunting for this cache we'd never noticed the Cemetery which is right on the round about (well it is behind a 30ft wall!). Had we noticed this before we would probably not have ventured inside, however as we were looking for the cache we did. I've never been into a French cemetery and have no idea if this one is different from others but this is an amazing place. Some of the tombs (no simple headstones here!) are big enough to be small houses. This wasn't what made the place such a pleasure to visit however, it was the fact that we were a stones throw from one of the busiest places in Paris, yet it was quiet and peaceful.

After this we headed down the the Eiffel Tower and went looking for the traditional caches in and around the Champs de Mars. In total we collected a further four caches as we wandered around the highlight of which was at the Wall of Peace.

• Xtrême Moldus Cache #2-Tour Eiffel
• Toute première fois
• la boite branchée
• Champ de Mars by night: Wall of Peace

We did attempt one further cache, however the coordinates led us to a park bench where a rather nasty drunken tramp had set up home. Deciding it wasn't worth the hastle we chose to abandon that one for another time.

Eggy Park

While we were in Assynt we missed a local event in Eglinton Park so we decided to go and make amends by finding two caches which were placed for it.

The first of these was a standard cache, Eggy Park, was pretty easy and a good introduction to caching for the guest muggle we had with us. Found and signed, we headed on to tackle, The Multi - Eglinton Country Park. As its name suggests this was a multi cache with 5 stages followed by the final hide. Each of the stage was fairly simple, with easy clues to solve for the kids, however the final location was a bit of a trek made worse by the rain and wet grass. That said, I think we took the difficult route in our haste.

We really enjoyed this cache (even if we hate multis!).

Assynt

Over the Jubilee weekend we decided to head to the far north of Scotland and a part of the country we've driven through before but never spent any time in. We set off early on the Friday around 3pm hoping to miss the rush hour traffic and get to our campsite in Clachtoll by about 9pm. Before we'd even reached Stirling however our plans were thrown into disarray when we discovered that there had been a major accident on a key section of the A9 where there is no easy diversion. The recommended alternative route was to head to the other side of the country to the A82 and to follow it to Inverness, however we opted instead to head to Ballater and then over the Tomintoul road.

This proved to be a fairly good choice and is a far more interesting drive than the A82. Even with a long stop in Perth whilst trying to get information about the road closure we reached the campsite just at around 11:30pm.

Clachtoll is a small village accessed via a single track road in the ancient parish of Assynt and lies within the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. The main feature in the settlement is the Clachtoll Campsite which is where we were staying. The site itself has everything you might need (except a shop) but still has the charm of the campsites from when I was a child. Located a stones throw from the most beautiful white sandy beach this is a magical place where we will most definitely be returning in the future. Clachtoll takes it's name from the Gaelic and refers to the very large broken ("toll") rock ("clach") on the headland nearby.

This was the first outing for our new GPS handheld although we also had our trusty mobile phones with us brimming with maps and GPX downloads. In total we found 15 caches, and although you may think this wasn't a lot, we did have the kids with us and they certainly make you work for caches up there (your typical roadside cache can have a 15minute walk involved!).

The full list of caches we found were as follows (we had no DNFs!);

Port Alltan Na Bradhan - hidden on a secret beach known only to a few locals.

The Hermits Castle - near a strange concrete shelter perched precariously on the cliffs at Achmelvich. The "castle" was built by a young English architect by the name of David Scott who fled to the wilds of Assynt to escape family pressures and expectations in the 1950s.

Picture Frame Cache - View Point Cache - The Lifeboat View Cache - all located within the Culag Woods. Within the woods are a series of lovely pathways all created and maintained by the Culag Community Woodland Trust. The woods have been leased by the trust since 1992 and are a wonderful place to visit. www.culagwoods.org.uk

Northwest Lookout - North of Clachtoll lies the Point of Stoer near to which the legendary Old Man of Stoer sea stack can be found. Slightly further south from this is the Stoer Head Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1870 and was designed by the Stevenson brothers. It was manned until 1978 but since then has been automated

The Scotting's Scottish Cache - This is located on the headland of "Rubh'an Dunain" to the north of Culkein. Despite the rugged coast line here and the exposed position of the cache this was actually an easy walk in what can only be described as a stunning location and is somewhere I will remember visiting for many years to come.

Iains Cache - Located to the North of Baddidarach near the top of Cnoc Dabhaich overlooking Lochinver. This cache was accessed via a lovely gently climbing path which the kids loved an once at the top the views were breath taking in all directions.

Sands of Time - Not sure what the main attraction was here as we tackled it as a cache and dash.

Giving Up Wood Be Too Easy - Highland Honeymoon - These were located on an easy to miss woodland walk along the River Inver to the North East of Lochinver. The second cache was our very first genuine Ammo Box container. Not sure who was more excited, me or the kids! Unfortunately there wasn't much of interest within the box to swap but it was nice to finally come face to face with one. I think we might look into set up our own ammo box cache nearer to home.

Ardvreck Castle - Upon reaching the car park for the castle we set off down the path towards the ruin. We were half way there before I fired up the GPS and noticed we were heading in the wrong direction. A double check on one of our mobile phones confirmed our mistake and so we about turned and headed back along to shore. Once we were going the right way the find was simple and there was a great view of the castle from the GZ.

Great Geologists - located at a modest monument to two men who made a monumental contribution to Geology, Ben Peach and John Horne. The inscription reads: "To Ben N Peach and John Horne who played the foremost part in unravelling the geological structure of the North West Highlands 1883-1897. An international tribute. Erected 1980."

Jubilee - This cache is to be found in a small park on the shore of Ullapool. The park is officially called Am Pollan Park but aparently it is more commonly known as Jubilee Park by locals. This was quite fitting as it was on the Queens Jubilee bank holiday when we visited it. The park was created in 1970 by the pupils of Ullapool Secondary School

The Chief Bean - this cache is located on a small path which leads up Ullapool hill from the back of the Royal Hotel car park. We have no idea who or what the Chief Bean is or was but there was a nice view from the GZ.

Finally, we also visited the Earthcache Assynt and Beyond which we have sent the answers for approval.

We spent four days in Assynt, and loved every minute. This is such a beautiful part of the country which not many people know much about, including us, but we had a great time finding out!

And a cache hidden in a pear tree...

Sitting at work pretending to be busy when my phone buzzes to say I've got an email. Upon checking I see there's a new cache been published a few hundred metres from the Super Collectors secret base. Problem is, I'm 25 miles away and don't finish work until 5pm.

Nonetheless we still managed an admirable third to find just sneaking in there before Roseacre who was arriving as we left.

Coatbridge Bridge

We were over in Coatbridge today at Go Outdoors and after spending a fortune (even with their price matching offer!) we dropped into Pizza Hut for dinner.

Whilst there we noticed that one of the few caches in the area was only a few metres from us so it would have been rude not to go and bag it - Under The Red Bridge. Unfortunately when we found it (which was easy) we couldn't get the wee blighter open but after checking the logs online it turns out we're not the first.

Corsehillmuir Wood

Last Saturday after dropping one of the mini Super Collectors off at her dancing lessons I headed off in search of a nearby cache Of Corse it's a hill.

After fist of all going to completely the wrong place I arrived and parked the tank nearby. From here I took a wander along some pleasant country paths to the GZ munching a scotch pie I'd picked up in town... yum! The cache is located on an old bing which is now entirely covered and hidden by trees and it was near one of these that the cache was meant to be hiding. There were loads of them though and the terrain wasn't the easiest to cover. What made things even worse was that my GPS was hopping around like mad. Eventually, scratched, stung and dirty I gave up and was just making my way back off the bing when I spotted something out the corner of my eye and went to investigate.

Sure enough hiding in one of the very first places I'd looked was the cache.

Homeward Bound

I'm still doing extra hours at work just now so still taking the tank up and down the M77. It's a very boring road so I've taken to using the A77 some nights and collecting a few caches along the way to brighten my day up. Over the past week I've bagged 9 finds and one DNF. Only a few of these stand out and are really worth a mention in any detail.

First of these was Davie's Pineapple which was located at the junction of the Old Mearns Road and the A77. This used to be a fairly dangerous junction as cars attempted to dart out onto the A77 and vice versa. Nowadays with the new M77 taking most of the traffic the A77 is a much quieter road and the GZ was a rather nice spot. Here can be found a monument to the writer Robert Pollock who was born nearby in Eaglesham. His most famous work was "The Course of Time". This statue to him was unveiled in 1900. The name of the cache refers to the decoration at the top of the monument with Davie being the late Grampa Sweeney Toddler.

Close to here was another cache worth a mention, Blue Lagoon Revival. This is located near Pilmuir Quarry. The quarry was opened in 1930 in the site of North Hillhead Farm. Remains of some farm buildings can be seen at the top of the hill at the south east corner of the quarry next to which is a stunning little copse in the small wood which was filled with bluebells. It was in this cache where I discovered the weirdest trackable so far. We've found a few odd things during our travels, but a trackable condom really takes the prize... so to speak...

Kingswell Cross was another interesting spot. This is further down the A77 and is the site of a cross erected in memory of Alice Mary Corbett and the First Baron Rowallan (Archibald Cameron Corbett). History aside, this is again a nice quiet spot despite being between the A77 and M77. With it's mossy, heathery carpet and pine trees you would be forgiven for mistaking this for somewhere much further north.

The final cache worth comment was Jougs. This wasn't particularly interesting but being in the centre of Kilmaurs at a busy junction it required maximum stealth to retrieve, log and return covertly. This is of even more significance to me as I have paused here many times before only to consider it too busy to attempt. I drive right past this spot every day, so finally I can do so knowing I've already logged it.

For completeness, the following is a list of all the caches I have attempted on my journeys home (I go a different route on the way to work) including my one DNF.

Floak - Found
Crossing the State Line - Found
By Gainford Wood - DNF
Eerie Alley - Found
Davies Pineapple - Found
Blue Lagoon Revival - Found
Star and Garter - Found
Mastercache 5: Still Standing - Found
Kingswell Cross - Found
Jougs - Found

There are of course still many more caches I can potentially go hunting for on my travels home from work so hopefully there will be more to report here soon.

Galloway

Another long weekend and another holiday. This time we headed down to Galloway and stayed at the Castle Cary Holiday Park just outside Creetown. It was our first camping trip with the kids in a tent and a brand new tent too. The park was really good although we were lucky to get flat pitches with power hookups. The new tent was awesome, we joked about parking the car inside, but seriously we could have if we had wanted to!

As ever the holiday included some Geocaching and our first target was a cache in the Galloway forest at Kirroughtree. This cache Penninghame Postcards 2 - The Lade Walk is located along one of the many trails through the forest near the 7 Stanes venue. We'd already been for a cycle with the kids on the gentle Green trail so I left Mrs SC with the kids at the excellent playpark and headed off solo to try to make the find. We'd looked for this cache the last time we were there so I headed straight for the same place but upon arrival the GPS was saying I'd already passed it. After a short back track I spotted the first part of the clue given with the cache description. This was actually very tricky to spot and not at all what I'd expected but from there the second half of the clue led me directly to the cache.

In the afternoon we headed down to the Mull of Galloway but on the way stopped at Glenluce to find a cache hidden at the Luce Viaduct. At first this one looked like it was going to be difficult and upon reading some of the previous logs we thought one of us was going to have to go climbing but after a good look around and a think we spotted a more likely hiding spot and sure enough it was there.

The Mull of Galloway is actually the southern most point of Scotland and is actually further south than Penrith. There's a lighthouse station here and magnificent views over the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man and even Northern Ireland. The visitor centre is really good and there's some interesting knicknacks in the attatched shop. Upon leaving we spotted a cache Gallie Craig was only a short distance away so went to find it. This cache turned out to be disabled due to lack of permission for placement within an SSSI but we managed to rescue a Swiss Geocoin which was trapped there and so logged the cache as found anyway. The cache has now sadly been archived. Hopefully someone else will be able to get a replacement set up either outwith the SSSI or with special permission from the RSPB.

On the way back to the campsite we took a detour via Stranraer to get some supplies. Whilst there we noted there is only one cache in the whole town and so had to go and find it. It turned out to be a simple park and grab so a bit of a disappointment but at least we can say we've found every cache in the town!

The next day and we jumped on our bikes and headed through Creetown and up into the hills beyond to visit the Balloch Wood. This is a beautiful place with some very nice woodland trails and ponds. hiding the bikes amongst the trees we followed the Oak trail in search of the cache Balloch Wood. It's difficult to describe how nice this short walk was with carpets of bluebells lining the path interspersed with wild primrose. The cache proved quite easy to find despite the coordinates being out but the box was soaking inside. We emptied it's contents and took a break whilst we waited for it all the dry off a bit in the lovely sunshine that was streaming through the trees.

Unfortunately Super Kid had a pretty major fall of her bike at high speed on the way back down the hill but after a sit down and a cry she bravely got back on her bike and made it all the way back to the campsite. What a star!

In the afternoon the weather was still holding and it looked like it was going to be a nice evening so we packed provisions in the car and set of to the south to do a spot of caching and to find a beach where we could have a barbecue.

First stop was in a lay-by to find Ravenshall Hotel (formerly Skyreburn Hotel). This was so easy we spotted it from inside the car. Next came The Wicker Man - Here lieth Beech Buchanan which was located next to an old Graveyard that had apparently featured in the film The Wicker Man. Myself and Super Girlie had a bit of trouble finding this one but Mrs SC and Super Kid found it right away when they finally decided to get out of the car.

Venniehill Viewpoint was next and for this we parked at a small carpark which appeared to be the correct location. Steps led down to a raise circular walkway but we found no trace of the clue and the site didn't really match the cache description. Returning to the car the GPS suddenly changed it's mind and decided to point in the opposite direction. The problem was that it was now pointing into some private properties. Guessing the spot would be behind these gardens we started looking for a path that would lead us around the back and eventually found a way into the field at the bottom of the road. The name of the cache suddenly made sense as this wasn't a nice flat horizontal field, it was nearly vertical! By the time myself and Super Girlie got to the top we were exhausted. We spotted the clue item right away but no cache. After a good hunt we were ready to give up when I had a quick check behind a rock in a wall (not allowed I know!!) and there was the cache. Great view from up there but very tired by the time we got back to the car.

Our final cache of the day earned a favourite point. Not because of the cache itself but because it led us to a wonderful beach where we had a great barbecue for dinner and lit a small driftwood fire to keep us warm while we watched the tide race in. Mossyard Bay is a wonderful little curved sandy beach with interesting rock formations and rock pools where kids could play for hours. There's also another cache here which we didn't go and find but that simply gives us an excellent excuse to go back another time!

We found three more caches on our journey home. The first two, Peea, Peea, Pee, ano. (go on sing it!), and Reclaimed Land were located in parking places near the Cairnryan Ferry Terminal. We also attempted a third nearby but were thwarted by a lorry driver sitting right at the GZ. Having read previous logs we suspect this may have actually been the cache owner but as we didn't know we didn't want to expose the cache to a muggle. The third cache and final one of the holiday was Cruiser Varyag. This is located at a memorial for a Russian warship just outside Lendalfoot. The find was simple but the wind here made it difficult to stand up never mind get to and back from the monument.

Over the course of the weekend we also dropped off about 5 trackables we've been carrying around but ended up picking up another 5 too.

We had a great short break which felt more like a week than three nights and found 12 caches along the way. Love this part of Scotland so will definitely be back for more!

Stewarton Road

I was bored again on my drive home from work so decided to spice things up with a spot of caching. Some people call it the Old Glasgow Road, some call it Dodside Road, others say B769 but we call it the Stewarton Road and it was down this route I went hunting. By the time I got home I'd bagged seven, not bad for a Tuesday night!

Off To MalletsHeugh
Rock Faulds
County Boundary
Upper Hareshaw
Darlington
Corsehill Queen
Brechna Brae

Off to Malletsheugh was a simple back of a sign type cache as was County Boundary. Rock Faulds posed two problems, first where to park (I ended up driving into a field and abandoning the car there) and second how to get to the cache which was on the other side of a barbed wire fence and at the top of some steep crags. Once up there the coords were a little out but I soon found the cache.

Upper Hareshaw was another cache and dash which took all of ten seconds to find but was made a little more difficult as I had no maps (no phone signal = no maps!). The clue was slightly wrong but served it's purpose.

Corsehill Queen was my favourite of the day. This is hidden in one of the most public places in Stewarton and right outside a pub. I had to wait for a smoker to finish his cigarette and head back into the pub before I could go hunting and again the clue was excellent and made what could have been a daunting search do-able!

My final find of the night was Brechna Brae and for this I headed to Dunlop. The cache is located in a small community woodland which seems really popular with the locals. Lost count of the muggles with duggles that were around but found the cache no problem. Confusingly there were two caches only one of which contained a log (which was like paper mache).