Caches No’s 3400 to 3426 – The Way Back Home From Ayr

The day after the mega we decided that while in Ayr we ought to visit Alloway (an Ayr suburb) and the area’s most famous son… Ayrshire is proud to be the birthplace of Robert Burns, Scotland’s National Bard. Globally revered, Burns’ works are renowned for their portrayals of everyday 18th Century life, his love for the “Lassies” and his staunch belief in the equality of Man… The whole Burns thing is a bit like Stratford and Shakespeare, though Burns has a bigger Heritage Centre !

3rd August 2014 – Crossraguel Abbey GC1V0Q2 – cache #3400
On our way back into Ayr from Girvan we had to pass the ruins of this abbey, so we stopped to get the cache. The clue was a Cilla Black song So as we were walking down the hill Angel78 and I were pooling our knowledge of Cilla Black songs… we only knew two, “What’s it all about, Alfie ?” and the one that soon became obvious was the one we needed for the cache
Pity it was such a horrible wet morning, we might have been tempted to visit the ruins if it had been nice

crosraugelabbey

3rd August 2014 – Tae a Moose GC2NKWN – cache #3401
Doing our Burns thing we parked in the Burns museum car park and walked up to the Cottage… On the way passing this cache, which was a very quick find as something just didn’t look right to me

taeamoose

3rd August 2014 – Brig o’Doon [Ayr] GCG614 – cache #3402
After the Cottage, we walked back along the road via the ‘Auld Kirk’ to the Bridge, immortalised in Burns’ Poem Tam O’Shanter as across the bridge he raced to safety while being chased by the witches, as evil spirits can’t cross running water
As for the Brig O’Doon house hotel next to the bridge, we paid less than half their nightly charge for B&B and didn’t have to put up with tartan carpets in the bedroom !

briodoon

3rd August 2014 – THE BARD GC4Z6CJ – cache #3403
After the bridge we went up to the monument (and up the monument) and then back to the Museum to find this cache… I spotted it straight away but let UKCacheMag and Angel 78 try to poke something out of the corner… another cacher was on hand to photograph Adam crawling on his hands and knees looking for the cache…

thebard

3rd August 2014 – R.A.W – Glenbuck Loch GC4TW0D – cache #3404
Glenbuck was the birthplace of Bill Shankly, famous for managing Liverpool in the 1970’s and for the saying “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death… I can assure you it is much, much more important than that”. The village disappeared into an open cast coal mine many years ago, but there is a memorial to Bill Shankly at the loch near this cache.
The cache was a quick find for Adam (UKCacheMag)

shanklyd
glenbuck

After Glenbuck we drove a few miles to Happendon Services and stopped there for some lunch… we found a cache there, but as Angel78 and I had previously found it in 2010 (see cache #460) it was only a new find for Adam. We split up then, Adam and Angel78 heading back down to the Midlands, and me heading back to Yorkshire… via a cache or two – or twenty two on the way

3rd August 2014 – Steve’s 1st cache hows about that then West Yorks! GC3YYB5 – cache #3405
Being from West Yorkshire this was a cache that had to be done – Steve ‘Nottins’ one and only cache hide (to go with his 14,000 cache finds)… I walked across the car park in the warm sunshine, got to the cache and the torrential rain fell – must have been over an inch in 5 minutes, all the gutters and drains around the building were overflowing.
This cache drew in most of the Yorkshire cachers who went to Ayr

nottinscache

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Castle Hill View GC48QNG – cache #3406
A curiously easy find in the Cabey Baskets (the wire cages filled with stone that shore up embankments) easy in the that the stone covering the cache was the only dry one in the area so it stood out… not really sure why that was !

castleview

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Crawford North GC4G5F3 – cache #3407
It’s a good job there weren’t any cyclists on the road as I parked in the Cycle lane to get the cache

crawfordnth

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Crawford South GC4F1C3 – cache #3408
Parked right next to the cache (again in the cycle lane) for a quick find

crawfordsth

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Elvanfoot Junction GC4F1CQ – cache #3409
Had me confused for a minute or two because of the bush that was hiding the hint item… Once I had found that it was a quick find… the cache container made me smile so gets a favourite point

elvanfoot

3rd August 2014 – Bridge on the River Clyde GC239Q5 – cache #3410
I had just put the cache back when another car came and parked up near mine… I thought they would be other cachers but they just sat in their car until I drove off – seems a strange place to stop for a break

bridgeclyde

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Clyde Valley View GC58NP5 – cache #3411
Pulled up on the other side of the road and sat for a few minutes for the worst of the rain to pass, still got wet on one side though from the spray being thrown up from lorries on the M74

clydevalleyview

3rd August 2014 – Crockstan Turn GC283PA – cache #3412
A narrow road to do a three point turn on – so narrow that I hit my bumper on the armco (fortunately plastic bumpers bend not dint, and there were leaves inbetween to prevent scratches !

crockstanturn

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Crookedstane Rig GC58NNR – cache #3413
Only one place the cache could be…

crookedstane

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Beattock Summit Travel Bug Hotel GC58NMM – cache #3414
There was a car parked at the other end of the parking area, it appeared to be empty, but I gave it a wide berth and parked next to the cache, as I got back in my car I looked back at the other car, it still appeared to be empty but now the passenger door was opened by a few inches…

beattocksummit

3rd August 2014 – River over the Motorway GC28GEW – cache #3415
Curiously despite the name the aqueduct doesn’t go over the Motorway, it goes over the Railway line… Lots of water coming over it today – and out of the sky

rivermotorway

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Evan Water GC58NK5 – cache #3416
Not much to say about this cache really, another magnetic cache in the armco at the side of a very quiet road !

evanwater

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Nether Howcleugh GC58NJT – cache #3417
More difficulty getting the log back into the container and screwing the lid on than there was finding it… interesting use of a ‘found item’ for the cache

netherhewcleugh

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Harthope Viaduct GC4YE3F – cache #3418
The GPS was jumping around close to the bridge and I couldn’t decide which side of the road the cache was at… then I looked round and saw it on the ground – I wedged it back into a place where it wasn’t going to fall out again

harthorpeviaduct

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Greenhillstairs GC58NJC – cache #3419
I pulled off the old A74 and parked on the end of the bridge as a Police Car came across the bridge the other way, I half expected them to stop and ask what I was doing but instead they just flashed their headlights as if in acknowledgement that I had made room for them on the narrow road… a few minutes later I heard sirens and the car came back into sight lights flashing and sped off across the bridge again, turned left down the road marked Dead End and appeared on the M74 Southbound a few seconds later… methinks the dead end is not as blocked off as you may expect !

greenhillstairs

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Greskin Forest GC58NHY – cache #3420
At least I didn’t have to park in the cycle lane for this one as there was a proper layby to pull up in !

greskinforest

3rd August 2014 – The Old A74 – Middlegill GC58NGN – cache #3421
Excellently hidden cache, worthy of the favourite point I gave it

middlegill

3rd August 2014 – Beattocks Eloquently Engineered Past GC3H6A5 – cache #3422
Impressive information stone, these days you just get a screen printed brushed aluminium plaque, not something craftsman made like this

eloquentengineered

3rd August 2014 – Jardine Hall GC2RG5V – cache #3423
In getting the cache I managed to avoid getting nettled, which as it was in a huge patch of nettles I thought was quite a feat of dexterity !

jardinehall

3rd August 2014 – Colin`s Seat GC2PV78 – cache #3424
A nano cache with a full log (loads of people calling in going to the Mega, I managed to put on just an orange dot to signify I had been there. My last cache in Scotland on this trip

colinsseat

3rd August 2014 – Motorway Mayhem M6 Tebay Services (northbound) GC1BA6H – cache #3425
Down the M6 to Tebay services and I needed a pit stop. As it was a miserable Sunday evening I thought I would be okay to sneakily drive across the access road from the Southbound side to grab this cache even though you are not really supposed to do so. The Highways Officers parked up having their break watched me go past one way and then 5 minutes later watched me go past the other way – I wonder what they thought I was doing ?

tebaynth

3rd August 2014 – Motorway Mayhem M6 Tebay Services (Southbound) GC1B961 – cache #3426
The last of 23 caches on my journey south, and my 27th cache of the day. After sneaking back over the access road I turned back into the Southbound Services entrance and naughtily parked in the passing place and walked back up to find the cache.

tebaysth

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

* Copy This Password *

* Type Or Paste Password Here *