Logs for Firth of Forth 

We were on our way to see La Boheme at the Coliseum, so it was dark when we arrived here, but just OK to discern what we needed. Thanks for the quick responses to the emails. Interesting to see Craigleith sandstone both here and at Chandos House (Chan Dos & Don'ts), since we live in Edinburgh and not far from Craigleith quarry (now a shopping centre) but there is another earthcache in the remains of the quarry behind Sainsburys! 

Had a bit of time to kill before getting the train back to Edinburgh, so mae a detour for this one. As Jack had been here before, he helped me a bit. 

According to the last log, this cache is no longer accessible. Will have to rethink. 

A nice quiet spot, but we didn't notice the castle, though we looked around for it. 

We had to go back to the car for the clue as the GPSr was jumping about all over the place. Noone about luckily. An atmospheric spot. 

I would appreciate it if the next visitor could let me know whether my daughter's TB 'Arrow' is still in this cache. It was placed in the cache in October. 

There were still spaces and pages left in the logbook but I have put a new one in and taken out all the bits of paper. I also picked up a TB. There were no others in the cache. I will replenish the contents anon. 

A quick visit for some coins and a Tb collected in Prague. 

Another drat! The final location has been altered and the cache is no longer there. This needs a rethink. 

Hsving failed to reach this cache on Thursday due to arriving too late, I decided to get up early and walk here before breakfast (obessional, me?). I left my daughter still sleeping in the hotel. I arrived just as the gates were opening - great timing! The coords were a little out - but with a methodical search for the right gravestone, the cache was soon found. I took the TB.

I didn't have time to linger, but I noticed some interesting and ornate carvings. Every inch is taken up - no room for more!

Just as I was leaving the area, the cemetary-keeper set off on his morning round. Another bit of good timing! I don't expect he knows about the cache, does he? 

Third day in Paris with my daughter on a short trip. This was the only cache that we did today, as it was a day dedicated to shopping - my daughter's favourite activity. I'm pleased to say that she went back to the hotel satisified!

Like the two days before, today was another scorching day. We had fun watching the bomb disposal squad searching the hedges in their skin-tight blue trousers and knee-high black leather boots. Clearly not a suitable place for a traditional cache! Apparently I missed out though, because a text to Jack about this informed me that when he was there, the ladies were drooling over the wide-shouldered-thin-hipped policemen on inline skates patrolling the area. Virtual kisses exchanged as Jack was, himself, busy finding caches on the English South coast.

Anyway, back to the cache. It was found, although I'm not exactly sure what the object in her hand represents! Photo taken for confirmation, then we sat in the thoughtfully provided chairs by the fountain and soaked up some sun before hitting the shops. 

A quick visit after doing the multi on 'Isle aux Cygnes' and on our way to the Musee d'Orsay. It was an extremely hot day and we needed to hop on a bus, so we didn't linger. Thanks. 

Dropping a TB in that I found here to correct its mileage. 

A quick visit to this park before hopping on the Montmartre train. Our timing was good, as a torrential downpour started while we were on the train, but had more or less finished by the time we alighted.

I was busily following the GPSr arrow around in circles, having given my daughter the clue. She got fed up watching me, went off in her own direction and returned a few seconds later saying "Is this what you're looking for?" Brilliant! Actually, the caches is probably easier to retrieve when the park is packed, as there are too many people for anyone to pay attention to a particular individual. And the cache is easy to retrieve without drawing attention. (That's a very good clue for future cachers by the way!) 

First cache on a short trip to Paris with my daughter. We had a great view of Sacre Coeur from our hotel window, and decided to spend the afternoon exploring Montmartre. Did this and the nearby cache, but got to the one in the cemetary 5 minutes after the gates shut, so I cam back a few days later for that one.

Despite being told by my daughter that we were absolutely not going to do any caching on this trip, we managed 10 over 4 days. And she actually told me that she enjoyed some of them! Indeed, she found most of them! It was nice to have her as a geocaching partner, while I was parted from Jack , who was sailing around the South coast of England claiming caches for himself.

Have emailed what I think is required to claim this cache. 

I'd be grateful if the next visitor could check whether the travel bug 'Feebz' is still in this cache, and hopefully move it on! Thanks - it belongs to my daughter. 

Arrow TB has been languishing in this cache for a long time! Would anyone like to retrieve it for my daughter? 

Came here just a couple of hours before having to go to the airport to catch a flight back to Scotland (or rather 3 flights!). My host happened to have his GPS loaded with the coordinates of the cache, which he had found around a year ago. Despite this past knowledge, and 3 of us searching for it, we had no luck, and therefore I am convinced that it must be gone. The cache needs to be archived. 

Last of a quick caching spree before heading home to Scotland later in the afternoon. The teenagers and I have had a tremendous 2 weeks exploring this part of the world; despite our young hosts pleas to "STAY!", it was time to go. The best thing about leaving though is to return to Jack Aubrey, who I left behind on this trip and have been missing far too much.

As I followed the instructions to find this cache, I wondered why my compass wasn't pointing in what I thought was the right direction for North, until I realised that everything down under is upside down. There is quite a big clue next to the cache site - luckily - as there are a lot of similar places to search. TNLN. Thanks. 

Third of four quick caches before heading home to Scotland in the afternoon. My driver dropped me off and turned the 4x4 around; by the time he had done that I had found the cache - we have quite a few sneaky ones like this in Scotland. Wrote my name and off we went. As we drove down the dual carriageway, a very long brown thing slithered across the road at a tremendous speed. There was no way to avoid it and we think it met its unlucky end. However, there was no flattened snake on the road when we drove by again a few hours later on the way to the airport, so perhaps it was charmned. 

Second cache of a quick caching spree before catching a flight (or rather 3) home to Scotland. My host kindly drove me around. He and his two girls, The Bead Babes have done this cache and some other local ones, but aren't into internet logging.

We stumbled through the rather dense undergrowth and passed 3 or 4 extremely large burrows. If this had been the UK, I would have been worried about what ferocious mammal had made them. Here, there seems to be nothing big to worry about; it's the dark corners and crannies that you don't want to be putting your hand in.

Found the cache easily with the clue. TNLN. Thanks. 

First of a short caching spree before heading home to Scotland. Found easily using the alternative coordinates. Unfortunately no TBs in it for me to take home. Are all caches in Australia hidden under blackboys? 

Came here a few days ago on the way to go whale watching. I misread the instructions - and only took a photo. However, I had another chance to visit on our last evening before heading back to Scotland. The teenagers had fun running around in the dark spooking each other, while I tried to read the plaques in the dark. thanks Aushiker. will upload photo when l get home. I'm sitting in Amsterdam airport at the moment!

[This entry was edited by Firth of Forth on Monday, October 24, 2005 at 5:40:59 AM.] 

The plan had been to take the teenagers to Cable Park for a try at water skiing. We got there to find that it had been bulldozed for redevelopment. The only thing to do was to get the GPS out and see what the nearest cache was. After a quick visit to the coastal reserve nearby and a walk on the jetty, our host, Colin, drove us to within 180 feet of the cache up a track in his 4x4. I was despondent about the chances of finding the cache in the dense undergrowth, but luckily I soon spotted it. TN left a Scottish pencil. Thanks. 

I don't feel quite so frustrated at not finding this cache, now that I have seen that there have been two other DNF logs. The walk over from the park was well worth it just for the lovely view across the river. The teenagers enjoyed sitting on the rocks in the sun while I searched about and scratched my arms. The clue was not much help unfortunately as there were quite a few places that it could have applied to.

[This entry was edited by Firth of Forth on Monday, October 17, 2005 at 6:21:34 PM.] 

A nice easy find, even though the GPSr took us to a point in the middle of a grassy area. TNLN. Thanks. 

We tried to find this cache after a quick visit to the beach, but as we had left 3 of the four children in the car, we didn't have long to search for it. Im not sure which coord are the ones to use. The ones on the cache page took us to a paved road between two raised lawns and there were no stones to be seen anywhere. Don't know if I will have another chance to visit, but confirmation of the coords would be welcome. 

We came to this cache by canoe. The boys dropped my daughter FeeBz and myself off at the riverbank, with the GPSr showing 0.19miles to the cache. We left the boys drinking a bottle of beer each in the canoe. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible to walk directly to the cache as we had to go around a lagoon, but we got there in the end, only to find that we were being observed by a family of muggles. A short search when they weren't looking revealed the cache. Took two bands and the TB and left a Scottish keyring. By the time we were headed back to the canoe, nearly half an hour had passed, and the boys phoned us on the mobile to check that we still alive and well. We made it back to the car just before dusk, [assing the pelicans and cormorants nesting in the river. It was freezing. I thought that Australia was supposed to be warmer than Scotland!

So, that's 9 Australian caches under my belt so far. The only thing missing from this holiday is my dashing Captain Jack Aubrey to share my adventures with. 

Our very obliging host asked if I wanted to do a local cache before we went to the shopping mall. We parked in the nearby nature reserve, 0.4m from the cache, thinking that it would be there. The GPSr led us out of the nature reserve, through a carpark and we began to wonder where we were going. Our local host realised as we neared our destination. We tried to look inconspicous - fortunately my daughter FeebZ was bold enough to reach for the cache after I had located it. It is indeed little and red. Thanks. TNLN. Off to shop now. 

I didn't plan my walking around Kings Park very well, so we had to return to the DNA tower, and climb it again (the teenagers Seiken and FeeBz were not amused!). All the maths nearly confused me, but I got there easily in the end. TN, think I left a Scottish pencil. Thanks for the chance to explore a great park. 

The teenagers enjoyed this walk, which was just as well since I had to walk back and forth a couple of times to gather all of the information. We enjoyed the stunning views on a coldish but sunny day. Thanks. Answers on their way; photo to follow when we return to Scotland in 10 days time. 

The teenagers (Seiken and FeeBz) and I wandered over to this cache from ''Glass and Steel'. I had to leave the them on a path 500 feet from the cache as they were wearing sandals and complaining of being scratched. Just as well I took a waypoint of where they were to find them again, as once I had found the cache, the bush looked the same in every direction. Took a wee koala and left a Scottish pencil and a TB. Luckily the day was warming up by this time; we could have stayed in Scotland for this weather otherwise! 

3rd cache of the day in Kings Park. After climbing the DNA tower, we found the cache easily. I planned the day really badly thouhg, because we had to come back here to do 'The DNA experience' later on. Had left a TB in the other nearby cache, so only had one to leave by this time, took 3 TBs. I know this is a bit greedy, but I will be able to take them halfway around the world in 10 days time when I return to Scotland. It's a bit of a coincidence that my son's (Seiken) TB Deep Purple was here last week, having made its way from Scotland to USA and then over here. We just missed saying hello to it.

It's fantastic walking around in the colourful bush in the wilder parts of this park. 

The rest of the gang were doing some fishing off the point across from the causeway. I fired up the GPSr to see if there were any caches nearby. This one was half a mile away, so I set off with my assistant, one of the Bead Babes. We walked along the dunes and through a children's camp to find the cache area swarming with muggles having some kind of BBQ and night event. Luckily noone was around the immediate vicinity of the cache, and we were able to search without being overseen. Found it just in time before dusk. Got back to the others to find that they had managed to catch 6 herring - just needed one more so that we had one each. Another chap nearby caught a massive stingray, which he set loose after we had had a good look at it. Thanks for the cache. I will upload a photo of my assistant at the cache when I return to Scotland at the end of next week. 

Despite having loaded several hundred caches into my PDA centred on Perth, they didn't extend quite far enough as this cache. However, my host had found the cache about a year previously and still had the waypoint in his GPS. After a look at the rapids, 6 of us searched for a wee while to no avail. Without the clue (which wouldn't have helped us much more!) we soon gave up. It's not too much of a disappointment to see that it appears to have gone missing, rather our faliure being due to our ineptitude. Continued on the tracks and had a lovely BBQ at a small unmarked campsite on the Biddi trail. Had our first taste off proper 4x4 driving (some of it a little scary) and saw our first (alive - the dead one at the side of the road on the way there didn't really count) kangaroos jumping along the road in front of us for about half a mile. 

This was the 2nd cache of my trip to Australia with the teenagers Seiken and FeeBz and is the nearest cache to where my pal Colin, an ex pat Scot, works at UWA. We braved the "biting" wind, which admittedly was a lilttle colder than we expected, but about the same as we would be experiencing in Scotland at the moment. A great view of the Perth cityscape. Seiken enjoyed "hanging" around; I will upload some photos upon our return home. TNLN Thanks.

[This entry was edited by Firth of Forth on Sunday, October 09, 2005 at 8:45:47 AM.] 

1st cache of our holiday in Oz; only 1/3 mile away from where we are staying. It's very wierd seeing all of the different plants and wildlife. We were accompanied by the Bead Babes on their electric scooters. Had to be told what a blackboy is. Braved the ''biting" wind. Well, if you come from Scotland and the windae city, it doesn't feel too bad! Left a TB and a Scottish flag sticker and took a koala bear. Very much enjoyed the walk through the nature reserve. Will upload the photos when I get home.

[This entry was edited by Firth of Forth on Sunday, October 09, 2005 at 8:40:58 AM.] 

Amazing! Deep Purple TB has found its way here; and Seiken, its owner and my son, and I will be in Perth in October. I wonder if they can be reunited? 

Thanks for the novel cache. 

An interesting cache. Thanks from Scotland,UK.

 

Started this one, but quikcly gave up when I realised the next stage is nearly two miles away. Also - the information being asked for is not entirely clear - there are two possible answers. There is more than one entrance - so does it mean just the one or both?
 

As I was approaching this place, I spotted a man glued to his GPS, printouts in his hand. No mistaking him as a geocacher! I intorduced myself, found out that he is from the Netherlands and begged him for a look at the clue as I didn't have a printout with me. Found it straightaway - sorry didnt give him much of a chance!

[This entry was edited by Firth of Forth on Saturday, October 23, 2004 at 12:21:20 PM.]
 

I actually found this one lying on the ground on top of the leaves. Lucky! Another London micro - what can I say?
 

West Coast Caching Tour- Day 1, cache 4.
A quick drive by. Lovely place. Email on its way.
 

This rocky feature at Cove harbour, SE Scotland, is known as 'Cathedral Rock'.
 

I've called this one 'monkey face'. I hope that it's as obvious to others as it was to me. It is situated in Maspie Glen on Falkland estate in Fife, Scotland, UK. It was impossible to get a signal in the glen, so the coordinates are a little higher up the glen.
 

This is the dam at Hopes reservoir, the location for a traditional cache called 'Gin and Tonic'. It was constructed in the 1950s. On a sunny day it would be a lovely walk round it, but today was dreich and very windy.
 

This is a memorial to James Hogg, otherwise known as the 'Ettrick Shepherd'. James Hogg was the other great poet of the Borders other than Robert Burns. The memorial statue is situated by the shore of St. Mary's loch between Moffat and Selkirk.

James Hogg was born in 1770 in the Ettrick Valley, in the Borders area of Scotland. He was the sone of a poor farmer and left school after only six months' of formal education. At 7 years of age he began work as a cowherder.
From his mother he had learned the great oral tradition of ballads and folklore of the Borders. In his mid-teens, James Hogg taught himself to read and write and became a shepherd. He began by making songs and verses for local gatherings.

At the turn of the eighteenth century, Hogg was working as a shepherd on the farm Yarrow and he was allowed to use their library. Walter Scott, the newly appointed sheriff of Selkirk, was roaming the Border Valleys in search of the disappearing ballads of the Borders. He met James Hogg and they formed a friendship that lasted throughout their lives.

In 1813, the publication of his cycle of ballads, The Queen's Wake, brought him recognition not only in Edinburgh but in London and America. His reputation as a leading poet of the age was firmly established, and though still a poor man, The Ettrick Shepherd became a celebrity.

When many long day had come and fled,
When grief grew calm and hope was dead,
When mass for Kilmeny's soul had been sung,
When the bedesman had prayed, and the deadbell rung
Late, late in a gloaming, when all was still,
When the fringe was red on the westlin hill,
The wood was sere, the moon i' the wane,
Thereek o' the cot hung ower the plain,
Like a little wee cloud in the world its lane;
When the ingle lowed wi' an eiry leme--
Late, latein the gloaming Kilmeny came hame!

KILMENY



 

In Scotland, one is spoilt for choice to find a stone bridge. I must have driven over 20 or 30 of them on an outing to the Borders today. This one is just outside the immediate grounds of Traquair House near Innerleithen.
 

This is a small suspension bridge in Glenrothes, Fife, Scotland. I spotted it a few days ago when en route to a work appointment, and thought that it was a striking structure.