The Ships of the Culture series of geocaches is named after spaceships which feature in the science fiction novels of the late Scottish author Ian M Banks. The ships are autonomous beings and choose their own names, which often leads to amusing results.
'Steely Glint' features in the novel 'Excession', and is a General Contact Vehicle, Plains class. GCVs are General Sytems Vehicles, which have been configured especially for Contact with other civilisations. They are identical in mission to General Contact Units which are ambassadors, scouts and light transports, and also act as main warships in peacetime.
Iain Banks was an author renowned for his mainstream fiction novels, as well as science fiction, and one book, 'The Crow Road', was adapted for television some years ago. He used the middle initial M to distinguish between his science fiction work and other fiction. I was fortunate to meet Iain Banks at the Cheltenham Literary Festival a few years ago. He was a very nice man. He is no longer with us, but he lives on through his books.
I also have another cache based on another of Ian M Banks' science fiction novels. This is Feersum Endjinn ( GC3MP23 ), one of the Cheltenham Circular Caching Challenge (CCCC) series. The CCCC is a 26 mile circuit around Cheltenham, following Cheltenham Circular Path. Some of the series pass close by in Shurdington.
Greenway Lane is impassable to motor vehicles beyond the cattle grid, unless you have a quad bike or 4x4. The Lane is steep, rocky and muddy, and was virtually a stream when I last walked up it. It can be slippery underfoot. It is also possible to access the Lane from the top, joining the circuit at SOTC#4. There are livestock in the fields, usually cattle out on the Common, with horses in the fields by the farm. Please keep geodogs under control. Some of the paths on the Common can be welly-boot sticky.
Please observe the Country Code, closing all gates behind you.
Congratulations FTF!
The Amazings
28th July 2012