Parking for this cache is at the north end of Victoria Park adjacent to the public toilets. The clifftop trail starts at St Ninians Well-it is believed that the water from here has curative properties although although reading present day notices it is not recommended to try!
On the cliff side of the path is Steeple Rock - reachable via the wooden walkway at low tide. The bay beside this shows traces of where red sandstone was quarried in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and tracks of the cartwheels are still visible.
As you progress along the cliff trail you will reach an inlet known as Monk and Maiden's Leap after a poem by David Balfour of Arbroath written in the early eighteenth century. Mary Scott, grieving for her dead mother, was comforted by a local abbot. As a result of this 'comfort' she fell pregnant and the abbot arranged her murder. He became insane through guilt and died soon afterwards. Both are said to be buried here. A wild rose is supposed to have blossomed on Mary's grave with a stunted thornbush on that of the abbot.
Continue along a little further and you will come to the earthcache site - The Needle E'e
The Needle E'e is a superb example of a natural arch and one which runs parallel with the coastline - not at right angles to it as is much more common where caves have been driven through from both sides of a sharp headland. The cliff dips down as a vegetated slope to a curious ridge of rock and then falls sheer into the sea. If you look at the arch you will notice the vertical fault through the middle of the arch and the corresponding crack in the floor. This gives a clue to the origin of the arch. The sea probably carved out a cave along the line of this fault, right through the ridge, and the rear of the cave fell in. Gradual erosion from the seaward face reduced this cave to the arch which we see today. In time the arch itself will collapse.
Close to the Needle E'e is another natural arch in the making. This is at a lower level and at high tide the sea washes in via a narrow sea cave into an attractive natural amphitheatre filled with a pebble beach This curious little cove is named the Mermaids Kirk. The different elevation of the Needle E'e suggests that it is relatively older and was formed at a time when land levels were rather lower than they are today.
To claim this earthcache we require you to do the following :-
1. Check the tide tables for 241 Arbroath and estimate using the time you were at the site how high in relation to the Arch the sea will be at high tide. This should hopefully give some sort of indication of how often the arch is still being eroded by the sea. Please post your estimated figure in your log.
2. Post a picture of your GPS and the Needle E'e. (The photo is optional but we're sure you will have plenty of photos from your walk along the cliffs)
