Eilean Muireach (Murdoch's Island) Traditional Geocache
Eilean Muireach (Murdoch's Island)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Quick roadside cache, along a slightly overgrown constructed path.
This is a small traditional cache, suitable for small items only.
Parking is available in a layby nearby, however, take care on entering as the layby surface is badly potholed. Also, when leaving the layby please be aware that visibility is not great and traffic tends to be travelling very fast.
Eilean Muireach is the only “island” in Loch Ness. It was re-named by English soldiers making the first military maps of the area. They were unfamiliar with the gaelic language, so named it “Cherry Island” after the trees growing on it. The island is approximately 60 x 48 feet in size.
In August 1908, when the loch was unusually low, a monk from Fort Augustus Abbey, the Rev. Dom Odo Blondell, borrowed some diving equipment from the Canal engineers to investigate the island – this incidentally was the first underwater archaeological investigation in Britain.
He discovered that this was not in fact a natural island, but the foundations of a 2000 year old Crannog. He found large oak beams 10-12 feet long and securely fastened together covering the floor of the loch – these were covered with rubble, this was in turn covered with larger stones. Tree trunks were found around the circumference, with spars running into the rubble, presumably to keep it in place. Traces of an old causeway were also found, running from the north-west corner of the island to 3 large boulders on the mainland. This is now under water and cannot be seen. It is also known that a small castle existed on the crannog in the 15th century.
Before the Caledonian Canal was built, the loch was much lower, and the crannog would have been larger in size (measuring approximately 180 x 168 feet).
The island can be seen from the end of the path, where there is also an information board.
There is another small island in this bay known as Eilean nan Con (or Dog Island) – however, the formation of the rock suggests it is natural and no artificial material was detected by Dom Odo Blundell. It is nearly always under the water – only an iron post warns of its existence to boats.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ng gur onfr bs n flpnzber gerr