Deeside Way - Ballater Station Multi-cache
Deeside Way - Ballater Station
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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The Deeside Way largely follows the route of the Old Royal Deeside Railway from Aberdeen to Ballater. The path is suitable for walkers and cyclists with many sections suitable for horses as well. The majority of the route is suitable for child buggies and wheelchairs can access to within a few metres of all caches. Further details on the Deeside Way can be found at www.deesideway.org The route is waymarked using the following logo -
The descriptions for these caches have been written for following the Way from Cambus O May to Ballater but the Way can be followed in either direction.
These caches have been placed by the kind permission of Aberdeenshire Council. All the caches can be accessed from the Deeside Way and surrounding verges and there is no need to climb over any fences.
It is strongly recommended that you do not park on the A93 which is a busy trunk road. There is good parking in Ballater in several public car parks. There is a good bus service along the A93 with generally an hourly service.
Ballater Station opened on 17 October 1866 and was especially well known as this was the terminus used by the royal family when travelling to Balmoral Castle. Ballater Station was at first a simple booking office on a single platform but in 1886 the Royal Waiting Room was built to a design approved by Queen Victoria. Having fallen into disuse after the closure of the railway the station was refurbished for use as an area office by the local District Council. The Royal Waiting Room was visited by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on its centenary in 1986. There was a visitor centre, a tea room and also a museum which included the Royal Waiting Room - sadly largely destroyed in a major fire on 12 May 2015.
If you have travelled west along the Deeside Way, you have now reached the end or if going east just starting. The co-ordinates given are for the square just outside the hoarding round the station. The cache is not here but is within about a five minute walk. As of April 2018 the building works at the station are nearing completion and while these are done a revised set of questions have been used which are still accessible and the answers and they will give the location of this cache.
From the various plaques on the Victoria Hall and the Old Telegraph Office -
a - Prince Consort died on a4th December 1861
b - The number of letters in the first word in the inscription "b the good"
c - The number of words in the fourth line of the stone plaque referring to the renovation of the Victoria Hall
d - The renovated Victoria Hall was reopened d0-8-92
ef - Prince Consort was born on ef August 1819
N 57° 03.abc W 003° 02.def
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[Final location] Orgjrra Fpbgf Cvar naq srapr