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Glenfinnich Traditional Geocache

This cache is temporarily unavailable.

Professor Xavier: Hi

One of my roles as a reviewer is to monitor my region for caches that have been disabled for a long time, have had a reasonable number of DNFs or appear to require some maintenance. This is done through running a query on a database of all the caches in my region that looks for such things or by cachers submitting Needs Archiving logs as it appears maintenance may not be being carried out by the CO.

It would appear that this cache may benefit from some attention by the CO. May I ask that the owner checks the cache and sort out any problems with it or gives an indication of when it may be up and running again for people to find. If this cannot be done or if the CO no longer wishes to maintain the cache then the listing should be archived.

Of course if the CO has visited the cache recently then please post an Owner Maintenance log indicating that they have done so, enable the listing, and all should be fine.

In the future, if a listing is going to be disabled for a long time then posting periodic notes to the page (once per month or so) keeps people up to date with what is happening.

This isn't a requirement to fix the cache immediately but if it's unlikely to be done within 30 days could the CO post a note to the cache page giving an indication of when the maintenance will be done, or an indication of why it cannot be carried out.

By all means send a mail to me through my profile, quoting the cache name and GC code, but please also post a note to the cache page. Emails to me may be missed or go astray and it would be a shame to archive the listing due to missing correspondence.

Guidelines: "You are responsible for occasional visits to your cache to maintain proper working order, especially when someone reports a problem with the cache (missing, damaged, wet, etc.). You may temporarily disable your cache to let others know not to search for it until you have a chance to fix the problem. This feature is to allow you a reasonable amount of time - normally a few weeks - in which to check on your cache. If a cache is not being maintained, or has been temporarily disabled for an unreasonable length of time, we may archive the listing."

Sadly if there is no response to this log after 30 days I may have to archive the cache.

Please note that the guidelines say that if a cache is archived by a reviewer or Geocaching HQ staff for lack of maintenance then it will not be unarchived - Unarchiving a Geocache

Regards

Ed
Professor Xavier - Volunteer UK Reviewer
www.geocaching.com
UK Geocaching Policies Wiki
Geocaching Help Center

More
Hidden : 3/7/2005
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
3 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

Sorry to disappoint all of those whisky buffs among you but this cache is not named after that well known whisky but actually after Finnich Glen, a sandstone gorge a few miles NW of Strathblane. But with a bit of luck this spectacular natural feature won’t leave you disappointed.

There may well be a better route in from the South but my chosen parking place was SE of Croftamie, the well used stop at the junction of the A809 and B384 at coordinates N56° 02.039’ W4° 25.136’. Go through the gate there and head off to the left where the copse protrudes up into the field. You can choose to climb over the stile and head down through the trees or go round. Circling round will mean you need to climb a fence or a gate. When you get down to the Garnock Burn you’ll need to find a way across. Either bring waterproof boots, a big log or lots of rocks to throw into the burn and hop across on. The kids and I had great fun getting wet feet trying to pick our way across; we reckoned the shallowest point is about 100 m to the east. From here head back towards the Finnich Bridge, it’s obvious where you’re heading.

GPSr reception in the gorge is a bit dubious so getting a good fix before you go in would probably be a good idea though I did manage to get a lock after turning mine on once I was inside having climbed up a bit to get a better view of the sky. Accuracy was down to ±15 m though. I took ten sets of readings and the average of them all was exactly the same as the first set, northing and westing, typical! There are many likely hidey-holes and Crabby and Bacon & Eggs were vying to find the most devious. I chose one that hopefully isn’t too bad but you are probably best advised to take a copy of the spoiler photo with you just in case. The final approach involves a bit of a scramble but my two ensured me that ‘FFB would make it easily’ so there you are. The kids could see lots of faces etched into the rocks but all I could see was the outline of an ample breasted woman, a pint glass and a bunny rabbit!

I’m not sure which particular part is supposed to be the Devil’s Pulpit but a quick search on the web and you can find information on The Secret Sign, which was a fantastic sounding show performed here where the audience turned up in waterproofs and hard hats to be entertained by water features, music and live birds of prey swooping around. Apparently this is one of the best kept secrets of lowland Scotland, the stunning natural gorge has entranced generations, with its intense greenness, dramatic geology and colourful history from its druidic origins to its role as a secret covenanters meeting place

It’s obvious why this location is popular for gorge walking.

On the way back up to the car we mobbed by the sheep that suddenly seemed to appear in the field. They formed a complete circle around us and walked with us up the hill, very strange. I guess they were just hungry and wanted to eat Bacon & Eggs!

These Devonian rocks consist of sandstone and conglomerate laid down between 415 and 345 million years ago when Scotland was south of the equator and a much warmer place, oh happy days!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Frr gur cubgb

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)