Mugdock Park - A Great Day's Caching

Friday 16th July

Mr.Biff's official last day of his summer holiday, can't count Saturday and Sunday. So we decided to visit Mugdock Country Park near Milngavie (pronounced Mull Guy, but never by Mr.Biff). We'd been eyeing up Mugdock park for caching since we climbed Conic Hill in January with Dotscot but when I fell on ice and ended up needing casualty that killed that plan. In hindsight I'm really glad we didn't head to Mugdock Park at that time as the nasty, narrow, twisty roads leading to the park in EVERY direction would have had me in tears as it would have been horrifically icy... makes me shudder!

So off we trotted, a handsome packed lunch and geohounds in tow, up the M77 and through the Clyde Tunnel. Mugdock Park isn't far at all and we were there within an hour and a half. The weather was dry with the sun trying to break through despite poor weather reports, which in truth have been wrong all summer.

I've been to the park before but I'd never have remembered it's name, we visited it one day the girls and I with Geraldine and Lindsay after one of our wigwam trips. I vividly recall Lindsay playing on the assault course. It's a lovely place, well maintained and dripping in geocaches.

First of the day was the first part of the multi-cache  Dogmuck Park!?! (not really)   this required lots of mental arithmetic, oh we love that us Biffos... NOT! Mr.Biff has a way of 'checking' my calculations and this winds me up no end! Really, it makes me want to punch him. Thing is, you have to count the swings, easy there are 2, however there is a big gap where 2 other swings have been....mmmmmm quandary. So I proceed to calculate with two figures 2 & 4. This wouldn't be so bad if there weren't quite so many 'sums' to do! In the end we had 4 potential co-ordinates, well we never do things by halves!

Next cache  Milngavie Zoo (Taggart- Knife Edge) dead easy. Can see how it has high muggle potential and indeed the two TBs listed were absent. After that we picked up  Jenny Springers "Up The Khyber" a nice little hide that scarily involved sticking one's hand into a hollowed out tree EEK not really my thing! The sun was out now and we were making good progress and enjoying the park very much.  Mugdock Gunrange. came next. This was a fascinating place and we listed this cache site a favourite.

Anti-Aircraft base during WW2. This is where the gun would rotate firing rounds at enemy war planes.
The views over Glasgow are fantastic and it is easy to tell why this site was used to protect the city.

There are about 8 in all sunk down into the earth for further protection.
I can't begin to imagine how loud the noise must have been and how
vulnerable the men must have felt living and working in these concrete vaults.

The cache itself was unremarkable but this is why we love geocaching; it brings us to the most interesting or beautiful places. This one had both incredible history and endless views. A really excellent cache site.


As we walked on to the next cache our co-ordinates showed that we were nearing the potential destination of the multi cache. First though we found  Mugdock Castle (Taggart- Hostile Witness) this was situated at the freakiest tree! It is corkscrewed round about multiple times the top branches are like little girls ringlets.

If anyone knows how this happens please let me know because I've never seen such a twisted tree! The other great thing about the Mugdock caches is the 'Taggart' theme, the cache owner has create a series of them with great information about the episodes filmed.

Corkscrew twists!

Perhaps it comes alive at night and eats Geocachers!

 Next cache co-ordinates (our multiple, multi cache ones) brought us to Mugdock Castle, again WOW for location, the park is SO worth a visit geocacher or not! The really nice thing was that we felt like we had it to ourselves, the main carpark area where the kids playpark etc. had been busy but the rest of park was really quite, there I go being anti-social again......

Drummer and Hannah enjoying the castle

Now to find the multi cache   Dogmuck Park!?! (not really). The last cachers had posted a DNF so this is always worrying...this means that we also will spend 40 minutes before Mr.Biff will concede defeat and spend the rest of the day in a bit of a sulk, he'll say he's fine but the signs are there his brows go down, he gets really quiet, he has a desire to kick things, he picks mundane fights....oh yes the signs are there.... 

Mrs.Biffo at Mugdock Castle

The multi cache co-ordinates took us beyond the walls of the castle and down to a beautiful lake where nasty swans and their cygnets frolicked in the water safe in the knowledge that nobody would go near them, as though they know they have royal protection. They have been known to want to eat Baby Biff, but then what animal hasn't tried to eat her?

Here the co-ords were giving us some problems as they kept taking us into an unlikely spot under some low hanging Rhoddy Doddies (or Rhododendrons to most folks). The other geo-type spot was the two large tree trucks lying in the middle of the path and indeed the clue did mention tree trunk. The problem here was the multitude of tiny frogs jumping about the grass, the real diddy ones so we didn't want to go stomping about in there. So it began the forty minute or so hunt.... in truth its always more like 10 when I  give up, which I did on this occasion, we had lots more to do and the last people hadn't found it, one of the tree trunks was burnt out and there was evidence of alcopop activity, oh the young scamps! chances were the tupperware had been found, investigated, geocoin stolen, box peed in before being thrown at haughty swans......that was my Sherlock thoughts on it all. 

Does he give up? See my reasoning? Does he hell! 

Bloody frogs everywhere I am freaking out, I am no killer of God's creatures, no matter how useless they are...I mean really what is a frog's purpose in life?

1. Eat flies
2. Be played with by children; unbeknownst to them the acid in their fingers (kids not frogs) is burning the little amphibians to death
3. Be eaten by the French

I mean I'm not anti-frog, and we do teach the life cycle of frogs in school. I'm just not sure if a pupil were to say to me 'So what?' that I wouldn't say 'Y'know you're right.....let's talk instead about the journey of a sausage roll in Greggs', they'd all sit up and listen about that....oh yes they would! Anyway I digress, the only worse thing for Mr.Biff when we have been searching for a long time than not finding the cache, is when I find the cache... Ah! What can I say I have the gift, the gift for glancing here and there looking for the most appropriate thing to throw myself off when I spy something not quite right, something 'arranged', something out of kilter with the setting, on further inspection and I know it's going to be there, I find the cache... talk about a face like a skelpt arse. He's trying to be pleased we've found it but WE haven't found it, I'VE found it!

Mrs.B signing the logbook. Smug? Oh yes, I'll say.......

I realise at this point while writing my blog that it's getting really long but the thing is it's really my diary entry so there's really nothing else for it. So the next cache or the next couple as they were less remarkable.  Field Trip, Missing Tower this cache was close to one of the small car parks but we were enjoying the circuit walk. The wild flowers in the meadow were lovely reminding me that I must dig out a childrens' book  on wild flowers that I have and start identifying species.

Hannah & Drummer stomping through the delicate meadow flora & fauna

My Beautiful Boy 

The next cache  Mugdock Quarry (Taggart- Funeral Rites) was another 'Taggart' cache I vaguely remember this one, but from where we were walking we couldn't really see the quarry and paid heed to the signs to not go beyond the safe area. A TB in this one yeah! So many of the caches had TBs listed but so few with them missing. Finally back to the car, the fore mentioned caches took us a good circuit of Mugdock Park but the place is massive so we jumped in the car and headed to a car park further down the park to pick up a couple more. The first of these was  Field Trip, Missing house. the companion cache to the earlier Field Trip cache. This involved many zig zag zig zag zig zag zig zag zig zag zig zags down the valley through massive ferns! Then on to  Jenny-Springers "The Moors" there were many paths in this part of the Park Lord knows if we were heading in the right direction, we simply follow our arrow! This was our 9th cache of the day and the weather was starting to turn. We decided to press on as there was  Woodland Wander to be found only a bit further on. As we found it the rain came on in ernest, y'know the stuff that makes you feel as though you've entered some kind of 'new age' woodland power shower... unheated. It was relentless! The poor dogs now resembling an advert for Pet Rescue, y'know, sad animals, growling owners, weeping dog noises, soppy voice

"Drummer and Hannah loved their owner but she was a heartless geocaching witch who dragged them through the rain looking for tupperware boxes. Can you spare £3 a month to make sure Drummer and Hannah never have to go caching again. Here at 'Save Yer Dug' we never put a good dog down".... A good dog? Nae luck Drummer.

We eventually got back to the car 'DROOKIT' now there's a guid Scots word that my husband now truly knows the meaning of.

"I'm a bloody pedigree y'know!"

On returning to the car I remembered that I had a bag of the kids old clothes in the boot to be deposited at the first charity shop. Never underestimate the stretch of elastic in Tesco's age 7-8 pyjama trousers. This as you can see is proof! They aren't even tight and I have decided to keep them as a spare pair of 'shorties' as they are really comfy!

Mugdock Park is a great place, we didn't even get all our intended caches done as rain stopped play, but we will return. We highly recommend the park for geocachers and non-geocachers alike. It's a brilliant place, just look out for frogs.... and the quarry!

Cairnsmore of Carsphairn - Dragging Baby Biff up a Mountain

Saturday 2nd July

Cairnsmore of Carsphairn is highly recognizable from the roadside and a frequent visitor to beautiful Dumfries & Galloway I always viewed it as a marker that I was on my way, leaving Ayrshire behind and chances were Connie would throw up in about 10 minutes time and the deep hope that nobody had fed her Wotsits (honestly, the same layby every time).  Guess what? There's a cache up there!
  Cairnsmore of Carsphairn Summit

The weather had been good so we decided that it was high time we claimed the Cairnsmore cache. We also  decided that we were fed up of being viewed as lepers in the family and insisted Connie come with us....this she did grudgingly.

Ninja Biff - Armed and Dangerous

As always we consulted WalkHighlands, the cache description gave us a different route which also picked 'Donkey Pump' up enroute but after using a good few map routes of Walk Highlands we decided to stick with what we trust .....don't know if this was the best idea this time! Well it would have been if we'd followed it correctly.

En Garde Monsieur Biff!

  We parked at the Green Well of Scotland where there is ample parking and already occupied with many cars, that said we only encountered a few other walkers on our hike. Not wishing to appear anti-social, we like a lonely walk, many of the walks we have done have been really busy; Ben Lomond and Ben Nevis were like Sauchiehall Street on sale day. 

Connie with Willieanna (yes that's the hills name!) behind.

The walk starts off up a landrover track and follows the side of Polsue Burn till the track slowly and gently ascends. Baby Biff started 'gurning' about 15 minutes into the walk y'know the stuff 'Are we nearly there yet?' 'Which hill is it?' 'Can we stop for chocolate?' and ultimate mutiny 'I'm not moving till I get chocolate!'. It was slow going to say the least.

Baby Biff's mutiny (one of many) and wild wolves (geohounds).

In her defense it was very warm and muggy but oh she was murder to listen to!

Mr & Mrs.Biff.....and ominous, black, thunder clouds..Eek!

We followed the Landrover track, skirting round the lesser hills of WillieAnna and Dunool, till it ended and there was nothing for it but to cross the burn and take on the final steep ascent to the summit of Cairnsmore of Fleet.

Corserine & The Rhinns of Kells in the distance

A rare moment of positivity!

Mr.Biff wore the war wounds of this walk for a week, the midgies were hellish and appear to love his hot Southern blood, they have a bite at me but don't feast, I reckon my blood is far too chilly for them. I think it was Dotscot (Queen of Medical trivia) who told me that they are attracted by the Carbon Dioxide   that we exhale when we breathe. Now just how do we know this? What sad git has studied the habits of midgies, that's what I want to know! I imagine a wee, grizzly man sitting in a laboratory coughing into petri dishes full of midgies ..."Oh aye they like that!".

So I did my research:

What attracts mosquitoes and other biting insects to us?

Our breathing! The combination of carbon dioxide (CO2), moisture, and heat that results from exhaling attracts the female mosquitoes.

What is octenol?

Octenol (1-octen-3-ol) is a naturally occurring by-product that comes from plants and some animals, such as cows, that ingest large amounts of vegetable matter. It is irresistible to midges who can detect minute fluctuations of CO2 and Octenol in their environment from 100 yards away.

http://www.midgetech.co.uk/how-it-works/faq.asp#q8

Dotscot (Queen of Medical trivia), full of this stuff, bloody full of it, she'd be top class in a pub quiz.

We hiked up the hill and it was a richt guid lung buster! We stopped halfway for a drink and a bit of sustenance but the midgie attach was just too intense!

How do we defeat the midgies?!!!!!! We don't...we just keep walking!

The views were sensational, the Galloway hills are really special. Running parallel as we ascended was the long ridge of the Black Shoulder which is the alternative ascent to the summit of Cairnsmore of Carsphairn. We had seen people on this earlier and they passed us on the way down as we were still ploughing up hill. Baby Biff got her mountain goat legs at this point as she could see the end in sight and is after all a geocacher at heart and had to find it before Mr.Biff did.

Finally the hill plateaued and a flatter surface of rocky boulders led the way to the trig point and thankfully no more midgies! The views were amazing from here, panoramic views down over Galloway, over to Arran and the west, North with it's sea of wind turbines ( I've never really minded them, but I truly don't want to see anymore on Scotland's landscape).

PLANKING! 

Standing on Mr.Biff?

First things first we find the cache...well baby Biff did, her highest cache yet! The trig has a nice shelter so we had lunch and signed the logbook. This is another seldom visited caches which is a shame because they are class.

Team Biffo at the Summit of Cairnsmore of Carsphairn

We descended along the Black Shoulder which was a quick jaunt, the up over Dunool, this led to a very steep descent (screaming knees) to a steep ascent over Willieanna.

The Roman's couldn't have built it straighter, the white dots are sheep, this hill is bigger than it looks.

 Heading down Willieanna we could see the Landrover track and the path back to the car. It was a fair old walk all in all, a good four and a half hours but we did have a protesting 13 year old in tow. Cairnsmore of Carsphairn is no walk in the park, at 797m it is a fine Corbett and worthy of the effort. The walk is very straightforward and the views on a clear day, like we had, were awesome. Sadly Baby Biff has decided it is her first and last walk up a mountain so it will be her highest geocache. I have a suspicion that she will be a bit like her mum and have an urge to climb things once she gets older.

Hanging up her walking sticks