Galston BIG Wood Caching...a Lovely Woodland Walk Ruined by the Aljos.

Sunday 14th August

It's been a long time since we've been out caching. What with falling down stairs, getting concussion, not being able to afford petrol, having no job and getting flu the past few weeks had been a barrel of laughs........ no not really. We'd picked up a few TBs at Mugdock Park and really needed to move them on.

There are plenty of caches for us still to do along the Galston, Newmilns (and beyond) area. This ALJO country. Now what have we learned about ALJO caches in our time as cachers.

1. They are often in interesting locations.
2. They are often historical.
3. They are often complex.
4. They often make sane men run around country lanes with their t-shirt over their heads (ok maybe not so sane).
5. They make you swear.
6. They make you question the parentage of the ALJOs, indeed Mr.ALJO's mother often is remarked upon also.
7. They will make you want to hurt something / someone.............. but you don't know where the ALJOs live.

The parking is great, I  like this, I get freaked out when I can't park, so a nice big layby is ideal. We skip the first cache as there are muggles sitting in a car so we decide to get it enroute home. Up the path go our very excited geohounds. The GPS is not happy and keeps losing satellite reception, Mr.Biff is armed with his iphone app so it's a bit of a battle of the TECH. We are fools, we honestly expected them to be fairly straight forward... when will we learn?  Loudoun Gowf Club, Stomping through 4ft nettles we go OUCH OUCH OUCH. Through muddy puddles SQUELCH SQUELCH SQUELCH. It can't be up here... can it? Nobody has been up here, this untrodden pathway, for years. Has Mr. ALJO been dropping from helicopters to place his caches? Mr.Biff found this one, easy once we'd reached GZ. This was early in our caching day by number 6.... well I'll get to that.

Heading off for cache No.2   The Hidden Bridge I discover some interesting fungi. This is a growing interest and although clearly this specimen is one that nobody would think of taking home to saute. I really wish I was confident to pick the edible ones. We have a good rummage around the area, the GPS is no good at all, not gathering any satellites, so nothing left but to rummage.

Where the trolls live

The dogs get really excited as we go back and forward, under the bridge, over the bridge. I am routing around under the bridge when Mr.Biff shouts "Hey a frog" and as I look up the said frog takes a leaping kamakazi jump off the bridge in my direction. Now I'm not afraid of frogs. As per previous log I have analyzed the purpose of frogs but I have no issue with the swamp-loving little creatures.


MySpace Codes!

I do not however want them jumping on my face in a frenzied attempt to escape the hulking giant of Mr.Biff. Did I scream? Well yes I did. To make matters worse 5 mins later Mr.Biff found cache No.2 grrrrrrr

                                                        Mr.Biff    2-0   Mrs.Biff 

Where was he looking? The very spot I'd just left....of course!

Onwards and upwards, there are 2 off to the left over the burn but we head straight ahead for  The Red Farm. We bypass   Arclowdun, this cache we did last year with Dotscot who was a real newbie at the time and now is a fanatical junkie like the rest of us.

Mrs.Biffo, Rachel, Darcy Doodle, Dotscot, Rosie & Mr.Biffo

Funny how time flies this, our visit up the BIG WOOD was like yesterday and we really enjoyed it then, I'm sure a couple of caches that were on then have now been taken off as I can't imagine we walked up for just the one.

   The Red Farm cache did actually bring me to tears. No, no it wasn't the fact that I lost out No.3 to Mr.Biff and his bloody iphone. GPS just dead with the tree cover. I cried because I was still fighting the flu that HE gave me, I'd just got my boots REALLY muddy and I am technically unemployed and struggling with the realization of it .... and the frog trauma...well I was still recovering.

MySpace Codes!

    Mr.Biff    3-0   Mrs.Biff (curses!)

Now I'm pissed. Time to head back the way we came.   Fallen Giant comes next, now we know its over the water and we feel smug when we find a proper road that leads to the top of Loudoun Castle Theme Park (now no longer operational). Yet, still not quite the right direction. Now the ALJOs do say that one must wander through woodland and that there is no pathway this should have been a bigger warning than it was. Alarm bells should have rung. I'm not sure how we managed but we end up back on the other side of the river...... we search for places to cross and there low and behold is a tree, just like the one in Dirty Dancing, but we don't dance on it... Mr.Biff is no dancer and hell he's certainly no Patrick Swayze! Over we go and then we coax the geohounds over. Drummer got a little stuck on the way up the bank and Hannah went mental barking him on... brave geohounds risking tooth and tail for tupperware. 

Goatfell...... Donna's Cliffhanger

Question:  What do you get if you walk an Englishman, an Australian, a (reluctant) Irish woman and Mrs.Biffo up a mountain?

An Englishman, A Scots Woman, An Irish Woman & An Australian
Mr.Biff, Mrs.Biffo, Donna & Steven

Answer:    

High Isles - Arran 

It has been an eternity since I have written this blog, geocached or walked any further than to my car door. Sad I know, I've even taken up knitting, now what is that all about?!!! I haven't even knitted anything of any consequence. Slugs, I knit slugs. All kinds of slugs even Christmas slugs and other special holidays..........

Happy St.Patrick's Day!

I haven't even got round to knitting myself a hat. Although I did knit a geocaching one for Mr.Biff that was so small that the only person it fit was.....well, when I say person.......

Drummer in his GeoBeanie

So it's time to turn our lives around and get back to the good stuff in life. 

You know the stuff: 

Wading through swamps,

Fighting through bush and briar risking scratches at least ..... tetanus at worst,

Driving up single track roads only to meet the farmer from hell in his 4x4 racing towards you,

Cows..... meeting cows.... EVERYWHERE and then trying to get Mr.Biff to breathe into a paper bag after the trauma,

Picking 'sticky willie' off the dogs FOR DAYS afterwards,

Picking ticks off the dogs......oh, oh, oh mind while I heave!

Sore feet,

Sore legs,

Sore loser (we all know who I'm talking about),

Ultimately seeking the tupperware, ammo can, plastic snail, impossible nano or any other strange container that we yearn to add our name to and tick off our virtual geo wishlist.

We'd planned to climb The Cobbler with our bud Dotscot in Feb but the weather got the better of us. It's still on the wishlist for 2012. The sudden plan to climb Goatfell came unexpectedly. In my last job I worked with Donna, now Donna is a very grounded person who has always smiled indulgently at my little treks around the country after my husband on his geo-jaunts. I suspect that she take up chess or brain surgery before she'd ever consider the wonderful hobby that is geocaching. In fact she has NEVER, EVER shown the slightest inclination to climb anything other than stairs, and why should she? Why should she indeed...... apart from the fact that she has a very nice, enthusiastic boyfriend called Steven. I suspect Steve has the energy of a pack of Dingoes on steak night. Steve has bought Donna lovely shiny Berghaus walking boots, well they're not for doing the hoovering in ....... I rest my case.

So it was Donna who brought up the idea of Goatfell and we decided to join them. It was decided that the 7am ferry was too early on a Saturday to contemplate so we opted for the next one at 9:45 from Ardrossan to Brodick. The ferry takes 55mins and goes really quickly. Bacon and sausage butties all round except for Steve who's healthy Australian upbringing made him recoil in horror at the thought of all the cholesterol clinging to his arteries. I kinda figure that all that extra fat can be burnt off hiking up a mountain, that and the scotch eggs, melton mobray pork pies, crisps, chocolate chip cookies and other essential mountain cuisine. 

Goatfell from the beach

We hoofed it over the beach and along the fisherman's path. The weather is warm and the going is good. Goatfell rises out of the treetops in the distance through the haze of the warm spring morning. We appear  to be sharing the jaunt with many other rucksack clad bods, these same bods we pass and are subsequently passed by them the whole way up the mountain. I feel justified in calling Goatfell a mountain, my legs would feel betrayed if I called it a hill, it is a very fine Corbett at 874 metres (2866 ft).

The heat of the day makes the view below very hazy

We take a nice steady pace, it's a very warm day and we hydrate regularly. Donna is finding the walk a bit more challenging than her practice walk from Prestwick to Troon the previous week..... Eek! Do I tell her that we have a LONG way to go? Do I hell!

Mrs.Biffo and walking companions on the ascent

Is it a smile? Is it a grimace? 

The stream under the bridge is always good for a splash and cool down

Half way there and nobody wants their picture taken

Mr.Biffo with the peak in the distance

The hike is a really enjoyable one, the terrain changes enough to keep the view and surrounds interesting. We had a very hazy day but we still had fairly good visibility of the island, just nothing beyond. We stopped for a quick refuel (scotch egg) and viewed the peak in the distance thinking "the end is in sight.....yet it appears to be teaming with ants......those can't be people can they?" The road is still a long one. Goatfell is not to be underestimated it is no gentle stroll and picnic.

Still smiling up a well trodden path

The craggy peak in the distance

I have to say I am missing the geohounds. We felt that they had the potential to spoil the ferry trip for people.... namely us. Hannah has a thing about men, they make her nervous and she tends to extend her little doggy neck and bay like the hound of the Baskerville. It's worse when people try to make her like them she just howls more. As for Drummer well he is at that 'teenage' doggy age where they feel that they must spray the world with their wonderful aroma "Lynx for Rough Collies" or just dog piss to you or I. He lifts his leg anywhere and I could just imagine him on the ferry like some hedonistic pup on a doggy 18-30 cruise as lots of ladies (doggies) would be travelling and have travelled before him leaving their "Impulse for Drummer" scent everywhere, bless him but he'd probably flood the ferry. Needless to say we left the dogs at home. Wonder what they get up to when we're not there?

Hannah & Drummer Duvet Day

About two and a half hours in we reach the path that joins the Corrie route and you finally get a glimpse of the mountains beyond Goatfell.

WalkHighlands Map of the Route

Donna was struggling her way upwards but I knew her legs were screaming, as were mine! My butt had been stuck to the sofa for the past 5 months. 

The views are worth the screaming calf muscles

As we start the final rocky ascent poor Donna is looking under pressure. Ian offers around the cookies, cookies always help. 

I remark that the way she is feeling reminds me of a movie.

"Now what is it called? I can't remember."

"Cliffhanger?" Steve suggests, "Vertical Limit? Descent?"

"No I was thinking about 'Run Fat Boy Run' when he hits the brick wall"

That final push!

"One last push" I say and Donna reminds me that I have been saying this for most of the way up. I hill walk like a cheerleader on acid, the adrenaline makes me incredibly motivated and I feel the need to share my enthusiasm and inspire everyone to keep going. I fear I just annoy the hell out of everyone and the drive they subsequently have is to get to the top so they can push me off it :)

I promise it's just up there!

After a bit of scrambling between the huge outcrops of rock we reach the summit.

Donna & Steve on the summit of Goatfell, Arran.......smiling!

Us Biffs. Got the trig now where's the cache?

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!