Caching on the Haggis Highway - #2

Hi there everyone

I promise that this is the very last post from our week's holiday in Scotland back in June, I can't believe it was quite so long ago.

With everything else we got up to and all of the places that we visited, we didn't have a lot of time for Geocaching, though we did manage spend one day on a bit of a road trip.

When Martin and I visited a couple of years ago we spent a fair amount of time hunting for a series of caches on 'The Haggis Highway' and we wanted to see if we could get a bit further north this time.

We started off by heading towards Tomintoul on the A939, The Old Military Road, and our first real stop was at the viewpoint for Corgarff Castle.

You can just about see the castle there in the distance.

We couldn't quite understand how we'd missed this one on our last trip as we stopped at this viewpoint, but it appears that this cache had been placed after our last visit.
It was a really good multi, where we had to collect information from the inscription on the standing stone to help us work out the co-ordinates for the final find. It was quite a busy little spot, with lots of people pulling in to take in the view, so it took us a while to manage to sign the log, before we were back on our way.

There is a hole bored into the standing stone, which you can look through for an intriguing view of the castle ...

The rusty looking metal sculptures are actually seats, where you can just sit, sheltered from the wind, and take in the view ...

We carried on heading North towards The Lecht Ski Centre for our next stop. This was as far as we had made it on our last visit and it looked very different today. On our last visit the whole area had been sheathed in thick mist ...

It looked just a little bit brighter today ...

I couldn't resist snapping the first signs of Christmas, maybe just a little tacky but hey ...

From The Lecht it was all new ground for us and our next stop was a short distance along The Old Military Road at an old disused manganese mine. 

It was a lovely little spot and yet another place that we would probably have driven straight past if not for Geocaching. We took the short walk out, along the stream, to the old mine and tried to imagine how it would have looked and operated all those years ago.

 

From here we continued our drive into Tomintoul, stopping every now and again to pick up the odd cache along the way.

In Tomintoul we headed straight into The Old Fire Station tea room for a quick refreshment stop, whilst we planned our route back.

We decided we would continue north, heading for Glenlivet and then begin to make our way back.

There were caches to be had at regular intervals but we decided that, as time was getting on and we had a good drive back, we would only stop for the odd one or two.

We started with The Soldier's Stone. This is literally a standing stone by the side of the road, with the date 1690 etched into its surface. It marks the site where a soldier fell after the battle of the Haughs of Cromdale in that same year.

This is literally all there is to see, but it is such a fascinating story we are so glad that we managed to stop and have a look.

This skirmish took place during an early period of Jacobite unrest and it was fought on May 1st 1690 under the shadow of Creagan a’Chaise on the other side of the Cromdale Hills. More of a routing than a battle, 400 Highland Clansmen under the leadership of Colonel Cannon were killed or captured by government troops led by Sir Thomas Livingstone. Many of the clansmen fled eastwards over the hills only to collapse later from their wounds.

Our next stop was a very strange one. It was by a small church in the most lovely of spots ... 

... and, though I am sure this next picture may seem pretty gruesome to some, I was kind of morbidly fascinated ...

We could only assume that the mole catcher only got paid if he could prove he'd done his job.

There was nothing at all gruesome about our next stop, which was the Packhorse Bridge at Glenlivet, yes, that Glenlivet of Scottish whisky fame.

This beautiful bridge spans the Livet at Bridgend where the river tumbles through a narrow rocky gorge. The exact age of the bridge is unknown but it is thought to have been built in connection with the nearby Blairfindy castle. Two arches of the bridge now survive, the third having been ripped away by flood waters during the great "Muckle Spate" of 1829 which caused much devastation to Speyside.

This really was the loveliest of spots and was a real delight ...

It was now time for us to begin our long trek home, which we did stopping every now and then to pick up another seven caches along the way.

We'd had another lovely day out exploring, finding interesting local treats, thanks to local cachers who put the effort in to place and maintain caches for others to find. A big thank you from the four of us 😀😀😀😀

Beautiful Britain - Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Corndavon Cottage

Hi there everyone

We are just back from a fab week's break in the very lovely Royal Deeside, making a revisit to Garnshiel Cottages, with us staying back in Corndavon and mum and dad ensconced in Morven.

We had a crazy busy week, got out and about loads and saw some amazing sights, so I have plenty to tell you about over the next few weeks.

Apologies to those of you who will have seen most of these pictures on Facebook over the course of last week, but I thought I'd start with a bit of a snapshot, so here it is from start to finish ... a week of selfies and smart phone pictures.

We had a stop off at The Kelpies on the way up ...

There was plenty of Geocaching ...

... and even more sightseeing, with plenty of beautiful spots and loads of castles ...

The Burn O'Vat

Braemar Castle

The Linn O'Dee

Balmoral Castle

Balmoral Castle

Crathes Castle

Drum Castle Rose Garden

Craigevar Castle

Craigevar Castle

Loch Muick

Loch Muick

With one last stop off at the lovely Rosslyn Chapel on the way home ...

Rosslyn Chapel

What a week we had. We all had a fabulous time but came home absolutely shattered.

If you want to see more of our trip than a few selfies then please keep reading over the next few weeks, where I have plenty more to share 😉

My First Crochet Ta-Dah!

The Checkerboard Textures Throw

You will have seen from previous posts that I have got a little bit obsessed with crochet.

My first project started out, back in March, as the checkerboard crochet throw, for which you can find the full pattern here for free.

The picture on the left shows what it should look like ...... and the one on the right is what mine looks like ...... 

Not bad for a first go methinks. I am actually quite proud as it's my first attempt at crocheting in absolutely donkeys years. 

I have adapted the original pattern somewhat. Rather than a five by five squared throw I have gone for seven by four.  This will make it usable as a throw for a single bed, as well as a cuddly for snuggling up in when on the sofa on those cold winter nights.

The original pattern includes 10 different patterned squares and 10 simple granny squares put together to give the checkerboard effect. I decided to have my 'checkerboard' of the patterned squares down the middle, with a granny square border.  

I decided to go with two of each of five different patterned squares instead of the 10 different ones. This was purely because they were my favourites and they turned out well. I then needed 18 granny squares for my border.

I finished off my throw with a final border finishing with a simple scalloped edge.

So that's how it's turned out.  I wanted to share with you how I did it. By no means intended as a tutorial but there may be some useful tips from a crocheting novice. 

I used seven 100g balls of pale grey Olympus double knitting wool (Shade 936),  It was £1.80 a ball at my local post office, so cost me £12.60 overall for wool, which I didn't think was too bad. 

I started out by making the following squares, using a combination of a 3.5 and 4.0 crochet hooks. 

• 18 Granny squares (4.0) 
• 2 Popcorn squares (3.5) 
• 2 Cross stitch squares (4.0)
• 2 Front Post Treble Crochet squares (3.5)
• 2 Front Post Double Crochet squares (4.0)
• 2 Shell Stitch squares (4.0)

The full instructions for making all of the squares can be found on the pattern link here.  If you are struggling with the instructions there are also links to 'Crochet Alongs', where you can see the pattern actually being demonstrated.  I found these really useful for some of the patterns I was really unfamiliar with.

Once I had completed all of my squares and had darned in all of my ends, I 'blocked' the squares and was amazed at the result. It was a bit of an effort, but well worth it. Blocking your squares just straightens out all of the edges and makes sure that they are all exactly the same size. You can find really a really useful tutorial for blocking crochet squares here.

I just folded up a few towels and put them on my ironing board and measured and pinned the squares in batches. I steamed them and then left them for 24 hours before unpinning. The squares should measure 7" x 7" when blocked. 

To make sure that I was happy with my overall pattern, I laid all of the squares out on the bed and just moved them around until I was happy with the final layout.

Rather than whip stitching my squares together I crocheted them on the reverse, using a slip stitch and was really pleased with how it turned out. They look really neat, with a nice flat seam on the front and a nice neat ridge on the back. On my next project I will be confident enough to join on the front. 

I joined my squares in strips first and then joined the strips together.

Having joined all of the squares together I then added my own border. I did a round of single crochet, followed by a round of double crochet and then another round of single crochet before finishing with a simple scalloped edge. 

Overall I am really pleased with how it's turned out. I'm not really sure as to how long it has taken me to make overall as I haven't really kept track of how long I've spent on it. 

I've made it as a wedding gift, hopefully for someone who does not read my blog, so it will come as a surprise.  

As its my first completed crochet project there will be part of me that will be sad to part with it. I only hope the recipients love it as much as I do.

This is not the end of my crocheting exploits - I already have two cushions to share with you and a bag full of wool for more new and exciting projects so watch this space!