The Herring Road 2 - Dunbar Common Traditional Cache
Interloper: Due to the industrial scale developments around the original site I have decided to archive the cache and replace it in a new site well clear - at least for the present - of the wind factory.
The Herring Road 2 - Dunbar Common
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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One of several Rights of Way crossing the Lammermuir Hills, the Herring Road is the name given to the centuries-old route running south from Dunbar to Lauder. This is the route by which the salted herring were taken from Dunbar to Lauder and the Border country. While there are many variations to the route, the designated Scotways Right of Way runs from Halls, approximately 5 miles south of Dunbar to Lauder on the A68, a distance of 24 miles, or to Westruther on the A697. In earlier times the fishwives from the east coast fishing ports would walk prodigious distances, as much as 30 miles in a day, to get their fish to market, and this carrying the creels of herring which might weigh up to a hundredweight. Indeed, the Old Statistical Account of the 1790s records that the fishwives of Dunbar walked the 27 miles to Edinburgh with 200 pounds of fish in five hours! Perhaps miles have become longer, pounds heavier and hours shorter in the last two hundred years.
The Herring Road 2 - Dunbar Common is one of a series of three caches that have been placed along the northern half of the route. The other two caches are The Herring Road 1 - Lothian Edge (GCZ4JD) and the Herring Road 3 - Whiteadder (GCZ4JQ). Although the caches can be visited one at a time, I hope some cachers may be tempted to take in all three and complete the walk from Halls to the hill road between Gifford and Longformacus (or vice versa), a nice day’s outing. Walking the Herring Road will give a splendid introduction to the pleasures of walking in the Lammermuir Hills, an area which is still relatively unfrequented despite its proximity to Edinburgh. You will need to make arrangements to be dropped off and picked up at either end of the route as public transport is non-existent.
Car parking is available at several convenient points - listed form N to S along the route.
• CP 1 - N 55 56.784 W 002 33.440 at Halls; there is also room for one or two cars to be parked near the end of the public road around N 55 56.566 W 002 33.293.
• CP 2 - N 55 52.960 W 002 34.795 where the route crosses the Whiteadder Water, before joining the hill road from Garvald to the Whiteadder Reservoir.
• CP 3 - N 55 52.242 W 002 34.555 at the Penshiel road end on the B6355.
• CP 4 - N 55 50.541 W 002 35.024 where the route crosses the hill road from Gifford to Longformacus.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre fgbarf