Maspie Mystery Multi-cache

This cache will take you through Falkland Estate, which lies at the foot of the Lomond Hills. Falkland estate has a long and illustrious past. James IV built Falkland Palace between 1501 and 1541. It was a favourite hunting lodge for him and successive members of the Stewart family to visit to hunt deer and wild boar in the surrounding forests. With the accession to the English throne of James VI, Falkland Palace ceased to be a royal residence and fell into decline. Falkland estate was inherited by the Tyndall Bruce family in the early 1800s and bought by the 3rd Marquis of Bute in 1887 (of Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute). Upon his death it passed to his second son, Lord Ninian Crichton Stuart, and thence to his grandson the current laird.

The ‘newer’ House of Falkland, set in the heart of the estate, was built in the Jacobean revival style of architecture between 1839 and 1844. There is access to woodland, forest and open hill walks. There is a mixture of broadleaf and conifer woodlands. As it is an active working estate, please keep to the paths and follow the country code.

Directions
Drive through the village past Falkland Palace and the violin shop. Carry on along the narrow road, and at the sharp left hand bend, continue on and drive through the gates to the estate. Park in the car park just through the gates at N56 15.233 W003 12.971.

The Clues
The path can be a bit muddy in places at certain times of the year, so boots are advised. The duck pond near the carpark is a nice place for a picnic. To find the cache, you must make a note of certain information as you walk up Maspie Den. This cache will probably take between 1.5 and 2 hours to complete.

Walk along the path to the ruined Mausoleum at N56 15.133 W003 13.019, which was designed by Reginald Fairlie.

Find the date on the front wall. It is 19AB.

Continue along the path, passing by the back of the House of Falkland. It is leased by a residential school from Falkland Heritage Trust. Please do not stray from the path, but you can give a wave to Allieballie, who works at the school (as I did for 10 years).(Unfortunately, during the lambing season, you cannot take a dog this way, even on a lead. In this case go back and walk up the estate road bearing right at the fork, cross a stone bridge, and at N56 15.254 W003 13.436 turn left onto the path which is opposite the School playing field sign. Please do not stray onto the school grounds.)

You will come to a stone bridge at N56 15.109 W003 13.711. Continue up alongside the burn into Maspie Den. (On your way back down continue straight on rather than going back over the bridge towards the mausoleum. You will experience a ‘Little Walk in the Dark’. To get back to the car park, continue onto the bridge at N56 15.200 W003 13.502, take the left fork in the path and rejoin the road, which leads down to the carpark.)

On your way up Maspie Den, there are a number of bridges that crisscross the burn.
How many X cross patterns are there on ONE side of each of these bridges?
1. Wooden bridge under a stone bridge at N56 15.088 W003 13.738. C
2. Wooden bridge at N56 15.068 W003 13.850 D
3. Wooden bridge at N56 14.984 W003 14.000 E (Note that there are two bridges close to each other here; one gives you an odd number and the other gives you an even number. It's the even number that you want.)
4. Wooden bridge at N56 14.908 W003 14.088 F

Finally, at the top of Maspie Den, there is a very interesting natural feature. How many letters are there in its name = G? (Hint: it is more than 5).

The Cache
The cache is a large ammo box. There is a FTF certificate. The cache is at
N56 1E. (C-E) (F-A) (G-B)
W003 1 (E-A). (C+A) D (F-C)

Before you start cursing me for not hiding it closer to the end of the clue trail, I’m afraid that I was unable to get permission to hide it on the estate, so it is outside the estate boundary. You can either continue on from the top of Maspie Den, which is a slightly shorter, but probably steeper walk; or go back to the car and park at Craigmead carpark at N56 14.498 W003 14.905. It's a more level walk to the cache from here. Remember to do 'A Little Walk in the Dark' on your way back down Maspie Den, continuing straight down the path all the way back to the estate road. There are toilets and picnic tables at Craigmead carpark. Of course, you can also walk to Lomond Views from here too. Trigpoint baggers may wish to visit the trigpoints on the tops of East and West Lomond hills.

Update: I'd like to thank Allieballie for some very useful information about the estate, which I have copied from her log as it will disappear down the page with further logs.

She says that
"When the Tyndall-Bruce family lived in the House, the Victorian fad for follies and other such curiosities was followed here too - hence the "little walk in the dark"! There was also a Temple (now ruined) further up on the hill, and apparently a flock of albino peacocks used to strut their stuff in the grounds as well!

Watch out for rough animal carvings in some of the cut tree trunks as you make your way up - these were whittled just after the trees were cut down. There are at least three - but I can never remember where and what they are, although there is a bird (of unknown species) between the path and burn at N56 14.922 W003 14.080

The estate is currently carrying out a squirrel survey - there are both grey and red squirrel populations here, and the ranger is asking people to help by making a note of which type you see and where (Grid Ref. would be good - and geocachers have no excuse for not being able to record that!). Further details and leaflets to record any findings on can be found on the notice board between the car park and the pond (on the car park side). You can also record any other wildlife sightings you feel are of note."