Castle Hill with Edinburgh Castle proudly sitting on top of it,
is one of Edinburgh’s most formidable landmarks.
Castle Hill is better known as the Castle Rock.
Castle Rock is a Carboniferous volcanic plug in the heart of
Edinburgh, on which stands Edinburgh Castle. Rising to 133m (435
feet) and certainly settled by the 2nd century AD. Running down a
ridge to the east is the Royal Mile, this ridge having been left
following the action of glaciers, which flowed from the west
removing the surrounding softer rock, but leaving this 'tail' in
the lee of the Castle Rock. Thus we have the exemplar for what is
described geologically as a crag-and-tail feature.
An Early Fort - It is easy to appreciate why this site was
chosen some 3000 years ago as the place to build a stronghold.
There is evidence of human habitation on the summit of the
Castle Rock as far back as the Bronze Age (1000 BC). This early
fort was called Din Eidyn, and was occupied by the local Celtic
tribe, the Votadini. Din Eidyn first appears in records in about
600 A.D., a three hundred strong war band met with their king,
Mynyddog Mwynfawr, at 'the stronghold of Eidyn'. Around 638 A.D.
the Northumbrians, led by their King Edwin, invaded the south east
of Scotland. It is about this time the anglicised version of the
name came into use, but it is incorrect to think of Edinburgh as
Edwin's Burgh. The Northumbrians were expelled by Malcolm II at the
Battle of Carham in 1018.
For further history of the castle, as there is far too much to
put onto these pages go to user's web page at the top.
The cache can be found about 4 metres away from one of the
tracks that run along the side of the hill. All the tracks are
heavily used, so care should be taken whilst retrieving and
replacing the cache.
Please ensure it is well hidden when putting it back.
Opening times for the hill are, April to September - 8am -
6pm, October to March 8am - 4.30pm. If you are on the hill when the
gates close you will be locked in.
Castle Hill also gets closed, before and after any firework
displays, which are being set off from Edinburgh Castle. The main
time for this is at Hogmanay. It also gets closed for various other
reasons without much or no notice. So you must be prepared to find
the gates locked. Otherwise access is very much as advertised
above.
Note: I do not condone the climbing of the gates whilst
locked. Doing so may mean that you are breaking the law and if
caught may also jeopardise this cache?
Due to the location of the cache, it is hard to get a good fix
on the co-ordinates (large rock feature blocking half the sky out
. My GPS was only giving me an accuracy
of 12 metres. Which isn't that great for such a small cache. The
clue should help though.
Travel Bugs are the property
of the person who has released them. Therefore I do not count them
as a swap item.
Please DO NOT take an item in exchange for any Travel Bugs that you
may wish to leave in this cache.
