Not far from Auchinleck Castle, within the grounds of Auchinleck Estate, is a cave hewn by hand out of the sandstone cliff itself. If you go inside you can see all the chisel marks and wonder at the fact that there is actually architecture, but you'll see what we mean when you get there.
The cave is known locally as "Wallace`s Cave", from local legend of his staying there for a few days whilst on the run. Not a surprise though as it would be easily defended. We were shown this by a local who said 'now you know where it is, you can pass it on too', and now we are.
There is parking for one car at N55 28.864, W4 22.711. Finding that parking is another matter though. There is about a mile of rough, gravel track to drive up to get to it. Proceed on foot back whence ye came to N55 28.842, W4 22.579 and enter the woods at that point. Follow the trail to the crest of a hill and you will see a path a few feet below. Descend the hill to that and follow along the cliff edge to the cache. If you are deathly afraid of heights then you might want to think twice about this one as it's fairly well a sheer drop of fifty feet to the river below for the whole path to the cache.
The cache location given is only as close as we could get a signal. If anyone can improve on it then feel free to let us know and we'll update the cache. For the cache itself, once you reach the given location, proceed onwards around ten yards. Look to your right and there is a fairly steep, muddy embankment, with a tree at the top and a blue rope on it. Clamber half way up the bank and look to the left and a large cleft in the rock. Wear old clothes as you may end up coming back down the embankment on your backside.
We would not recommend attempting this one if it has been raining a lot recently. There are spots in the path that are muddy at the best of times, but they are in places where you can get through them without slipping off the side. We can't guarantee that for the rest of the path if it's been raining!
Take a torch so you can see the inside of the cave - you'll be surprised by what you see there!
