The Mussell Road Traditional Cache
allieballie: Sounds like it has gone
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Yes that is how it’s spelt!
I was in St Andrews a month or so ago doing shampog's "St Andrews Old" cache and when I drove away I saw a sign saying “The Mussell Road”. It was a small sign and was one which indicated a footpath/right of way and only saw it briefly as I passed, but I thought to myself that it sounded intriguing and I must investigate further. An internet search revealed nothing though. I happened to be back in St Andrews a couple of weeks later and I thought I would go back and drive along the same road and see if I could find out where it started and have a look around to see if it looked promising for setting a cache along it. But I couldn’t find the sign again! Weird.
Then last week I was back in St Andrews city centre so I went to the Tourist Information office and asked the lady there about it and she had never heard of it! By now I was beginning to think I had imagined it, but I drove back along the road one more time on my way home and there it was! I was determined to set a cache there now - if only to satisfy my curiosity about it! The sign said that it led to the Eden estuary and on the map there was indeed a path marked leading from where I’d seen the sign to the edge of the estuary.
Although I’d found out nothing so far about the history of the walk, it didn’t take much imagination to guess that it probably had something to do with mussels in the estuary - perhaps this was the route fishermen had taken long ago to collect mussels down there. As it turned out, I discovered some interesting information after I‘d placed this cache, on a notice board along the West Sands. The information wasn’t so much about the Mussell Road itself but was more about how important mussels had been in St Andrews past - a fact which I hadn’t known before. I think most people probably think of St Andrews main industry as being golf, but before golf came to the city, it seems that mussels were of major importance to the local economy.
I wrote down the information on the board because I felt it had so much relevance to this cache.
It said:
“The fisher folk of St Andrews are now part of it’s history. Many lives were lost from the close-knit community before fishermen turned into caddies and green keepers to earn a less perilous wage. The children and women-folk no longer had to suffer the agonies of tearing sharp mussels from sharper rocks in freezing waters. Mussels were used for bait and many were exported from St Andrews to the other fishing ports of East Fife. Mussel beds called scalps were cultivated in the Eden estuary as part of this ancient and profitable trade. Today few mussels are collected and the harbour is home to only a few fishing boats”.
So, I think that the Mussell Road must have been the path taken in the past by people going to gather the mussels they were farming in the estuary. Also, I don’t think it’s too much to assume that as the golf industry here grew, the fishing industry declined. It is ironic then that “The Mussell Road” now runs completely through a golf course.
We parked on the road at N56 20.740 W002 49.020. Look for “The Mussell Road” sign and follow the road down to the golf course. There is lots of parking further down here but it does say that it is for golfers only. Follow the road straight along through the golf course. When we visited we weren’t sure if we were going the correct way but then we came to a right of way sign at N56 21. 164 W002 49.730, and felt assured. Just after this you need to take the grassy corridor through the gorse - at N56 21.198 W002 49.807. When you come out of the gorse you will have to cross a fairway - please remember to look out for golfers and allow them to carry on with their play before you walk over. Head for N56 21.234 W002 49.911 (another right of way sign on a post) then head ENE for the cache.
Cache contents at time of placing: eraser, little pony, mini stamper, wind chime, frog, buttons, glass pig, bubbles.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre n ybt haqre gur tbefr
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures