Aikey Brae Fair Traditional Cache
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There is a small layby on the road here, the just a short walk over the heathland to the cache location.
Aikey Brae Fair: “A legendary account of its origin is to the effect that a packman of unknown antiquity, Aul’ Aikey by name, in crossing the river Ugie, on stepping stones, a mile west of the ancient "Abbey of Deir," dropped his pack. On fishing it out of the water, then slightly flooded, he proceeded some three hundred yards farther on to what is now known as Aikey Brae, which was then, as it still is, covered with short grass and heath. Here he spread out his goods to dry. The contents of the pack consisted of prints and woollens, some of them being of gaudy colours.
A good many people passed during the day, and being attracted by his stock bought up all the articles in it. Aul’ Aikey was charmed with the success which followed what he had regarded as a calamity—the accidental soaking of his pack. Apologising to his purchasers for the meagreness of his stock he promised to show them something better worth looking at if they would meet him next year at the same time and place. He kept his word, while the report of his gains brought others with goods for sale to the same place, and so traffic gradually increased year by year till Aikey Brae, from its central position, became a general mart for the large and populous district of Buchan.
Another legend says that “The fair dates back to an Act established in 1661 and coincides with the feast day (mid-July) of St. Droston, the patron saint of the parish. But yet another legend has it that the fairs were started by the monks in the Middle Ages. Whatever it’s origins, seventy or eighty years ago Aikey Fair was held yearly on the Wednesday after the 19th of July and it was the largest fair in the North of Scotland. The date changed in 1926 to the Sunday after the 19th, when an actual fairground began showing up. The whole thing ended sometime in the 1950s, although there is talk of starting the animal fair again.
Today a portion of the Aikey Brae Fair site is fenced off and a monument has been put in place in recognition of it by the Scottish Trust. However, the site is considerably smaller than the original 50-60 acres, and roads and rail lines have been strung through the land that once stretched down to the river. Part of the land was also used for a quarry, but this was closed down when it became trust property. Evidence of the quarry can still be seen from a distance. The land itself has gone back to pasture and the hillsides are filling with gorse.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
snpvat gur vasb obneq, pnpur 40vfu srrg gb evtug, haqre fgbarf.
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