Sheep Lair Traditional Cache
EYEBRIGHT: As the special cache container has gone (for the second time) I have decided to archive the cache.
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The cache is hidden beside the Drumadarragh Road, to the north-west of Ballyclare, Co.Antrim.
The Drumadarragh Road is a lovely road for a short stroll on a warm summer's evening. Heading west you will have the broad back of Drumadarragh Hill (Ridge of the Oak) on your right with its old butts which recall grouse shooting days. On your left is the Sheep Lair - an area mentioned in "Other Days Around Me" written by Florence Mary McDowell when she describes coming up here as a child for picnics.
I quote: "In late Spring, she (Aunt Laetitia) held her bluebell picnic. At the dawning of a sure-to-be-beautiful day, she was up preparing sandwiches to be packed in baskets along with mugs, tea, milk, sugar and the teapot. With the other children carrying the baskets and Frederick the tea kettle, they all set off as soon as the luncheon was over, to walk the four or five miles uphill to the Sheep Lair at Ballyvoy"
It obviously was a big adventure for Florence Mary and her friends. Ah, the simple pleasures of late Victorian life. The bluebells can still be seen in Ballyvoy in May.
It is also a great place for star watching. I remember bringing my young family up here late one August evening and watching meteors whizzing through Cassiopeia ( Perseid meteor shower) - sometimes they were so fast we wondered if we were imagining things.
The cache is a micro - please replace it carefully. Figuring out this little rhyme might help:-
"Little Boy Blue come blow up your horn,
The sheeps in the meadow, the cows in the corn.
Up here in Sheep Lair they contentedly chew,
Though somethings been left by a careless ewe."
The road is narrow but one car can park (with care) close to the cache. There is no need to cross the fence - however, do watch the barbed wire. Please remember to bring a pen/pencil and to replace the cache carefully afterwards.
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