The cache can be found at N55.36.ABC W004.24.DEF
It will only take about 30 minutes, if using a car, to include visits to a couple of local historical sites and the final destination.
Your first visit is to the Barr Castle................... From the roundabout at the junction of the A71 and A719 take the south exit to Galston. Cross the bridge and continue straight on at the traffic lights. The castle is the large red sandstone tower straight ahead and there is free parking adjacent on the right.
On the top floor, the castle houses a museum containing many historical artifacts of Galston and its earlier inhabitants. The castle is also one of the oldest buildings in the world to house a Masonic Lodge. During the Reformation years, both reformists George Wishart and John Knox preached in the castle and an inscribed plaque on an external wall shows the dates of their presence.
What is the earliest date? = G H I J
What is the other date? = K L M N
Your next visit is to the old Loudoun Kirk and graveyard. Retrace your route to the roundabout and take the A719 north. You will pass by Loudoun Academy before turning left on an unclassified road opposite the entrance to what was once the 'Loudoun Castle Theme Park'. Follow this road for a half a mile and you will arrive at the Loudoun Kirk graveyard where there is adjacent parking. The Kirk was established at the end of the12th Century but was damaged during the Kennedy/Campbell feuds in 1527 and subsequently rebuilt. Gradually it fell into disrepair and in 1994, the charity “Friends of Loudoun Kirk” was established and, with help from Historic Scotland and Heritage Lottery Fund, this ancient and sacred place was restored and finally reconsecrated. The graveyard is the traditional burial place of the Campbells of Loudoun and their coat of arms is found on the outside wall of the Kirk, along with the family motto, “Bide Thy Time”. Also buried in the graveyard is the “Scottish Milkmaid”, Jean Little who was a contemporary of Robert Burns. She was greatly interested in the Bard’s works and visited him at Ellisland near Mauchline. A volume of her poems “The Poetical Works of Janet Little, the Scottish Milkmaid, was published in 1792. There is also an obelisk within the graveyard that commemorates Lady Flora Hastings who was the unmarried daughter of the Earl of Loudoun, and a Lady in Waiting to the young Queen Victoria. Showing symptoms of a swollen stomach, Lady Flora was suspected of being pregnant and although she professed her “innocence”, Queen Victoria treated her very badly. Lady Flora died some months later from a cancerous growth on her liver but her name was never completely cleared. Eventually, the Crown did provide her family with a realistic compensation for having sullied her good name and the monies were then used to build ‘Lady Flora’s School for Girls’ in Newmilns in her memory. At the kirk on one of the walls you will see an inscription.
What is the the date under Tertius? = O P Q R.
Now deduce the values for ABC DEF from the following.
A = (P – N), B = N, C = H, D = I, E = M, F = (R – G)
Continue west along the unclassified road for another 500 mtrs to Ladyton Loch and Burnbank Wood where there is parking available for two cars next to the East Ayrshire Woodlands sign opposite the Ladyton road end. Enter through the nearby kissing gate (not the stile) and follow the pathway around the ‘loch’. Entrance by the stile is to an Eco path that is much closer to the ‘loch’ where swans, moorhens, coots and numerous duck species nest and winter. This path is part of the Irvine Valley Path Network that runs from Hurlford to Loudoun Hill.