Well sheltered and Watered Traditional Geocache
Well sheltered and Watered
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
You don't see many peak baggers on Colsnaur hill, it is only really an eminence on an outlying ridge of high ground in the Ochils. But at 554m high it does have good views into Menstrie Glen which features in the book "Well sheltered & watered" hence the name for the cache which is a small cliptop box with room for small objects.
To reach the cache requires a hill walk so come prepared appropriately to the conditions. "Well Sheltered & Watered" is published by RCAHMS (Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historic Monuments of Scotland) and is a report on an extensive archaeological survey conducted in the Glen to understand its agricultural use in times gone by. The land reveals its past in the network of dykes that are still clearly visible and also in patterns of ridges that are less easy to see and are evidence of previous cultivation. Aerial photographs first provided this subtle marking and to see it live requires a low sun glancing off the hillside but once seen they can be picked out in ordinary conditions. There are ruins also which indicate habitation on both a permanent and seasonal basis - in the c18th this place would have been teeming with activity.
Park on the side streets of Menstrie then take a good track up the hill by a series of zig zags eventually leaving the track to reach the summit of Myreton Hill with great views across the hill foots plain. A visit to the cache G23M4D - Calcite Puzzle is possible on the way. From Myreton Hill drop down the North side and start a stiff climb up onto the ridge leading to Colsnaur joining a wall & fence on the way. The summit has a sprawling cairn with a wooden post stuck in it and a nice little quarry where you can shelter & have a snack. A good descent is to head west from the top to get better views of Menstrie Glen then pick a way down to meet the track that you followed on the way up.
This cache is one of a set of caches exploring the rich heritage of the Glen. Each cache can be visited independently but there are two good walks that take in parts of the set. This cache is on the high level walk of 13 km which takes in the hills surrounding the glen and is a substantial venture requiring some good navigation on pathless hills above the 500m line. It covers 7 caches of the set.
The caches are:-
GC23M4D – Calcite Puzzle
GC23B65 – Well Sheltered and Watered
GC23KEM – Battlewatch
GC23MED – Making a Loss
GC23M50 – Hanging On
GC23M52 – James Wright of Loss
GC23M4R – Quarterside
Purists may want to add the cache on the summit of Dumyat - Lost Look GCVX01 - placed by Team Incredible to complete the high level traverse.
A lower level walk of 9 km covering 5 caches is on good tracks all the way but still climbs to a height of 300m in places.
GC23M4D – Calcite Puzzle
GC23M4M – Little Jerah
GC23M50 – Hanging On
GC23M52 – James Wright of Loss
GC23M4R – Quarterside
All the low level caches and high level caches are now in place!
Well done ScottieDogz on a marathon walk to include all the Menstrie Glen caches and FTF on this one.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fznyy ebpx bhgpebc