Series of 10s Moor Walk - Final: Lovely Lucky Ling!
This is the last of series of 9 caches (8 caches + this bonus final) along a 9km 'circular' walk which, allowing for caching operations - and taking in the awesome scenery, photos, bird-watching and refreshment stops - should take around 3-4 hours.
To calculate the coordinates of this cache, simply add the numbers found on the main lid of each of the 8 ‘feeder’ caches together, then subtract this total from the Northings and the Westings of the given coordinates.
Note: during cache maintenance for the series, the required number may have inadvertently not been provided in somw replacement caches. However, the value of the numbers which are available and the title of the series should enable a logical conclusion as to the value of any missing numbers!
For background info on the series and parking waypoints, see GC2V7T8 Series of 10s Moor Walk #1: Intro & Start.
Throughout most of the walk you will have been surrounded by a beautiful plant . . . (common) heather or ling (Calluna vulgaris) which when in full flower imbues huge swathes of the moor with a wonderful purple colour.
The only species in the genus Calluna in the flowering plant family Ericaceae this low-growing evergreen shrub usually grows 20-50 cm tall.
It thrives on acidic soils in open sunny situations with moderate shade thoughout Europe and Asia Minor. It is the dominant plant in most heathland and moorland, in some bog vegetation, and in acidic pine and oak woodland.
It tolerates grazing, regenerates after occasional burning, and is often managed in nature reserves and on grouse moors by sheep or cattle grazing, and also by light burning.
Its generic name Calluna probably comes from the Greek Kallyno (καλλύνω), ‘beautify, sweep clean’ referring to its traditional use in besoms -a broom made of twigs tied round a stick. The specific epithet vulgaris is Latin for 'common'.
Wild heather flowers are normally mauve, but white-flowered plants also occur occasionally.
It is extremely cold-hardy, surviving severe exposure and freezing conditions well below −20°C. Native to Europe, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and the Azores, it has been introduced into many other places worldwide with suitable climates, including North America, Australia, New Zealand and the Falkland Islands.
Despised until the 19th century for its associations with the most rugged rural poverty, its growth in 
popularity followed the vogue for alpine plants. In lime-free areas where it will thrive, it is a very popular ornamental plant in gardens and for landscaping, but has defeated many a gardener on less acid soil.
There are many named cultivars, selected for different flower colour and foliage colour, and growing habits. Colours range from white, through pink and red to a wide range of purples.
Flowering in the northern hemisphere occurs from late July to November. Flowers may turn brown but still remain on the plants over winter, which can lead to interesting decorative effects.
Cultivars with ornamental foliage are usually selected for reddish and golden leaf colour - a few forms can be silvery grey. Many of these change colour with the onset of winter weather, usually increasing in intensity of colour. Some forms are grown for distinctive young spring foliage.
Uses: it is an important food source for sheep and deer which graze the tips of the plants when snow covers low-growing vegetation. Red grouse feed on young shoots and seeds.
Both adult and larva of the heather beetle (Lochmaea suturalis) feed on it, which can sometimes cause extensive mortality. The larvae of some Lepidoptera species also feed on the plant, notably the small emperor moth Saturnia pavonia.
In the past, it was used to dye wool yellow and tan leather. Together with malt, heather is used in gruit, a mixture of flavourings used in brewing heather-beer during the Middle Ages before the use of hops – the Picts were reknowed for their heather ale. A limited-edition Gruit beer has been made in Ilkley using heather foraged from the moor!
Thomas Pennant wrote in A Tour in Scotland (1769) that on the Scottish island of Islay ‘ale is frequently made of the young tops of heath, mixing two thirds of that plant with one of malt, sometimes adding hops’.
Heather has been long used for making besoms, a practice recorded in ‘Buy Broom Buzzems’ a traditional song probably written by William (Blind Willie) Purvis (1752–1832) from Newcastle-upon-Tyne. See here for interesting info on the origin and meaning of the song and listen here to a version by the Welsh tenor Richard Lewis.
Heather honey is a highly valued product in moorland and heathland areas, with many beehives being moved there in late summer. Not always as valued as it is today, it was dismissed as mel improbum (unwholesome honey) by Dioscurides.
It has a characteristic strong taste, and an unusual texture as it is thixotropic - jelly till stirred when it becomes a syrup like other honey, but then sets again to a jelly. This makes its extraction from the comb difficult, so it is often sold as comb honey.
White heather is regarded in Scotland as being lucky - a tradition brought from Balmoral to England by 
Queen Victoria - and sprigs of it are often sold as a charm and worked into bridal bouquets.
Heather stalks are used by small industry in Scotland as a raw material for sentimental jewellery. The stalks are stripped of bark, dyed in bright colours and then compressed with resin.
Heather has also been used for thatching, rope-twisting, basket-weaving, and stuffing mattresses.
Its flowers and leaves were used to treat coughs and asthma and as an ointment for arthritis and rheumatism. Calluna vulgaris herb tea has been used in Austrian traditional medicine to treat kidneys and urinary tract disorders.
Invasive species: after introduction to New Zealand it has become an invasive weed in some areas, overgrowing native plants. Heather beetles have been released to stop the heather, with successful preliminary trials.
Cultural references: it is seen as iconic of Scotland, where it grows widely. Purple heather is also one of the two national flowers of Norway.
See here for the place of heather in Celtic mythology.