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Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know. Traditional Cache

Hidden : 7/16/2012
Difficulty:
4 out of 5
Terrain:
4.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Lord Byron was an Aberdeenshire resident and if you chose to attempt this cache you may be walking in his footsteps.
Be prepared to spend around 8 hours getting to this cache, whichever way you chose. In attempting this cache you must take responsibility for your own wellbeing, take all the correct precautions for such an endeavor and go well equipped for whatever these mountains can throw at you, in taking Byrons route you will also be taking on a scramble.

Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know was a phrase used by Lady Caroline Lamb to describe Lord Byron and as a child, lived for a short time at a farm adjacent to the South Deeside Road just east of Ballater. He spent some of his early childhood in Aberdeen where he attended the grammer school. He is reputed to have climbed The Stuic with a clubfoot and the time growing up in the area feature in some of his poetry, in paricular the area of Lochnagar.
 

There are two ways to tackle this cache, lets call this the tourist route, nothing to be ashamed of Byron was a great tourist as well. Park at the Spittal of Glenmuick (fee £3) and follow the crowds that go up here every day. NO seriously plan your route.
 

OR follow Byron up The Stuic. Start at the Invercauld Bridge on the A93 three miles east of Braemar, parking is available at Keiloch (fee £2.50). Enter the Ballochbuie Forest and after around 500 metres the path branches and you should take the right fork. Keep straight on at the next crossroads and continue until you reach the Falls of Garbh Allt. Follow the track through the forest which emerges from the woods to follow the Feindallacher Burn. Once you pass through the deer gate you need to cross the burn and make your way across a rather boggy moor to Allt Lochan nan Eun and walk upstream along a little path to Loch Sandy, look to you left and you will see The Stuic, the impressive ridge due south of the loch. All it needs is for you to climb it, its a grade 1 or 2 scramble depending on what you read. Once you have found the cache you may also want to bag a Munro, Carn a Choire Bhoidheach is the innocuous grassy bump on the horizon.


Years have rolled on, Lochnagar, since I left you
Years must elapse ere I see you again
Tho' nature of verdure and flowers has bereft you
Yet still thou art dearer than Albion's plain
England thy beauties are tame and domestic
To one who has roved on the mountains afar
Oh! For the crags that are wild and majestic
The steep frowning glories of dark Lochnagar

Although usually regarded as the most English of romantic poets, Lord Byron (1788-1824) was in fact half-Scots.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ynetr syng obhyqre

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)