Moine, all Moine Traditional Cache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
A park and grab on the edge of the wide empty peat moorlands of the Moine. Splendid views of Ben Loyal and Ben Hope
To get this cache, approach on the A838 heading west from the Kyle of Tongue causeway. At about 1.5km from the Talmine junction there is a small lay-by where you can park on the left. Leave the car and find the line of the old single track road, which is slowly turning to nature. Moine is Gaelic for peat or moss. The Moine is a large area of empty peat moorland between the Kyle of Tongue and Loch Eribol. It is apparently featureless, but is supports a wide range of flora and fauna.. The masses of Ben Hop and Ben Loyal rise out of the flat peat landscape of the Moine. This location provides a superb view of Ben Loyal. The Moine Thrust is evidence of an immense disturbance of the earth’s crust some 400 million years ago. This feature is where the rocks of the Moine were heaved up over the younger rocks to the west. The Thrust runs north-south and it marks the western edge of this area. The rocks of the Moine are composed of schists. The softer schists have weathered to produce this vast plain, which over the centuries have been covered in blanket bog. Sutherland holds (along with neighbouring Caithness) the largest expanse of treeless, oceanic blanket bog in Europe, extending to over 2,000 km2. This blanket bog of forms a dramatic open landscape with associated hills, lochs, rivers and small pools or ‘dubh lochans’. These peatlands are home to a unique range of plants and animals, and the plant-life is dominated by ling heather, cross-leaved heath, deer grass, cotton grass and Sphagnum bog mosses. This area is important for its diversity and abundance of bog mosses in a relatively undisturbed state. A rich and varied range of insects provide a food source for the many bird species that inhabit the peatlands; red-throated and black-throated divers, wigeon, common scoter, golden plover, greenshank, dunlin, wood sandpiper, greylag goose, short-eared owl, golden eagle, hen harrier, merlin and peregrine falcon.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jrfg fvqr bs n fznyy dhneel nqwnprag gb gur srapr arne gur svefg cbfg