Jock o' Bennachie was the name of a giant who, in times of old, used to guard Bennachie. From the cache site you'll be able to view two groups of exposed rocks roughly to your north, around 600ft apart. The area between these rocks was Jock o' Bennachie's bed, making Jock one rather tall giant!
Little John's Length (Jock's 'bed').
Jock had many foes, but his nemesis was another giant, called Jock o' Noth, who resided on the hill of Tap o' Noth, near Ryhnie, 13 miles northwest of here. The two giants would frequently engage in battle by throwing large boulders at each other from their respective hills. Indeed, there is said to be a stone on Tap o' Noth that bears the mark of the five fingers of Jock o' Bennachie, which he threw from the Oxen Craig.
However, in general, Jock was known to be a gentle giant. There were some rumors that he used to throw stones at the priest of Kemnay, but these were unfounded. These days Jock lays buried in a hidden cave on the mountain he used to guard. But he is not dead! He is trapped under a spell by lock and key, the key of which has long since been lost. Perhaps, when looking for this cache, you may find a key buried in the heather and the prophecy regarding Jock coming back to Bennachie may be fulfilled!
The full story of Jock, along with two ballads, are told in the book Bennachie by Alexander Inkson McConnochie (1890), which is well worth a read. It contains many descriptions of the tops of Bennachie, the history, nearby areas and the routes to the top as they were at the time.
The quickest route to the cache is by walking from either the Rowantree car park, or the Back O' Bennache car park (co-ordinates for both are included). However, the the great networks of paths around the summits of Bennachie mean it is easily accessed from any of the car parks.
The cache is located a little way away from a Cairn. When placing the cache I took a set of co-ordinates from my GPS and another from my phone. I could not get the two to agree, with my phone always reporting the location 12m further north than my GPS. I went for the GPS co-ords in the end as it is usually a little more accurate. Either way, the hint will hopefully point you in the right direction.
See also: Hilltop giants: Jock o'Noth.
With thanks to the Forestry Commission for permission to place the cache.