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Mosey through The Meadows Multi-Cache

Hidden : 12/11/2018
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


Mosey: ‘To wander aimlessly’.

The Meadows: A large public park that connects Marchmont to the Old Town, bordered by the Old Town to the north, Lauriston and Tollcross to the west, Southside to the east, and Marchmont and Sciennes to the south.
The Meadows is a very popular recreational green space, formed by the drainage of the Boroughloch around 1722.
The main and most prominent features of the park are, firstly, its use as a recreational space for the citizens, and secondly, as a pedestrian and cycle route connecting Marchmont and Sciennes to the Old Town. You can play tennis, cricket, football and quidditch (yes, really!); you can practise slacklining, acrobatics, or train for your marathon. It's the traditional practice place for the Royal Company of Archers. Or you can simply sit on the grass or have a barbecue. Overlooking the Meadows is Arthur's Seat and Salisbury crags, the buildings of the University of Edinburgh, the former Royal Infirmary and the tenements of Marchmont and Sciennes. The annual Meadows Festival, held on the first weekend of June, is very popular with locals and the park is used in August as an Edinburgh Festival venue.
The Meadows is designated as a Millennium Park, which means that the Council will ensure that the park is protected in perpetuity as community open space.
Peedieduchess was a student from 1972 to 1978 and used to walk across the meadows to the medical school from her student lodgings in Marchmont. Then after that as a junior doctor at the Royal Infirmary (now expensive flats called the Quartermile). She must have totted up thousands of miles. A memory that springs to mind: during the summer of 1989, now a senior doctor but still walking over the Meadows to get to work, every morning at 7:30 am there would be little group of young people sitting on one of the benches singing hymns. But this park was not always a park! Originally this was a loch called the Borough Loch, or the South Loch (to distinguish it from the Nor' Loch, which was situated where Princes St Gardens and Waverly Station now are). The Borough Loch was formed from ice age meltwater and was outside the city boundary. The water was used for washing, drinking, and brewing. It was also used for washing animals! The loch drained from east to west into the Loch Rin, a burn which gives its name to Lochrin Buildings and Lochrin Place at Tollcross. The Borough Loch was the main source of drinking water for the Old Town until about 1621 when water began to be piped from Comiston Springs. In the mid 17th century the loch was partially drained and briefly called Straiton's Loch after the burgess who did the work. Then, a century later, Sir Thomas Hope completed the drainage work and called it Hope Park. At first there was a causeway with canals on either side to link the city to the suburbs, it's where Middle Meadow Walk now is. Then finally in the middle of the 19th century the crisscrossing pathways were added and the park became open fully to the public. The map is not intended to be a route map, but to indicate roughly the area of interest.
The cache has been placed with permission from the Parks, Greenspace and Cemeteries Service, Edinburgh City Chambers.



This is one of a series of sightseeing historical tours around the leafy suburbs of south Edinburgh. The others are:

  • Gambol Through the Grange
  • Meander Through Marchmont
  • Saunter Through Sciennes
  • Bimble Through Blackford
  • Birl Through Bruntsfield

    Once you've done them all, you can try for the bonus cache: Jig Through Half a Dozen History Multis

    The walk should be achievable by most reasonably able-bodied people on foot or by bicycle. For wheelchair users or those with limited mobility: the whole of the Meadows is flat, with good level paths. The northernmost section of Middle Meadow Walk is slightly inclined (for stage 7). Peedieduchess, who is of average fitness for a wee fat woman in her 7th decade, can walk round the whole route in 1 hr 20 minutes. You can do the waypoints in any order you like, it doesn't matter, but I rather like the idea of starting with a Unicorn and finishing with a Lion.
    OK, let's mosey along! I'll tell you some more about the history as we go.

    Waypoint 1 N 55° 56.527 W 3° 12.018 Unicorns

    Here you are standing beside one of a pair of octagonal Mason's Pillars, erected in 1886 on either side of Melville Drive. They were part of the International Exhibiton that year and were intended to demonstrate the different kinds of stone available.
    CLUE 1: What is the name of the bridge? (no. of letters)


    ALTERNATIVE CLUE 1: During the Edinburgh International Festival, the pillar will be hidden behind advertising hoardings. This is usually from late July till mid-September. If that is the case, you can answer by crossing the road to the other pillar at N 55° 56.515' W 3° 12.041'. You can see the name of the bridge from the pavement.

    Waypoint 2 N 55° 56.506 W 3° 11.932 Prince Albert Victor Sundial.

    Designed by James Gowans and erected to mark the opening of the International Exhibition by HRH Prince Albert Victor, a grandson of Queen Victoria, on 8th May 1886. Like the unicorn pillars, this was part of the exhibition to show off the different colours and types of sandstone produced in the day. On the 5th level up there used to be dials facing the cardinal compass points; it showed Edinburgh Time, which was 12 minutes and 45 seconds after Greenwich time. Have a read of the information on the board to get a sense of how huge this exhibiton was.

    CLUE 2: How many visitors came to the exhibition? X,770,000

    Waypoint 3 N 55° 56.444 W 3° 11.672 Helen Acquroff Drinking Fountain.

    Helen Acquroff was a blind musician and poet who was deeply involved in the Temperance movement. She sang in music halls and gained the nickname 'Sister Cathedral' after giving a lecture about the evils of drink in Glasgow Cathedral.
    By the way, if you are wondering why one of the paths leading from here is called 'Jawbone Walk', it's because there used to be an arch made from a whale's jaw situated at the pedestrian crossing in Melville Drive. The arch originally formed the display stand of the Zetland and Fair Isle Knitters Association who attended the 1886 International Exhibition of Industry, Science and Art. The bones were removed in 2014 for specialist restoration and are expected to return in the summer of 2019.

    CLUE 3: Where did the granite for the fountain come from? (no. of letters)

    Waypoint 4 N 55° 56.426 W 3° 11.660 Sri Chinmoy Peace Mile

    Chinmoy Kumar Ghose (1931-2007) came from the Bengal region of India and was a spiritual leader and teacher of meditation who also believed in the importance of physical exercise. In 1985 the first 'Chinmoy Peace Mile' was inaugurated in Oxford and there are now many of them around the world. Competitions are held in the Meadows during the summer months.

    CLUE 4: How many lines are in the quotation about peace?

    Waypoint 5 N 55° 56.537 W 3° 11.495 Medieval Gang Warfare .

    Have a look at this noticeboard to learn something about the famous people who used to come here for a wee walk, and the gangs that used to fight each other in medieval times. Nothing new then!

    CLUE 5: What was the nickname of Sir Walter Scott? 2 words.... no. of letters

    Waypoint 6 N 55° 56.553 W 3° 11.476 NCN 75

    National Cycle Route 75 ends up at Greenock! When you go to the next way point you will pass an electronic counter that displays how many cyclists have passed by today. It often reaches 1,000; although little boys can sometimes be seen having a bit of fun jumping on the sensor to increase the number!

    CLUE 6: What year was the signpost designed? 199X

    Waypoint 7 N 55° 56.714 W 3° 11.470 More Unicorns!

    These octagonal gate piers were erected in 1850. One of the unicorns carries a banner saying 'NISI DOMINUS FRUSTRA' which comes from Psalm 127 and features on the coat of arms of Edinburgh. It means something like: 'without the Lord, our actions are in vain'. The other one has 'NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT' which is the motto of the Royal Stuart dynasty and adopted by the British Army. It roughly translates into English as 'don't mess with me or you'll be punished' but I like the Scots translation 'wha daur meddle wi' me'. Some of the letters are missing so you'll have to take my word for it.

    CLUE 7: One of the unicorns has a shorter horn than the other. Maybe it was broken? Answer 1 if you think its the westmost one, answer 2 if you think its the eastmost one

    Waypoint 8 N 55° 56.559 W 3° 11.460 Murals

    In 2014, 2 amazing women, artist Astrid Jaekel and poet Rachel Woolf, decided to cover up the graffiti that had blighted the back wall of the Scottish Power substation by creating these wonderful murals. Every time I stop to look at them I notice something new. Absolutely everything has relevance to the area. I think my favourite things are the bagpiping unicorns and the quotation from the 'Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'. Please if you have time, mention in your log what your favourite bit is!

    CLUE 8: Count the number of musical instruments on the murals. (the drums count as 1).Answer = 1X

    Waypoint 9 N 55° 56.522 W 3° 11.185 Buccleuch Parish School.

    Designed by the architect George Smith in 1839, this building has also been known as Hope Park Halls and is believed to be the oldest school in Edinburgh. It is built in the Jacobean style. It is currently owned by the Orthodox Church of St Andrew, and has services conducted in English, Greek, and Slavonic.

    CLUE 9: What is the date on the building? Look up, with the tennis courts behind you. 18X9

    Waypoint 10 N 55° 56.500 W 3° 11.080 Boroughloch Brewery

    As previously mentioned, one of the uses of the Boroughloch was to supply water for brewing. However the loch had already been drained by the time the brewery was opened here in 1805 by James Anderson. By the middle of the 19th century, this brewery had become the 5th largest in Scotland and exported to Australia, India, West Indies, South Africa and the USA. Brewing ceased in January 1907 and they switched to making aerated water: it is said, because the owner's rich American heiress wife disapproved of alcohol. The brewery has now been converted to residential use. The South Side was famous for brewing until the early 1970s.

    CLUE 10:How many private parking spaces are there?

    Waypoint 11 N 55° 56.430 W 3° 11.002 Lion Pillar

    At last, we reach the final waypoint. You have seen 4 unicorns already: now here is the 5th unicorn and 1 lion. These 2 pillars were presented to the City of Edinburgh by the printing and publishing firm of Thomas Nelson and Sons in appreciation of the temporary accommodation allocated to them on the Meadows after their Hope Park Crescent premises were destroyed by fire in 1876. Designed by John Lessels 1880, the north pillar has the lion, and the south pillar has a unicorn.

    CLUE 11: what is the date on the pillar? 18X0



    I hope you have enjoyed moseying through the Meadows, and perhaps you've learned something new about this fine park!

    The cache can be found at:



    N 55º56.ABC W 003º11.DEF

    Where:

    A = clue 11 divide by clue 2
    B =clue 9 plus clue 10
    C = clue 6 minus clue 4
    D = clue 5 minus clue 3
    E = clue 8 plus clue 9
    F = clue 3 minus clue 1 minus clue 7

    Checksum: your 6 numbers should add up to 18.

    GeoCheck.org

    MAXIMUM STEALTH REQUIRED PLEASE TO AVOID MUGGLE INTEREST





Congratulations to Gospi, especially as its their First First to Find!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Zntargvp anab. Zber va trbpurpxre.

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)