Leaves on the Line is a leaf/tree-themed series following the lines of some of the many mineral railways that once criss-crossed this part of Falkirk County.
The series is made up of letterbox hybrid geocaches placed around the Drumclair area of the village of Limerigg, near Slamannan. There is also a Bonus 'Mystery' cache which you can find by collecting clues at each of the letterbox caches along the way. You will need to visit all the letterbox caches to get the clues for the Mystery cache, and you may want to take a sheet of paper with you to help with collecting the clues for the Bonus cache.
This series came about because I like letterbox geocaches, but also because of my interest in the vicinity of Slamannan/Limerigg which has a long and varied history as one of the 12 original parishes of Falkirk County, dating back to the 13th Century. This corner of Falkirk area was heavily industrialised in the 19th Century, with coal mining a major feature. As industry later dwindled in the area, it become a bit neglected, and as it isn't really on the way to anywhere, it hasn't lent itself to being developed for large scale commuter residential housing. Similarly, it's location in the remoter SW corner of the county means it lacks a great deal of easy access to local shopping so is less appealing as a location for social housing.
The receding of industry here, left behind opportunities for increased green space, and in the Limerigg area that has taken the form of Limerigg Forest Walks, a series of routes around the area through forestry, east and west of the village. A number of the paths in the areas follow the former route of the several mineral railways that supported the mines. This series is along the route of the branch lines running to the former Limerigg Collieries 1,3 & 5, and also Barnsmuir Colliery to the south at Black Loch.
Please note, for all the letterbox caches in this series, the caches are not at the published coordinates, but they are within a minute's walk. To find the cache, follow the instructions on the relevant cache page - 'Finding The Cache'.
Series Parking & Trailhead
This cache page contains a couple of waypoints for parking options to be used for the series. Both are in the 'Low Limerigg' area - the main street for the north end of the village. Please park considerately and avoid parking in front of the drives of any local residents. A waypoint has also been added for the start of the path network into the woods, ('Trailhead').
Terrain, Footing And GPS For The Series
The bulk of the series is along very good quality forest roads or paths, and terrain is generally level. There's a muddy stretch between Caches 2 and 3 however, so good footwear is recommended. Cache 3 is up a grassy knoll but nothing too difficult to get up. Nearly all of the caches are within 20 metres of the roads/paths but cache 6 involves hopping over shallow drainage ditches to get there. GPS is not bad in the area, but mobile reception is poor, meaning that you should download any info/resources for leaf identification you think you will need before getting to the area. I've added in some lead ID resources to the gallery, but that's not to say all the leaves you need to ID are on the gallery images.
Sweeping Up The Leaves - Finding The Bonus Cache
At each of the letterbox caches in the series (1-6) you will find a letterbox stamp in the shape of a leaf. Identify the leaf shown in the stamp and look at the table below. Following the series in order, look at the identified leaf and the coordinate number next to it on the table. Working from left to right on the missing coordinates, fill in the missing numbers with the leaf coordinates.
So if you think the first leaf stamp is a Willow leaf, working left to right on the coordinates below you would replace the first missing coordinate 'X' with a zero. There are a few red herrings in there of course, just to make it fun.
The cache is located N 55° 55.XXX' W 3° 49.XXX'
Please note - once you have collected all the clues you will have roughly a 300m walk from cache 6 to the Bonus which is at a nice little spot.
Leaves & Coordinates
Bonus Cache Top Tips
To help with the bonus cache, here's a tip - don't spend too much time trying to identify the leaves as you find them, just stamp them on a piece of paper (noting the cache number) or take a photo, and then when you have collected them all, it will be easier to identify them using a process of elimination by looking at the table above. Here's another tip - due to some networks having poor mobile reception in the area you may want to get some images of the leaves on the above table downloaded to your phone beforehand, in case you can't get a signal when you get to the area.
June 2021 Series Update - A number of adjustments have been made to the series to incorporate improvements suggested by cachers who have completed it. This includes a new Cache 4 in a new location, some renumbering, so the series finishes on the former No.5 cache (now No.6), as it is closer to the Bonus and reduces the amount of doubling back needed to get to the Bonus from the last cache. The original No. 6 has been archived.
What Are Letterbox Hybrid Geocaches?
Letterbox Hybrid Geocaches are based on an older kind of container search, called letterboxing. Because letterboxing began in (Dartmoor, England) 1854, long before GPS existed, the finder sometimes have to follow other types of instructions/clues to discover the container. Each letterbox contains a logbook, and a rubber stamp. When letterboxers find the container, they stamp the logbook with their personal stamp, and also stamp their own notebook with the stamp from the letterbox, as a souvenir of their visit. There is often an ink stamp in the cache but it's best to bring your own because they often don't hold up well in the field.
The stamp and logbook must remain in the letterbox for the next person to use.
In geocaching, cachers can treat letterbox geocaches just like a traditional geocache, and the stamping element is not mandatory. But having your own personal 'stamp collection' is part of the fun so if you have a stampbook of your own and a personal stamp, please remember to bring it along, to give you something to remember the cache by.
Finding The Cache
Your GPS will take you along a path through the northern side of the woods running through the Drumclair area. The published coordinates are for a spot in the centre of the path. If you are heading eastward along the path, when you get to the published coordinates you should look due north for the hint. The cache is 10 paces off the path, north in a straight line from the path.
Remember to look at the letterbox stamp to identify the leaf type, you'll need that to find the Bonus Cache.
Also remember, the letterbox stamp, stampbook and inkpad must be left in the cache for the next cacher.
Caches In this Series
1 Trunk Call - GC96N6J
2 Q-Jumping - GC96QQQ
3 Bank Job - GC96TE9
4 Moss Bros - GC9CMCJ
5 Pit Stop - GC96VZ5
6 Junction Box - GC96WYZ
7 Sprucey Bonus - GC975DN