Sir Harry's Hideaway Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Sir Harry Lauder, the legendary Scottish entertainer, lived in a mansion in Dunoon, but he also owned an out of the way cottage in Glenbranter, a spectacular wooded valley at the top end of Loch Eck. The house is now gone but Glenbranter remains, an undiscovered jewel.
In 1921, Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour procured the site on behalf of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. The intention was to recreate a Himalayan ecosystem as the climate and ground conditions were so similar. Rhodedenrons of all varieties were planted and the site became an attraction with charabancs travelling up the scenic lochside road from Dunoon. In time, the Younger Botanic Gardens became more important, and Glenbranter reverted to being the working forest community it is now.
The rhodedendrons are stiil there - a bit of a pest now, and the magnificent bluebell display in late May is stunning.
Park in the Glenbranter car park which, eerily, is on the site of Sir Harry's old house. Look at the maps and follow the yellow trail. The posts will guide you. When you get to the waterfalls, you know you're getting near.
The cache is a medium sized tupperware container about 20 minutes walk from the car park. The GPS signal can get poor at times in the gorge, but picks up a bit the more you climb.
You can continue to follow the yellow route in a circular walk past more waterfalls back to the carpark. Look out for echos of Easter Island on your way back.
After the flash floods in Cowal in August 2007, there was a chance that the cache could be floating about in Loch Eck. Luckily, it's safe and sound in its niche. The footbridge at the bottom of the glen on the waterfall walk has been swept away, although the path up to the cache is still fine. Just ignore the signs and you will be OK. You won't be able to do the round trip for a bit, though. It really is spectacular when the waterfalls are in spate.
July 2010 - The circular walk is back up in action and there's a new (much higher) bridge across the glen.
Watch your step when retreiving the cache. There are steep drops close by.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
N zrger be fb qbjafgernz bs gur oevqtr, n pyhzc bs gerrf funer n pbzzba ebbg onfr. Gur pnpur vf uvqqra va gur ebbgf oruvaq n syng fgbar. Jngpu lbhe fgrc va gur fgernz orq.
Treasures
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