(Almost The) St. Andrews Geological Trail
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This multi-cache represents 80% of the St Andrews Geological Trail, visiting 4 of the 5 locations on the walk.
The St Andrews Geological Trail is a joint venture of Scottish Natural Heritage, Fife RIGS (Regionally Important Geological Sites) and geoHeritage Fife. The trail starts in St Andrews and follows the coastline in a southerly direction, visiting five localities of interest. For reasons given below, this cache will take you to the first four localities where you must answer questions in order to work out the co-ordinates for the cache itself. The geological information given below has been adapted from the St Andrews Geological Trail leaflet.
Parking available at N56 20.665 W002 48.090. This is a Pay and Display Car Park - 60p for up to two hours (this cache hunt should take under two hours but you may want to saunter along enjoying the sights as you go, in which case I would advise you to go for the 2-4 hours option which will cost you £1.20). There is street parking available near to the first location but it will be hit or miss as to whether you can find a free space. Alternatively you could nip out and solve the first two questions, then return to your car and park at the harbour (N56 20.306 W002 47.084) which is closest to Locality 2 or the East Sands car park (N56 20.172 W002 46.904) which is the nearest parking for the final two localities. Please note that there is also a letterbox cache ("Fife Rocks! Series: Rippled Sandstone" - GCQG82) a short detour away from this trail - you may wish to include that cache as part of this one.
The co-ordinates above are for the start of the trail.
Locality 1 - BOW BUTTS
FOSSIL EARTHQUAKE
Stand at N56 20.636 W002 48.052 and look at the vertical rock face above you. Can you see the wavy zig-zag lines in the sandstone? Sandstone is usually formed underwater as a result of deposition of layers of sand. It is thought that these particular lines in the rock may have been caused by an earthquake agitating wet sand. This would have allowed water to escape and the sand layers would have collapsed to create these strange shapes.
A = How many wooden seats are under this rock face?
ANCIENT AND MODERN RIPPLES
Go over to the outcrop of sandstone at the railing looking down onto the sea (N56 20.635 W002 48.029). This piece of rock is 350 million years old and fossilised sand ripples can be seen on its seaward side. These would have formed on an ancient sea or river bed when sand was moved by flowing water. If the tide is low you could lean over and look at the present day ripples on the sandy beach below you. Ripples lie in a parallel direction to the waves which wash onto the shore.
B = How many vertical bars are there on the railing between this piece of rock and the restaurant on the right hand side? 1?
Now make you way to the next location but first note the Geological Wall at N56 20.628 W002 48.028. This contains 22 rocks collected from all over Fife. You might see some of these rocks at future caches!
Cross the little bridge to the right hand side of the Aquarium, and follow the Scores road eastwards along the coast. Depending on the time of year, if you look over the railings after you have crossed the bridge you might see a line of nesting seagulls stretching all the way along the cliff. Also watch out for a view of the seals swimming around in their pool at the back of the aquarium.
Keep walking until you reach St Andrews Castle on the left hand side. Take the steep road to the left immediately east of the castle - this will take you down to a small beach.
****** PLEASE NOTE THIS PATH IS INACCESSIBLE AT PRESENT. THE ANSWERS TO THE NEXT TWO QUESTIONS ARE C = 3, D = 4 ******
Locality 2 - CASTLE SANDS
HOT AND STEAMY JUNGLES
Make your way to the right hand side of this beach (N56 20.494 W002 47.349). In the cliff on this side a seam of coal can clearly be seen. Underneath this lies a layer of white sandstone which contains black marks like thin hairs. These are the remains of tree roots. 350 million years ago, Scotland was situated close to the equator and this part of Fife would have been covered by tropical forests and swamps, similar to those found in South East Asia today. When the trees died, they formed peat which was then buried and compressed by layers of sediment, changing into coal over time.
C = How many horizontal rows of reddish/orange bricks are sandwiched between grey brick layers in the wall immediately to the right of this cliff face?
WORMS
Now walk over to the left hand side of the beach (N56 20.536 W002 47.372). Here you will find a slope of brown sandstone under the castle ramparts. The surface of this stone is marked by holes and pits. These are the remains of tubes dug into the sand by burrowing worms and other animals, much like lugworms burrow on beaches today.
D = At the top of this rock slope is an elongated semi-circular shaped railing. How many vertical bars is it composed of (including the big central bar)? 1?
Go back up to the road and continue eastwards on the coastal path (more nesting seagulls on the cliffs!). Go past the Cathedral walls (on your right) and walk down towards the harbour. It does not matter if you take the left-hand or right hand path after you have passed the Cathedral - both will lead you to the harbour. Once at the harbour, cross the wooden footbridge and follow the path above the East Sands beach. If you wish to find the letterbox cache you will have to access it from the beach along here. Otherwise, keep on this path and follow it along the shore - it will take you up past the caravan park and to the last two locations along the coast. This is part of the Fife Coastal Path and although the path itself is fine in most parts, it does run near to cliff edges and steep slopes at times, so please be careful if walking along here with children and dogs.
Locality 3 - KINKELL LANDSLIP
As you come to the eastern edge of the caravan park, you will see that the old path has been displaced by a landslip in the cliff. This occurred in the mid 1990s, when this section of cliff suddenly collapsed. View the landslip from N56 19.902 W002 46.224
E = How many horizontal wires make up the fence you are leaning on (behind the notice board)?
Continue on along the path until you see the track on the left leading down to the final locality.
Locality 4 - MAIDEN ROCK
Maiden rock at N56 19.922 W002 46.041 is a sea stack and represents all that remains of the old sea cliff when the sea level was higher than it is today. The rest of the cliff was eroded away by the waves.
F = At the end of the track down to this rock, and almost directly left of the large step leading down to the beach , someone has clearly carved their initials into the landward side of the rock at about knee-height. Using the code A = 1, B = 2, C= 3 etc, what is the number corresponding to the first initial? The second initial is “S”.
Go back up to the main path and carry on until you reach N56 19.892 W002 46.032. Here you will find that the path curves around a small inlet of land. If you look down to the shore, and the tide is out, you will see that the layers of rocks have folded and buckled into zig zags. Such folds form when continental masses collide and the rocks are bent, tilted and eroded.
The items used for G seem to have gone so:
G = 1
The last locality in the Geological Trail is the Rock and Spindle - approximately 1km. further down the coast, but our cache trail will end at this point. Why? Well... I did try to get to the Rock and Spindle but on the way out to it there was a stile to cross and a notice saying “BULL IN FIELD -BEWARE”. Now most local geocachers know my feelings about bovines, and I did try three times to enter the field, but in the end I just couldn’t do it - sorry! Quite why a farmer should choose to put a bull in a field along a rocky coastal path I really don’t know, but there were plenty of fresh hoof prints to indicate that he was around, even if I didn’t actually see him. No-one is more disappointed than me not to be able to take you to the final location, and I know that the chances are that the bull would just have ignored me but a phobia is a phobia and I hope you’ll understand!
Ironically, the final locality is probably the most interesting and complex one in geological terms, consisting of three sea stacks formed as a result of volcanic activity. You may wish to carry on and view it for yourself after finding the cache. In fact, it would probably make a great earthcache, so if anyone wants to finish off the St Andrews Geological Trail by setting a cache at its last locality I would be happy to send you the information leaflet detailing the geological background to each site. Either that or you can let me know if the bull has gone and I will extend this cache out to reach the Rock and Spindle!
Back to this cache - it can be found at the following co-ordinates:
N56 19. (A + E) (B x D) (C - F)
W002 45. (B + E) (D + G) (E - F)
This is a themed cache and contains assorted minerals, fossils and semi-precious stones. Please swap items of a similar nature.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va n ebhtu pyrnevat - tb guebhtu hagvy lbhe jnl vf gbgnyyl oybpxrq ol tbefr ohfurf. Pnpur vf haqre oynqrf bs tenff ba frnjneq fvqr bs gur qrnq-ybbxvat ohfu ba gur evtug.