Carron Glen Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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The River Carron originates from the East end of the Carron Valley Reservoir and flows just over 14 miles eastwards to Grangemouth dropping about 220 m in elevation along the way. That’s a fall of about 1 in a 100. Trouble is it’s quite flat at the top and the bottom meaning it has to fall a bit steeper somewhere else. And that somewhere else is along Carron Glen above Dunipace.
My chosen start point was the car park on the western outskirts of Fankerton on the B818, coordinates N56° 01.550’ W03° 56.730’. You can either approach from the West maybe coming up Tak Ma Doon Road from Kilsyth or from the East off J1 of the M876. Both routes to/from took you from/to other local caches of mine.
To get to the path head down to the left from the car park and cross over a metal bridge. Turn left and you enter the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s 100th wildlife reserve. The walk is approximately 1.5 km long and the path rises and falls along the east side of the river. Go to the end of the reserve and the cache is a further 200 or 300 m from there. This reserve was notified as a site of special scientific interest in 1990 so that’s why the cache is a little further along. The path is muddy and rocky in places, definitely not for buggies, not even all terrain jobbies. It’s fairly steep towards the end and at the ‘right’ time of year the ferns will make the going more interesting.
This is an area of broadleaved woodland with oak, birch, alder, ash, beech and sycamore trees. There are many locally rare plants here and the area is teeming with bird life. Apparently green woodpeckers and kingfishers have been seen here. In May/June this glen will really start to bloom, literally! You can even pay the SWT and dedicate a tree here to someone.
The cache is hidden in the garden wall of an old ruin, which must have been a substantial building in its day. Look to the north from the cache sight and see the wonderfully named Shippytrouty Wood.
No doubt you will look at the map and see the ‘road’ going up the eastside of the glen. I did a reccy up there to see if I could start the walk opposite the mill – don’t be tempted. The path does start there but the nearest parking is 600 or 700 m back towards the town. The ‘road’ is no more than a farm track really and basically disappears after a while. I grounded my car twice just getting as far as the farm; you have been warned.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Tb gb gur yrsg, ab evtug, ab, gur bgure evtug…jnvg, tb gb gur AJ pbeare, ab, jnvg….Arire Rng Fuerq…..bu, vg’f gurer fbzrjurer.
Treasures
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