“See the waterfalls” exhorted TE Brown… and that’s what these “Waterfall” caches are all about - being observant and seeing the waterfalls.
At one time a mining location, the Dhoon Glen is a small and densely wooded glen tucked away below the coast road north of Laxey and only about 1km from the sea. However, its smallness is deceptive as this steeply sided glen falls away rapidly to sea level from a height of about 150m at the roadway entrance and some of the paths are quite rugged and often wet so this is not a place for a gentle stroll. Many of the paths are criss-crossed by streams which in wet weather can merge with the path before feeding into the Dhoon river as it cascades to the sea. The lush vegetation, trailing vines and moss coating on anything that doesn't move give the glen an almost tropical appearance from late spring and throughout the summer.
If the upper main entrance to the glen is still closed, as it has been for some time now, then use an alternative entrance off the minor road that crosses the railway tracks. From the tracks follow the road for about 200m to a signpost on the right hand side of the road showing the footpath to Dhoon Beach.
The path closely follows the river and takes you between a stone built wheel casing and a disused mine shaft, the remains of the old mine workings. Although little else remains to show of the mining that took place in the glen if you look carefully along the river banks you can see some evidence of the old mines.
Past the wheel casing the river and path continue their steep descent to the deeply recessed Dhoon waterfalls ("Inneen Vooar" or "Big Girl"), probably the largest and most beautiful waterfalls on the island.
Over the years on its steep zig-zag down the valley the river has eroded the rock into many interesting and varied formations, but beyond the moss covered bridge below the falls the terrain changes and the valley is almost level until the river empties into the sea over onefinal waterfall at the beach.
The stony beach is a pleasant place for a picnic or simply for some "quiet time" and the most striking feature is the Dhoon flags, the near vertical slabs of slate at the north end of the beach.
Somewhere between the Dhoon Halt and the Dhoon flags is a clue that will take you to an ammo box also hidden somewhere between the Dhoon Halt and the Dhoon Flags. Before you begin your search of the glen for the clue you really should have some idea of where to look for it. The whereabouts of the clue and what you are looking for are provided in this description.
The cache initially contained:
Gold - FTF for the first to mine this cache!
pen, pencil,
"pink ribbon" quarter,
Matchbox toy,
"bugs" (fly, ladybird,..),
hard ball,
sponge ball,
lapel badge,
Polar bear and other items.