Continued...Hunting High & Low for caches on the Emerald Isle (Part Two)

Monday morning arrived and it was a bank holiday in Ireland, so we decided to escape the throng of the city and take a ride on the DART train to Bray. 

It was a picturesque journey to the pretty coastal village, and cheap. Upon arriving we had a very nice walk about around the resort’s streets picking up a number of traditional caches. 

We also walked along the seashore to complete a number of earthcaches - there were several here - each requiring observations of the beach and its pebbles. 

But our key goal of the day was the coastal path and its trail of caches, but one very special cache in particular - Europe’s oldest cache, or to put it another way Europe’s first cache! 

Being a bank holiday, every local and their dog seemed to be out for a walk, along with quite a few tourists, so the coast path was pretty busy. However, we managed to grab a letterbox and a couple of traditional caches without being spotted.

The second traditional ‘Last Stop’ was a clever hide indeed. It was located at what looked like a bus stop, decorated with some rather creative art work. Whilst the other half took advantage of the seat for a rest, I began walking around it trying to spot the cache. 

A few minutes later I saw it, a screw and a washer in a hole in the seat, that looked like it had always been there and blended in really well. 

Our next stop was another earthcache - the day was rapidly turning into somewhat of an  earthcache fest with 5 already clocked up. This one was located at the ruins of what was once Lord Meath’s Lodge, an interesting remnant of the past. 

It was also located at the foot of the little deer track up to Europe’s First cache, our next stop. Eager to get on with finding Europe’s oldest cache I quickly collected the earthcache info, then made speedy work of the steep, but short climb to the historic cache. 

The cache was well covered by rocks, under a small outcrop, but we soon uncovered it and found the great sized box. It was full of TBs so after signing the log book I set about discovering some and retrieving some to take back to the UK. 

I had also brought a number of TBs with me, some from home and others from our recent trip to Mexico, so dropped a few into the box for the next visitor. 

Next up was a virtual cache...Ireland seems to have a fair few...which required a selfie with the railway tunnel below us in the background. Pic snapped and we decided to go for one more cache before walking back to the resort.

The final one was ‘Brunel’s Folly’ a terrain 4.5! Arriving at the break in the fence, I looked down the cliff side and it actually wasn’t that steep and there was a tiny track leading down. 

Confident I could easily do it, I set off on the climb down. It was a little steep but I took my time and was soon over halfway down. I had a good view of the railway tunnel but couldn’t quite work out how to get over a ridge in the grassy rock face to get to the cache, without going down to the line and tunnel.

As I stood pondering the situation I realised I was starting to attract quite a crowd of onlookers. Up on the cliff path a number of people were starting to gather and all were looking down at me. It occurred to me that they thought i was either a bit stupid diverting off the proper footpath or was preparing to jump! 

Rather embarrassed by all the attention and not sure how to get to the cache safely, I admitted defeat - something I hate doing - and headed back up. 

Once back on the path, the walkers dispersed and I began trying to work out how I’d gone so wrong. And that’s when I suddenly realised that what I thought was the railway line, was actually a disused, abandoned stretch, now just grass, as the line had been rerouted some years earlier to avoid the eroding coastline. I could have in fact climbed down the embankment and walked through the old railway tunnel to the cache. Doh! 

Nevermind. Not keen to do the climb again, we decided to head back to the village to find somewhere warm to get a drink. 

On the way back we stopped to do one more cache, a multi, and at the final GZ met some lovely local cachers. We swapped stories on where we’d come from and how long we’d been caching, before parting ways. 

After a nice warm drink in a Bray cafe and a pleasant trip back on the DART railway, we arrived in Dublin just as it was starting to get dark. 

I rarely cache in the dark but as the streets were well lit and I was accompanied by the other half, I was able to grab two more caches by the Liffy.

First up was the Fossil Hotel earthcache, which with the help of the phone torch was do-able. Then it was off to ‘The Great Famine’ multi where after gathering the info we soon found the nicely hidden cache at the final GZ. 

Tuesday was our last full day in Ireland and having enjoyed our trip out of Dublin the day before, we were both keen to jump on the DART again and explore another coastal resort. 

But before we did, we decided to pick up a couple of caches I was desperate to find in the city.

After completing the lab caches the other day, I had all the info I needed to pick up the bonus, and it was soon found safe and well in a very quiet spot. 

Not far away was another cache I was desperate to do, the multi ‘Secret Call’. Having read the cache page the night before I realised it was very similar to a couple of Shadyone44’s creative caches that I’d completed at home, both of which I loved doing.

At stage one there was a phone box and I had to input a number into a website on my phone and then wait for a secret call. 

Seconds later the phone rang and a deep voice on the end relayed some numbers needed to locate the final GZ. Just brilliant. It was like being a secret agent. 

Numbers crunched, we set off to the final where we found the cache safe and well, and happily added our names to the log.

It turned out that the CO of the cache ‘Danielk 1bg’ had actually helped Shadyone44 to create her two similar caches back home. Lovely to do his original one, so glad I spotted it on the map. And I was also very pleased to learn a few days later that we are only the second cachers to have completed all three of these innovative caches. 

After a quick stop at a very unique pub, in a converted church...very pretty...we hopped onto the DART. Getting off at Dunleary, another pretty coastal town, we had a nice walk about picking up some of the local caches. 

Our favourite was the virtual Fog Bell, out on the far end of one of the harbour walls. I hadn’t realised quite how far the walk was, or that the battery on the end, which housed the fog bell, isn’t always open! 

Fortunately, after a good 20 minute walk out to it, we found it was open - much to my relief - and I was able to snap a selfie with the huge bell, whilst the other half grabbed an ice cream. 

Back on shore we spent about 20 minutes looking for a cleverly placed rock cache, before heading to the pub to warm up with a hot drink and some food.

As we had a date with a certain Norwegian trio that evening we decided not to try and get any more caches and hopped back on the train for the short trip back to Dublin.

The A-Ha concert at Dublin’s 3 venue that night was just brilliant. We danced and sang to hit after hit along with hundreds of locals. A very nice way to round off a fantastic trip to the Emerald Isle. 

The following morning it was time to head to the airport and catch our flight home, but I had time for one final cache.

There was a virtual located at the old 1940 airport terminal building. Whilst the other half paid the cab driver and unloaded our bags, I scooted off to do it. 

The building was just around the corner from the new terminal building, and had pretty landscaped gardens leading up to it. I snapped a quick selfie in front of it and logged my final Dublin cache.

It had been a great trip with a haul of 51 caches, including 10 earthcaches, 7 virtuals, 9 lab caches, 4 multis, 1 mystery and 1 letterbox. 

Sadly, no Wherigos as we never managed to complete the rather fun ‘I Love Dublin’ one, but I’m sure we’ll return soon to have another go.