At the start of January Jules and I discussed going over to Ireland to seek out the first cache placed in Europe. Within a couple of days of the initial discussion the flights and Travelodge rooms were booked. It all became real very quickly and enabled a few weeks to do some careful planning and to pick out some nice caches to help us with the Jasmer challenge. We also handpicked other caches with lots of favourite points and decided to get to them all it would be best to hire a car.
Day one
I met up with Jules at the services at M42 J2 at 6am for a 8am Ryanair flight bound for Dublin. Once at Dublin Airport we picked up our hire car for the few days and headed for Bray, where we had a full Irish breakfast to set us up nicely for the day ahead.
Europe's First
http://coord.info/GC43
We parked up at car park at bottom of Bray's Head and off we went in search of what we wanted most of all ... Europe's First! There was one cache we walked past on the way and we found that no problems and soon we were arriving at GZ for Europe's First.
The view of the sea and landscape from here really is stunning and a great place to be brought to find a cache. We had to clamber the last few feet up to the cache and spotted the camo instantly, we took the camo off and YAY we had found the first cache place in Europe.
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| Jules at Europe's First |
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| Wow what a feeling |
We were so chuffed and couldn't stop smiling, all the other caches this weekend will be an added bonus. After a couple of minutes reading the logbook we got back down to the path and carried on along for 2 caches which would pose much more of a challenge.
The Wanderer &
Brunel's Folly These 2 caches were both 4.5 Terrain, with The Wanderer being a puzzle. We solved it at home very quickly and today was the day where we just didn't know whether we would be upto the challenge of making our way down a cliff.
We soon arrived at the waypoint to begin our descent and both knew that due to no rain or ice that this would be doable,
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| On our way down |
We both managed to get down no problems at all and once down both caches were found quickly.
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On the way to Brunel's Folly
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| At Brunel's Folly |
The ascent back up to the path was just as comfortable as the descent, we were really chuffed with ourselves so decided to go back along path for a walk upto Bray's Head.
Bray Head We walked up the path from the car park to this one, it was quite hard going due to uneven rocks and lots of mud but it was so worth it. We witnessed some fabulous views, the best so far.
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| Had a quick breather on way up to check out views |
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| Almost there |
Once we were at the top it wasn't far to the cache so we took in the scenery first and then made a quick find at GZ.
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| View from the top |
So we made it to the top and found the cache, so now it was back down a different way so that we could pick up a Letterbox Hybrid.....
The Old Eagle's Nest
There once used to be a chairlift here, carrying people from the car park to a cafe/ ballroom near the top of the hill. It took us a while to spot the old framework but once spotted you can't miss it.
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| Old chairlift |
We had no problems finding the cache in another lovely spot.
It was time now to get back to car park but we had time for one more .....
Raheenaclig Chapel
which was the remains of an old church.
So we had some great caches and the county of Wicklow bagged, it was time for a short drive to grab a cache placed in July 2002.
Films About Ghosts This was placed near a lovely tower on the edge of Carrickgollogan forest.
It was a lovely walk through the forest to get to by the tower and then 200ft or so of gorse to get through to GZ. The area was fab with nice views and the cache was a nice big ammo can.
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| The cache |
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| The tower |
Next up was another county, the county of Kildare.
The Haunted Lock This was a cache and dash really as we parked by the lock and walked down a couple of hundred feet for a quick find.
Back to the car and time for another old cache for the Jasmer challenge. This time the cache was placed on New years day 2002.
The Summit This cache is set in the lovely Howth around a quarry. We were lucky to be able to park pretty close to this one as we knew we did not have a great deal of daylight left.
There were some great views form here although it was a bit misty at sea.
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| View from the Summit cache |
So back on the road and a couple of drive by's on the way to a nearby virtual. On the cache page for the virtual the c/o won't give away on what you will find there, but I guessed by the title of the cache....
The Black Rose was placed on 1st Sept 2003 so good for the Jasmer Challenge, even though I had already got this month. This for me was a must do as the title straightaway told me it was something to do with Phil Lynott, the late singer of Thin Lizzy.
Well it was infact his resting place and there is a fantastic memorial to him. It was obviously quite sad but also very exciting at the same time.
We parked up right outside the cemetery gates and walked down to the bottom, you could spot it from a distance by the size, compared to the others.
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| The Black Rose |
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| A shot with my GPSr |
By the time we left it was almost dark and we had just one more cache on the agenda before booking in at our hotel. So we left the lovely Howth and headed for Bull Island.
Pandora's box This cache was handpicked due to all the favourite points it had.
We parked up in the dark and grabbed our torches for a short walk to this one. On our way there were a group of kids barbecuing sausages, they smelled so yummy....probably even more so as we were hungry by now.
It didn't take long to get to GZ and within a few seconds we found what we were looking for.
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| Jules with the unopened cache |
This was not a straightforward open the cache and sign the logbook however as a great deal of work had gone into creating this cache. Jules played around with it and after a couple of minutes the solved light had come on and a gentle push on the lid and the cache was open YAY.
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| With the opened cache. |
I love caches like this and it's easy to see why there are so many favourite points. We did one more close by cache and then headed back to the car.
Off to the Travelodge in Ballymun now which was a short drive away. We checked in, I had room 417 and Jules had room 306. We had a swift shower and then met up in reception before getting the bus into Dublin for dinner. The bus cost us 2.30 each way.
We went to Chaplains bar which did a Pizza and a pint for 10 euro's. It was a lovely bar and the Bulmer's on draught was good as was the Mexican pizza I had.
It was a good way to wind down and chat about our epic first day in Ireland.
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Jules & Mel supping some Bulmers
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| Oops Mel has had too much to drink |
We were aware of the time and didn't want to miss the last bus back to hotel so we had a walk over the Liffey towards our bus stop but on the way we took in 2 more caches.
Stiffy By The Liffey Another virtual cache giving us both another month on the Jasmer challenge, this being March 2003.
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| Stiffy by the Liffey |
Gardiner's Treat A webcam cache just a short distance away from the Stiffy. Mrs BCC and Soapy Chickens spotted us on the webcam back at home and took a screenshot for us. This was only the 2nd webcam cache I have done.
That's it, day one is over we got the bus back to hotel...Jules went to her room and I had 10 minutes on the internet and a swift pint at the bar. A fantastic first day.
Day 2
I recieved a text to say Jules would be 10 mins late as she had overslept but hey we are on holiday too. We met in reception again and took lift down to the underground car park and then headed off to McD's for a quick breakfast and milkshake.
Then we were off up the motorway for some more handpicked caches. We had grabbed 2 counties yesterday day time and grabbed the 3rd on the night (Dublin). Our first cache today was to bring us our 4th county Cavan....... however Jules spotted a cache on the way that sounded interesting so we stopped off there first.
Athlumley Was the ruins of an old church and castle, it really was a lovely area. Jules did well to pick this one and we were really glad that we came here.
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| The castle |
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| and church |
One more stop off on the way and then back on track with agenda
Mullagh Lake This was the longest drive of the trip but still wasn't too far away. We parked up at side of lake and strolled over the short distance and Jules made a swift find. YAY that's Cavan in the bag.
Next on the list was another one for the Jasmer challenge.
Gernonstown Cache Placed in May 2002, this was yet another must do and boy am I glad that we did.
We parked up on a lane and walked down a slope to the area we needed to be. It was all fenced off but we could get over a stone stile.
The area we found was fantastic, it was another remains of an old church just hidden away from everything....Geocaching certainly takes you to some pretty amazing places.
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| Still in one piece |
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| Outside view |
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| Chilling on the stile |
In all the excitement we almost forgot that there was a cache to be found, but a quick search by Jules revealed the cache.
This cache was our first in County Meath and our 5th county..
Next it was straight off to go and grab our 6th and final county of the trip.
Townley Hall - Passage Grave Just into the county of Louth was this quick drive by, but whilst we were here we carried on a little further to do a challenge cache.
Bring Back The Cache Challenge To qualify for this cache you have to resusitate a cache that hasn't been found for at least a year. Jules and I both qualified for this so why not go and get it?
Well I am glad we did as it was in some lovely woodland.
So County Louth is now coloured in, so we headed back into Meath and Slane.
We drove past Slane Castle and down into the very picturesque village of Slane.
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| Slane Castle |
Battle of the Boyne Another cache here needed for our Jasmers, this one was placed in November 2001. We parked up the hill and walked down into Slane, we admired the weir on one side of the road and took the footpath alongside the river on the other.
It was a nice walk along here and popular with others. Jules soon found the cache and I sucessfully covered her up away from any prying muggles.
We walked back along the path and up the hill again to take in one more cache before returning to our hire car.
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| Slane from by car |
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| More of Slane |
We stopped off for a couple of caches on the way back to our hotel, where we had showers and then hit Dublin city centre for some more caching.
We did a handful of caches in the centre but the ones that stood out the most for me was:
The Guinness Logbook Of Records.
This brought us to outside the Guinness brewery, it was great to see the buildings and the lovely cobbled streets, even the street names were written in Guinness colours.
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| Dublin's famous export |
The cache was close to above picture and found easily.
Castle Rock
Now this really was a hidden gem...In the heart of the city yet away from the hustle and bustle, we couldn't even hear any city noise.
The castle gardens are a definite must visit and if it wasn't for this cache we would never have known about it.
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| Artwork, castle & gardens |
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| Signing the logbook |
Jules again was the one to find the cache, definitely my fave city centre cache.
It was time now to visit The Porterhouse for dinner and a few pints of Bulmers.
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| inside The Porterhouse |
We had a fab time in this bar and both had pie and chips for dinner. So another night coming to a close so it was time to get bus back to hotel where I popped in bar to have a pint of the black stuff.
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| Molly Malone |
Day 3
So the last and final day is here, our flight back is at 2.30pm so we don't have time to do too much.
We decided to cut time down by having another breakfast at McD's and then heading over to St.Annes park to do a few caches over there.
We did 8 caches in total and dnf'ed one in probably the nicest area. It was our first and only dnf of the trip.
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| A stroll towards the pool. |
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This fantastic structure was near to our dnf
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| The last photo of our trip |
St.Annes park wasn't part of the original plans, we decided to do it on our last night. I am so glad we did as it was such a beautiful park.
So off we go to refill the hire car and drop it off on way to the airport.
Dublin is a must visit place and Ireland has so much to offer.
43 caches were found on this trip, 6 counties and 6 Jasmer months completed. The first cache placed in Europe was also in the bag.
